2011 will be my year. I’m well aware of the cliched nature of such comments around this time of year and the notion of new years resolutions that are forgotten by the second week of January, but nevertheless, 2011 will be my year. 2010 has been a year of learning and realisation, somewhat a prelude to this much-hyped 2011 that I seem to speaking of. In the last year I’ve graduated from university, almost not graduated because of Twitter based scandal, got focused on my blogging, expanded my music taste, explored the quality of the internet (this is not a parent friendly way of saying I found a haven of porn sites), moved in with my girlfriend, realised my career path, gone to New York as an adult, started my portfolio and generally getting better at life.
Since finishing university, it’s much easier to take a step back and see how much I’ve grown and developed as a person. I’ve still got a long way to go, a long way. But it’s self-confirming to see the shift. I ploughed straight into university, fresh out of college, at 18, with the need to get out form under my parents feet and get on with life. I’ve always been the baby, the youngun, and this was the case at uni, however I’ve now come to realise that I can’t keep being content as the kid, waiting to catch up with everyone else, it’s up to me to be more than just the young guy. To go out there and not sit waiting around, yes I’m younger than most, but so what? No one cares. They care about my ability, my passion, my hardwork. It's about me. I’ve often sat back in the past, hoping and waiting, thinking that it will happen one day, but it won’t. When do you ever hear about the great and game changers that had it easy? You don’t. It’s about hard work. And a shit load of it. Though I’ve always worked hard, I can in no way said I’ve had a hard 21 years. Yeah sure, some bits were hard, but everyone’s is. I need to push myself, no one will do me any favors and it’s time I realised that.
This realisation could not have come at a better time. I am a graduate in Advertising and Marketing Communications, yep. But I currently work in retail. Through the various modules, tedious assignments and lines of theoretical books, I got lost. I lost the vision of what I have always wanted to do, create advertising. I forgot about the genius of creativity, the excitement of creating new ideas, as much as you fight for your audience research and hierarchy of needs, this industry, like many, is nothing without creativity. This was reinforced after reading the fantastic book Hey Whipple by Luke Sullivan, who states the importance of the surrounding areas of advertising, yet the need to do something different, push the boundaries and avoid getting sucked into mediocrity. This has pushed me towards focusing on my portfolio, still a work in progress, as it will be for the rest of my advertising years, but it’s in progress, and a progress I’m pushing. Without it I can go nowhere, it’s my springboard and I need to get some bounce in that bad boy. It’s up to me to get it done and to get it done well. No one else me.
So 2011 is about getting my ass in gear, pushing myself and succeeding. I’ve wanted to be in this advertising for many a year now and it’s a little bit weird to actually be at the stage when it should all be happening. The stage where I should be getting interviews, work experience and working on ideas to make into big fancy ads that are making people take notice. This year will be more than just about getting a job, it is about me truly, really becoming an adult, not in terms of having a salary or moving house, but in my attitude, my belief in myself and my work ethic, these are just as important as having paid holiday.
2011 will be my year.
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