And Honestly

There was a time, maybe one you remember fairly well, when you did something great. It made you smile, it gave you that sense of accomplishment. It could have been something done in your adult life—winning that sales pitch, getting that job you wanted, cooking that dinner for 8 that you were nervous about. For me, the times that I remember being happiest was during my adolescence when I created. I drew, painted, sketched, traced, sculpted, photographed, wrote about everything that interested me; whatever captured my attention and inspired me. There was a time when this was my biggest concern in life—what was I going to create when I got home from school? Notebooks experienced the brute force of my creativity, animals drawn from the encyclopedia were my staple.

Not many people who know me now know that I can in fact draw, paint, sculpt, and write. There’s a problem with that. See, the problem isn’t in that they don’t know it because I failed to mention it in conversation, or I haven’t “accidentally” dropped a folder of meticulously rendered drawings and played it off like its nothing. The problem is that I’ve forgotten and ignored that part of me. Too often I find myself trying to read a book on the most up to date writings on marketing/branding when instead, I could spend a few hours a week drawing that same cheetah that I captured on countless pieces of paper throughout my adolescence. How different would it look 10 years later?

We all used to do something because we loved it, because it inspired us, because it gave us that rush of blood mixed with chills and butterflies. Why don’t we anymore, and what would our lives and temperament be like if we found a way to do it again?

I’m going to draw again, whether its a cheetah, a skyline, a model—and I challenge whoever reads this to try that thing that we all did at one point and loved. And if you don’t still love it, find something that you do.

Good (enough) for now can be a very dangerous order of operation. We are all guilty of using the phrase/mentality—the status of your strategy is good enough for now, the swipe in the layout is good enough for now. It implies that the current status is sufficient for an impending check-in or review/presentation. This also would imply then that it is to be revisited and revised or furthered. How often do we ever actually get back to that thing that was supposed to be a temporary fix, and how often does that end up getting out of hand?

The danger is in putting it off originally because you could not come up with a solution in the first place, or you couldn’t dedicate the man hours to execute it 100%. Temporary fixes are not solutions, and to be honest, they aren’t “fixes.” They are holes and weaknesses that only get bigger and worse the more you put them off or allow them to fester.

Unfortunately as much as we would like to chalk it up as part of the process or a lack of leadership, more often than not I believe that it is a fundamental flaw built into most agency models. The truth is that it doesn’t need to be a part of the process, but it is so deeply ingrained in all aspects of the industry; that urgent need for validation by presenting 8 “good enough for now” concepts that will end up being chewed out and completely altered, making your team suffer and look bad to the client.* What would happen if we figured out a way to solve the problem at hand first, and then further it? If you think that this is impossible or idealistic, open up the news, browse the web, and acknowledge the fundamental shift that is occurring through the tidal wave of start-ups that are operating quickly and effectively. 

Good enough for now never cut it, and I really pity the larger and antiquated agency models that exist and fool the traditional industry into thinking that they will be relevant over the next 5 years. Save the half assed level of commitment “good enough for now” mentality for that stack of old magazines in the corner of your bedroom. You’ll be looking for something to read when you’re collecting unemployment.

*There is a difference between a creative process that evolves overtime as a concept develops and takes form versus a poor idea that is still forced and presented to fill some void.