by: Tom Johnson

Recently, David Farbey referred to me as “the unstoppable Tom Johnson” in a post. My colleague thought it was funny, and so he and others started calling me “the unstoppable Tom Johnson” for the next day or two. Gordon McLean also used the term unstoppable to describe me as well. And apparently it even has earlier references.

For all those who feel I am unstoppable, thank you – although, truth be told, there are many things I’m very stoppable about: laundry, mowing the lawn, fixing the car, vacuuming, etc. I’m sure my wife would love it if I were unstoppable in housework. Then she could remark, while reclining on the couch, There goes my unstoppable husband. He won’t even break to watch TV. He just keeps cleaning. Unfortunately she has never had occasion to describe me with those words.

The good and the bad

Although it was communicated in a positive way, unstoppable is also an adjective people use to describe bad things as much as good – the unstoppable mummy, an unstoppable army, and unstoppable virus, an unstoppable hurricane, an unstoppable cancer, an unstoppable toddler, an unstoppable train, an unstoppable monster, an unstoppable course of events, an unstoppable sink, and so on.

But I find one redeeming quality about unstoppability: in the best of lights, it refers to being driven by something deep inside, to being moved by something you feel tremendous motivation, responsibility, and energy towards, such that you find yourself doing it despite all obstacles.

You may be stoppable about many things, but there should be at least one thing in life that you are unstoppable about. It could be raising your children, or standing up against bullying, or hiking in the outdoors – whatever. Without an activity that you’re unstoppable about, you lead a life without passion and engagement.

Different perspectives

My wife sometimes complains that she has talent to do anything – in other words, that she has unstoppable aptitude for nearly anything (as long as it doesn’t involve blood or needles or computers) but motivation to do nothing. She could have easily excelled in law or medical or graduate school – if she only had an unstoppable interest in doing so.

But that perspective, at least for my wife, isn’t necessarily true. She is unstoppable in her engagement with ideas, in her expression of argument (which you frequently feel in her posts), and her voracious reading. When she is moved by something she feels is right, she is unstoppable. For example, moved by the injustice of our neighbor’s barking dog, which disrupted her peaceful gardening, she called the sheriff over to the neighbor’s house. It was awesome.

We admire those who are engaged in a cause in an unstoppable way, whose response to a situation is unstoppably aligned with their ideals.

Unstoppability and tech comm

But is technical communication something one can be unstoppable about? Does our field carry with it the compulsion to be unstoppable?

With other careers, unstoppability comes more naturally. These are all familiar: a police officer who is unstoppable to find a convict. A fireman who is unstoppable about retrieving trapped victims from a burning house. A lawyer who is unstoppable in researching the case of an impoverished client. A doctor who is unstoppable about saving the life of a dying patient. A writer who stays up late into the night, unstoppable in typing out the actions and characters of a narrative. These professionals can engage in unstoppable ways, exhausting themselves in a cause.

The field of technical communication is not like that. It isn’t something people religiously exhaust themselves in doing. No one has ever noted how unstoppable I am in writing instructions. Or how unstoppable I am in single sourcing my content for multiple help deliverables. Or how unstoppable I am in creating quick reference guides for applications.

Sure we may “champion” a user’s cause, and point out how to improve a prototype here or there, and try our best to be accurate despite half-working development environments, but when the day ends, we travel home and turn our minds to more important matters: our family, our house, our sports, our movies, and whatever strange hobbies occupy our attention.

Applying your passion to a related sphere

If a career in technical communication cannot evoke unstoppable, exhausting devotion from professionals engaged in it, is it a worthwhile career? Should we quit our jobs and become green biodiesel fuel developers and organic farmers, like my high school friend Kyle (who was nice enough to give me a ride home from the airport last month when I got home from Vienna)? A job like his is more than a job – it’s a cause. Saving the earth is something you can feel unstoppable about.

I am not sure how to do it, but to survive as a technical communicator, in the long run, I think you have to find something semi-related to technical communication to be unstoppable about. Maybe it’s your passion for filmography that propels you to stay up late thinking about the best way to create dynamic video tutorials. Maybe it’s your fascination with information expansion that propels you to read books on information architecture, taxonomy, and faceted navigation.

Maybe it’s your love of story and the written that word that causes you to explore ways to integrate scenario-based help, personas, and story workflows. Maybe it’s your passion for technology that inspires you to spend your free time during lunch learning programming languages and figuring out code. Maybe it’s your passion for drawing that leads you to master Adobe Illustrator and spend your free time drawing diagrams and conceptual images for your help materials.

However you do it, you have to find something to be passionate about to be successful. When you do find that inspiration – an inspiration that comes from places inside you – it will give you the energy to be unstoppable.

About the author: Yes, it’s that Tom Johnson. Technical communicator, blogger, podcaster, husband and father, basketball fan. Tom packs a lot into his life. His insights into technical communication are always worth reading, and you can read those insights on Tom’s blog.

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