This is a random collection of all the things I wish I could tell to those of you who are in school. But you will probably have to learn it all for yourselves‘.

Am I going to be successful?

Great question. This is a question that seems to be the hidden question behind most of the questions I get asked. And the answer is you probably will be successful but probably won‘t come in the form you’re imaging. Not even close. But when you realize it’s happened you’ll look up and it will feel good and it will be fulfilling.

Oh really? Then so if you know so much then how will I become successful?

The mad dash to be successful has probably already started for you. You’re sending your books out and you’re working to land a job in the same agencies that everybody else is trying to get into. I recently heard somebody say they had sent out 300 resumes. That’s the old shotgun approach. In school you probably learned not to take that approach but it just seems smart. Ups the odds and all. And it’s easy now with e-mail. You dont even have to lick all those envelopes. Yet I would suggest that this is the very worst way to land a job and more importantly it is ignoring the whole reason we got into this conversation. Success.

Wait. How am I supposed to be successful without a job?

I hate to answer a question with a question but what is you definition of success? A first job can be one of two things. A step toward success or a step away from success. But have you sat down to search your soul for the answer to what would be success for you? Your personal definition. A unique answer. We all get caught up with other people’s definition of success and societies' definition of success that we lose our own. This is not good.

Why do I need to define success?

Because there is really only one definition that is put forward by society at large. Money. Ass loads of money. Don’t get me wrong here i think money is great. I like it a lot. But if you have the same definition as everybody else then you’re competting directly against everybody else. If you begin to refine you definition of success you suddenly begin to compete in a smaller category. So if you define success as living in Hawaii doing wordl class work for international surf brands you suddenly have two very important advantages to success. First, you aren’t competing with 99.9 percent pof the advertsing world out there. Second, it is instantly so much easier to measure you progress. My definition of success was to live in Miami and work with people I loved doing work I was proud of. And that’s all it’s ever been. So I felt successful pretty early on in my career.

But you live in Boulder.

Yes good catch. The only change to that original definition would be to live in Boulder.

A definition like I had sometimes meant saying no to more money. Yet over the years it seems like the pursuit of something other than money has ultimately brought lots of money. I remember the first time somebody congratulated me on achieving “their” definition of success. Which usually is some mixture of fame and fortune. How does it feel? They ask. It feels exactly the same as it has always felt. Because I thought I was successful a long, long time ago. Was I wrong?

Probably, but who cares I guess.

Exactly. Maybe success for you is to lend your talents to a lot of probono work. Maybe success for you would be to have your own shop. Maybe it’s to help grow a small shop. Maybe it’s to…

I get it so how do I define success for myself?

Realize you are already making progress. It won’t feel like it but it is happening. I don’t know why it’s like that but the first person perspective of ones own career is glacier like in it’s pace. Yet at the same time when you look back it’s all happened much faster than you ever realized.

Be honest. Be respectful. Be good. Set positive goals for yourself that can benefit lot’s of people. You’ll have lot’s of support because what’s good for you is good for them. Some people think they have to knock somebody else to get into a top spot. I’ve know people that thought they needed to knock me down to get up the ladder. It rarely works that way because there is infinite room for success and you’ll just get distracted from your true goals.

Don't exaggerate. Don't complicate. Very humble versions of success can lead to a wonderful life adventure. You don’t have to make it seem grand for it to become grand as it becomes reality.

Simplify. I think two sentences should be enough to hold your life’s professional dream.

So what do I do once I have a personal definition of success and a job too?

Okay. Once you are working you are in for a great ride because an agency is a busy place and there is always too much to do. For those who have ambition that means there is always a chance to grow and learn because people are always looking for somebody to pawn some work off onto. All you have to do is be there and get it done right. Getting it right is the key.

So don't just have questions. Have answers too. This is a simple one but so many people get it wrong it’s got to be said. It is okay to get stuck and okay to not know the best way to do something and it is okay to ask questions. But it is not okay to not at least try to figure it out and have several thoughts on how you think you should handle it before you speak to your supervisor. Three options is a good rule to go by. A guy that worked for me who I always loved interacting with taught me he was doing this. Today he owns his own agency.

Don't ever believe there is only one answer. There are literally millions. It’s a beginners mistake to think there is one right answer. Or that a great answer doesn’t have an even greater solution if you keep thinking. Some people make this beginners mistake for their entire career. So have lots of ideas. And make multiple leaps of logic. And then test your theories. Be linear when necessary but remember great thinking is not linear.

Make shit up. All great things were pulled from an ass before they became accepted. All the greatest discoveries began with somebody pulling something out of their ass. Great asses. The world isn’t flat. There is a force called gravity. People can govern themselves. Great ass born ideas indeed. All the thinking CP+B was first pulled from an ass and then refined and tested and refined and tested.

Be bold and cautious in waves that last a couple hours each.

Don't expect anyone else to be responsible for who you are or what you do.

The best people in the business are really decent people. All the awful backstabbing people you hear about are not the best people. They are all very average. And that kind of thing will never take you past being average.

Advertising is rife with awardshows. I’m not sure there is any other industry so set on awarding themselves. and many of you are anxious to win one. And many of you will. And guess what? It won’t make any difference to how you feel the next day. And the next ad you have to do will not be any easier. You won’t be any smarter. Now your careers might dramatically change. Maybe even for the better. But here’s how awards ruin a lot of budding careers. Listen closely because a lot of you will face this and very few of you will make the right decision. You’re at a place that for some reason let something wonderful out the door. Something new and good is going on. Or maybe the agency has a long history of doing good work. So you win an award and right away you get lots of offers. Lot’s of offers to go places for big money. But these places haven’t done any good work since the seventies. But this is you. You can turn things around. They have a hot new CD there. So you go. And a couple years later you realize you’ve become handcuffed by the salary so you stay but you never do anything anybody cares about for the next fifteen years until you are fired as a has been at the age of 40 with nothing to show to anybody that would get you hired. This is a real story that happens every day.

Your resume and your work is your insurance policy.

Finally, have fun. If you’re not having fun you’re doing it wrong. So use your internal fun meter to alert you to the need to make changes. Lot’s of small changes are better  than great big ones. So figure out ways to have fun and stay on path wthout having to change jobs all the time. The most successful people I know are very rarely the people with a zillion jobs.

Moving around is fine but when it becomes a habit it usually means something else is probably in need of adjustment.

Here’s to your success.