What are we trying so hard for?

Reflections around force.

Over the past few years I’ve worked for many companies, altering my offerings left and right.. telling myself it’s “time to lock in” and thinking that my north star is me working very hard and with an extremely stoic demeanour.

Looking back, all of what got me those gigs wasn’t a series of late nights or any of the examples of working hard you’re thinking of.

It was always small simple adjustments, and let me give you some examples.

Example: I was trying to get work doing motion design and brand work, which I thought I had to re-create everything from the ground up.

The solve: I created 2 small 15 second videos for make believe brands in ways I thought was cool. When it was time to show my portfolio for this freelance client they saw both of the videos an immediately knew I could work for them.

Reflection: I didn’t have to complete a 30 hour course to gain the grasp of the tools to complete what I needed to do, I just gave it a shot.. not thinking too heavily of it all. Just spun up after effects, had my small board of inspiration and chopped it all together. No it wasn’t some agency level piece of work but it was good enough to keep me afloat for freelancing.

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Now sitting here at my desk, and just finished reading a bit of the Tao Te Ching realizing most of the actions that pushed me forward were always so simple.

They never were the convoluted plans about learning this and that.

Simply just do, and always aim to learn a little while doing so.

Take care,