NORTHERN PLANNER

It’s hard to pick a favourite ad, but this commercial from Nike is certainly up there. The ‘Hurt’ commercial will connect with anyone who’s ever been an athlete at any sort of level, and to be honest, anyone who’s pushed themselves to anything difficult. There is pain and sacrifice along the way.

And the feeling of loss or failure is far more intense than the moment when you win or succeed. I did this and that as a swimmer, but the things I remember the most are the failures.

I remember having a really bad year, but finally getting it together for the last big final before the Christmas break, only for my goggles to break. I remember getting a final stroke all wrong and coming second by a fingernail on a race I’d been preparing for all year. I remember winning big in America only to be disqualified on a rule I didn’t know they’d changed. And I remember training so hard I threw up.

I do remember the successes too, but the thing about wonderful  moments, apart from never being as intense as the pain,is that what you really remember is the build up. That’s true of most things. Christmas Day is never as good as getting ready for it. Is there a more intense feeling than preparing for an important date? The possibilities, the desperate wanting it to go right?

After meeting Mrs Northern for the first time I had a week to wait for the next date. I couldn’t sleep, could hardly eat, I just couldn’t stop thinking about her (the date was pretty good too).

I think that goes for work too. I both love and hate pitches. The feeling of not getting it can be more crushingly intense than the euphoria of winning.

But pitches or projects with clients you have, it’s great to see the work appear somewhere, but there’s also a feeling of loss, a bit like finishing a great book, a curry you don’t want to end or a great film. You realise that getting there was the good bit.

The end is not as fun as the start.

I think that goes for career ambition as well. Account Execs want to get promoted and stop having to write contact reports as soon as they can. Junior planners want to write some bigger briefs and be able to delegate more number crunching. Everyone is in danger of not appreciating the clients they have and going after newer, shinier, sexier ones.

Stop, take a second, live in the moment, take it in and appreciate where you are now. As a junior, you’ll never have this freedom again, freedom from pressure, freedom to fail and learn from mistakes.

In the midst of a stressful day, when you need to do everything at once, stop and consider this is what you really love. Most people who leave agency life or take a break miss the pace and the buzz.

Smell the flowers while you can.