Try not to fall in love with your first draft
Honestly, a lot of what I work on isn’t exactly headline-making in my industry. Post-Oscars glow has me dreaming about those movie sets, while I’m here, stitching together another vanilla corporate talking head video.
It gets boring, fast.
But, weirdly enough, it gets personal.
You’re sinking hours into this project, getting up close and personal. Try as you might to stay detached, you can’t help but fall a little in love with those just-right cuts, the color grading that’s a notch above this time, and that background track that's a bit edgy, but you know for sure the client will love. How could they not adore this masterpiece?
You hit send with confidence—this is a home run. You were half-tempted to slap a “_final” on that file name. But hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Then comes the crash—the client wants a different song, they’re ditching the dramatic angles for something more straightforward. And just like that, the magic’s gone...
I used to stew over this, but then it hit me: there’s a goldmine of growth in letting my work be poked and prodded. Even if we don’t always end up where I’d hoped, I’ve realized it’s less about the perfect product and more about the process of reinventing myself. Opening up to critique, making yourself vulnerable—that’s where the real growth happens.
When the fun project comes along, you'll have tons of reps to give you all of the confidence in the world to do your boldest work!
Keep at it. Keep crafting. Stay open to starting over.