We Don't Need Another Hero

Random fact: It stinks like soup in here today. And it's not lunchtime, so it feels highly inappropriate. You know what I mean about out-of-context smells, right?

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I had a good talk with my friend Michele this weekend. I was telling her how hard it has been lately to get to work, and how much I just want to quit my job and forget about working in general and sleep all day.

I couldn't figure out what it was about work that made me want to avoid it so much. But as I was explaining it to Michele, I saw the situation a lot more clearly.

Here's the thing. I think I'm a decent writer, but I'm fairly new to advertising copywriting, where each word has to speak volumes and not only do you have to convey six different core messages within a headline, but you also have to impress the client with your wit, your intelligence, your tongue-in-cheek attitude and style.

Like this: Promote a broadband accessibility product for laptops, and you must convey clearly the concept of freeing yourself of the need for hotspots while also strongly depicting the ideas of Reliability, Mobile Connectivity, Increased Productivity, and Superior Network, while still retaining the thirtysomething hipster attitude of prospective consumers—and a sense of humor, to boot. And do it in a five-word headline (which must contain the tagline of the client company). Oh yeah, and we need about two dozen options by 1pm this afternoon.

Stressful.

But that's my job, and that's what I wanted, and that's what I get paid for. I'm just realizing that I don't do it as well as I thought I would, and when it comes to the team of copywriters on my account, I'm pretty much the underdog.

That's hard for me to admit. But there it is.

Here's what I should be thinking: Wow, what a great opportunity to learn and stretch my capabilities and grow as a writer. This is my chance to learn from the best, and to gain the skills to write tight, pristine copy for any situation. I'm so blessed and fortunate to be in this wonderful position.

Here's what I typically am thinking: Sheesh, I suck at this. I want to quit.

And now that I realize where my desire to quit is coming from, there's no way in the world that I'm going to quit. If I quit this job just because I wasn't instantly the star copywriter out of the gate, I'd always regret it. I'd always regret giving up on myself before I even had a chance to learn and grow and get better at this stuff.

It's humbling, and I don't like being mediocre at things. I told Michele, "I'm not used to being bad at things." But that's not expressly true. The real underlying truth is that I don't ever continue to do things I'm bad at, and I only pursue things I'm naturally good at.

But if I only ever do things I can excel at, then my world could start to become pretty limited. Which, in reality, it has.

So, although I sort of hate to admit it, I do have a new attitude about my job. I still don't like going, but I'm determined to get better at this type of writing and get to the point where I can feel proud of my work. I may not ever excel at ad copywriting, but for the first time in my life, I'm feeling like I could be okay with that.

Georgia, my therapist, asked me recently, "Why have to be the best all the time? What's wrong with just being you?"

That's a good question.

Sad, sad Vader.