Ad Man in potential.

Some people know from a very early age what they want to be when they grow up. Some make it and some don't. Some people are never quite sure what they want to do with their lives, and untill they do they won't know if they have made it or not. To quote Baz Luhrmann in his brilliant speech-song "Everybody's free to wear sunscreen":

"Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t."

I have spent my life wondering what I was going to be "when I grow up". I have gone through so many phases, so many plans, chased so many mirages and aimed at so many targets that I have often wondered if I actually will grow up. But I have understood that this is not a fickle trait, it is one that reflects growth, eclecticism and broad-mindedness. I agree with good ol' Buz - keep yourself busy but don't chain your mind to what you do just because you do it, give yourself time to figure out what you want to do with your life without freaking out. Life is flux, but at the same time ones past can be cut up into pretty clear chunks. You can even look at another period in your life and feel strangely disasociated from it: different hair, weird clothes, long lost friends, expired dreams.

So why not take it by chunks?

I know what I want to be for this chunk of my life, starting now, ending whenever I decide to. I know because all the past chunks have made me what I am, equipped me with the contents of my head, moulded my likes, chiseled my talents and branded my aspirations. Yes, branded.

I am going to be an Ad Man.

Creative advertising is a controversial profession and admittedly one that clashes with many of my moral standpoints. But it fascinates me. Consumer culture, tribalism, brand warship, sociology, evolution, revolution, intelligent design, emotional economies, trends, the gags, the hooks, the creative engine, the glamour. It fascinates me and I totally get it, I have what it takes and I'm going for it.

Needless to say, getting in is the toughest bit in the game. You can have all the conviction in the world but when you apply, as I am doing, for the Graduate Schemes (in London this is) you are competing in some cases with over a thousand other Grads for three or four Jobs, get the picture?

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.