30 Mar 2010

Starting & Stopping

I find it hard to keep going with some things. I don't go to the gym. I can't be bothered writing three drafts of a blog post. I don't really want to fill the holes in my wall from where my plasma TV bracket used to be.

If I have to do something I don't want to do, it has to be really easy to start and really easy to stop. That's why I play squash instead of going swimming. With squash, I drive down to the squash court 2 minutes away, smash the fuck out of a squash ball for 45 minutes and go home. Done. If I felt like playing squash right now, I could be there in 5 minutes, playing. Swimming, on the other hand, takes forever. You have to find your trunks, drive down, get a locker, get changed, jump in and swim at a pace slower than I can walk, get out, have a shower, find your locker, get changed, drive home. And I'll have red eyes from the chlorine. It takes too long.

On the flip side, if I want to stop something, I have to make it as tedious as possible to start and stop. When I was at college I decided I drank too much at home. I had a fridge in my room for beer, so beer was always available. When I bought beer I'd always buy a bulk pack (for cost more than anything). So there was always lots of beer available. In order to stop, I took my fridge and gave it to my parents for their holiday home in Montenegro. Then I took the bulk packs of beer and put them in the garage. Finally I put a pack of Pepsi in my bedroom. Going to get a beer from the garage at 10pm is less appealing to me than drinking a Pepsi that's within an arms reach.

When you want to get something done, its easier to move around problems rather than try to overcome them. Yes its cheating, but you'll get the job done. Or as an ancient Daoist text says-

"In all the world, nothing is more supple or weak than water; Yet nothing can surpass it for attacking what is stiff and strong."

I'm Dan and I'm another junior copywriter

Who need's another junior copywriter? There's loads of 'em.

That's why I teamed up with Matt, a junior art director. Together we are more than just another junior copywriter. We are another junior advertising team.

Most other junior ad teams seem to want to tell you why they're different.

Some will say they're more creative. That's like me saying I'm better than you at biting my fingernails. It's subjective and therefore difficult to measure or judge. So I won't say we're more creative.

Some will say they're passionate and dedicated. We're passionate and dedicated, but our work would be crap if we weren't, so its hardly a selling point.

Some say they're ambitious. Good, but so are most junior teams.

In actual fact (talent aside), most junior ad teams are pretty similar. They're usually juniors. They usually want to work in advertising. They're usually a team.

All I'll say about us is that we're
  • Laid back
  • Easy to get on with
  • Not prone to hissy fits
And failing that, we're creative, passionate and ambitious...