- Posts tagged hunger
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best chart/graph ever!
Of course, I'm partial. Our interns are halfway through their creative boot camp. What a better way to show their progress than with charts and graphs!
risk makes time sticky
I'd have to say 2009 was the best year of my life. Up until this year, the last few years flew by for me. Not that they were bad years, they were just safe years. I found comfort in routine. But this comfort, for me, made my memories blur and blend. It made my time fly and I needed a way to slow that down.
Morocco
Heading into the end of '08, I realized why my time was flying. Or more accurately, I smelled why. Being honest with myself... I was gaining some shitberg tendencies. I put less at stake when I chased goals and sadly found myself talking more than walking. I looked at people who were coasting and paced myself closer to them when I should've paced myself up to the people who are hungry. This needed to change before I punched myself in the face. So the beginning of '09 was marked by a simple promise I made to myself, "Shut the fuck up and do more."
Pamplona, Spain
So here are some highlights from my '09 Did List:
I took more risks this year than I have in awhile and guess what? I'm still here. Sure, not everything turned out golden. But nothing horrible happened either. In fact, quite the opposite. I have memories from '09 I'll never forget, because they'll never blend. These moments will be as clear to me a decade from now as they are today. This year made me realize we don't ever need a flying DeLorean to get back to faded memories. Not as long as we shut the fuck up and make time stick.
- Posted from Pamplona, Spain
What's a shitberg?
The answer should always be - not you.
I teach ad class from time to time and one of the things I try to impress on my students is the importance of effort and authenticity. Of course, you can't teach a lesson to smart, creative and indifferent neer-do-wells if you use words like "effort" and "authenticity"
...and "neer-do-wells".
So I try to keep it real and tell them what they need to know. And it starts with the shitbergs...
So you know about icebergs, right? How there's a tip of ice visible above the water, but so much more ice underneath? Now picture a person you meet and then realize they are full of shit. Then after a span of time, you get to know them better, and you realize they are even more full of shit than you originally thought.
That's a shitberg. And unfortunately, advertising is full of them. Do you know why?
Shhh.... secret. It's because If you don't try your best while pushing and helping the people around you to solve the problem in an authentic and creatively engaging way that actually connects with real people... well... then advertising is actually an easy gig to never really have to work in. But that compromise comes at a price.
The shit collects on laziness and eventually turns it into fear. The fear oozes and spreads. Then one day, you can't wash the smell of shit off you. "and there's nothing worst than too late." - Bukowski
But don't be afraid, don't ever be afraid. Because there are a few things you can do to avoid it:
1) Work your ass off and make things. Make a lot of different things. Make money to make things. Make reasons to make things. Because most shitbergs never will. So within a couple of years of pushing it, you should pass most of them in value and experience.
2) Be honest. But don't be a judgemental prick. If we're idea people, then stop loving your dead babies. You should be a factory with a thousand more ideas waiting behind that dead one. But don't be a jerk when you're killing somebody else's baby either. (You know why.) Luckily, shitbergs usually only have one idea and they most likely five-finger-discounted it from someone else.
3) Remember you're in the class of 3010. Never stop learning. Shitbergs stopped learning the moment they realized how to succeed without it.
hunger vs. mediocrity
Two things are equally infectious. Hunger and mediocrity. If given the right kind of growing (or ungrowing) conditions, one can easily overwhelm the other.
To protect our future from the latter, we're investing in a talent farm at PFI. We've carved out an area in our agency just to hold rare and fragile unicorns - the creative interns. How many? It's yet to be determined, but we know the area can hold 7.
I taught Glen in a TV and Branded Content class @ Brainco. He has a natural sense for storytelling and editing, solid drive and a deep respect for our craft. Crazy sideburns too.
Meagan will be scary with some real world experience under her belt. I put her through hell in TV class last year, but she came out even stronger on the other side. And apparently, into somewhat of a wise ass. I like that.
Two things are equally infectious. Hunger and mediocrity. If given the right kind of growing (or ungrowing) conditions, one can easily overwhelm the other.
