Just Do It.

This weekend is pretty lax in terms of workload: Come up with a second round of visual solutions for Red Bull (difficult to move beyond the cliché, but straightforward), come up with a large, “budget-is-not-a-factor” business idea for BMW to follow up BMWFilms (the hardest part of this is constraining it to just one double-spaced page), read several marketing packets (Don Just is Just super...ZING), and finally, concept, shoot and edit a Bud Light spot (piece of cake until the editing process, at which point I feel I will probably end up pulling my hair out in frustration).

On the way down the stairs from the third to second level of our apartment, we put up the following ambitious “collage” to be seen leaving the house every morning. The man on the left is Mark Fenske, creative thinking prof. (and one of the reasons Nike is Nike). The man on the right is Coz Cotzias, copywriting prof. (and the one human being whom I want to impress more than any other on this earth). The saying in the middle is of course a weak play on words stolen from the Notre Dame locker room.


It is funny to me that in the past I was always that strange student who did the project or wrote the paper the night it was assigned, and not the night before it was due. But maybe they put something in the Richmond water, as here I do the exact opposite. I find myself sitting around, waiting. For what? No clue. Just waiting for the deadlines to come. I think that motivation might be a factor but how could that be? I’m in one of the best advertising programs in the country and I literally have every opportunity to do some amazing things that countless others do not. I have the ability to become known, to win awards, to make a name for myself before even getting into the business. What more motivation does one need?

You want to know what I think the problem is?

I’m scared.

There, I said it.

Not scared of doing the work or of what the professors might think, but scared of myself. Of my belief in my own abilities. Or lack thereof. I keep reading all of these things about how writers constantly need to be writing. That they should write 5 ads per day on any products, even if they are all crap. That they should write in a journal constantly. Just to keep their mind focused on work. They say the brain is like any other muscle. It only gets better with practice.

Maybe I needed to get these words out on paper (or a computer screen) to convince myself that these are the types of things I should be doing. That doing my work and actually going the extra mile with everything I do is something that should and needs to be done.

There. Now I feel better. I've suitably pumped myself up. I think I’ll start my work now.

dubs. out.