After spending a couple of years at college, it seems like the word “internship” has reached an almost sacred status. Students worship internships, deeming them as the golden tickets to escort them from college into the job of their dreams. In just the past month, I’ve received numerous emails from my school directing me towards internships not even remotely related to what I’m doing – the term “internship” itself is vague and insignificant.
Millennials have been trained to take the safe route: get lined up with a company that’s been successful and make people look good so that we, in turn, might be successful too. It’s a decent plan, but there’s a way to take it a step further if you’re willing to take a risk
As you prepare for your next steps, your may feel pressured by your parents or professors to find an internship. This can be confusing. Should you stay in town or leave? Should you be paid or work for free? How many hours will you have to work per week? Will you get class credit?
Fortunately, there is a solution for the internship dilemma: it’s the Canvas Strategy. In its simplest terms, it means finding canvases for other (smarter) people to paint on. I originally learned this from Ryan Holiday, and it changed my life for the better.
How does the Canvas Strategy differ from finding an internship? For starters, completely forget about the title of your position. Also stop worrying about credit, and throw out the idea of what a job is “supposed to be” on paper. Instead, the Canvas Strategy calls us to focus all our energy on seeking, presenting, and facilitating opportunities that help other people thrive. It’s certainly more glamorous to chase your own glory, but far less effective.
People that practice the Canvas Strategy discover that they benefit the most when they seek emerging and remarkable things within their industry and latch on to them as opposed to begging for a spot at an established business. The old approach was to make your boss look good, but the Canvas Strategy entails no ass-kissing.
Having a set curriculum kills incentive and deadens the learning process. Instead, promote others’ creativity; discover who they can collaborate with. It makes their life easier and puts them in a better position to help you. Discover what you can do that’s unique, and apply it to a developing idea. The rest will fall in place. Don’t worry about the money yet.
Here’s an example from my own life. When I declared my major as public relations, I immediately began researching all the top firms nearby. But I was playing the loser’s game. The odds were against me to land a spot at Fleishman Hillard or some other industry giant. I had no connections or recommendations.
Around the time I discovered the Canvas Strategy, my uncle and mentor, Matt Hall, was in the process of marketing his first book, and needed somebody to help him grow his audience. I immediately said I wanted to get involved with this process, and when he told me to contact KAOH Media to see if they could help him, I established a relationship with their founder which led to a paid position with her firm that would eventually take on Matt as a client.
This could have never happened by sitting on my couch and aimlessly sending my resume to every firm I could find. You can be as ambitious as you want, sending emails and making phone calls to your dream company, but it will be diligence, creativity, and self discipline that distinguish you and take you where you need to go.
This has been one of my longer posts, but for good reason. The Canvas Strategy could be the difference between being stuck in a cubicle and launching the next big idea in your industry.
Here are some valuable lessons that I learned the hard way and want you to take away:
Nobody owes you anything. Seek what you can do for others, not what they can do for you.
You don’t need the title “internship.” It’s better to have practical knowledge than a fancy desk, or even money.
Learn something without a having a definite reward, just for the sake of learning it.
Put your work in front of people and ask for bold feedback. Embrace it.
Do your assigned job correctly – even if you hate it. Only narcissists think they’re too good for their position. If you don’t perform minor tasks with vigor, you’re not qualified to do more important things.
* You can read Ryan Holiday’s original post about the Canvas Strategy here.
Dominic Vaiana studies writing and media strategy at Xavier University. He founded a campus newspaper and later went on to advise, ghostwrite, and edit for colleagues and startups. His biweekly newsletter with his personal articles, essays, interviews, and book recommendations, can be found here. For any questions or comments, email dominicvaiana@gmail.com.
