"I'm talking to the you you will be in 10 years..."
When I arrived to the office this morning, Chris began to tell me a story. When he was fresh out of college he began writing for a magazine, from which he started designing the magazine cover. He attended a conference in D.C. for association magazines. One of the lectures was about designing the perfect cover, so of course, Chris took special interest. He explained that the point of any magazine (or any marketing tool for that matter) is to know who your audience is and to speak to them clearly and specifically.
We transitioned from story to whiteboard to brainstorm taglines for one of his client's websites. SAS Programming, as it so terribly sounds, is not sexy, but the goal is to make the BW tool sound sexy to CEOs. We brainstormed adjectives and phrase combinations for nearly an hour, and then decided to switch gears once again.
Chris called a member from the Chamber of Commerce, and I discussed my website templates with her, all of which she loved. I was pleased to hear her say: "I'm so glad you know your way around these things, I could never do what you do." She finally decided on a color scheme that she liked best, and I made the necessary adjustments, then Chris asked me to proof the rest of the site and add some pictures.
Around 2:00, I decided to take my lunch break and when I returned, Chris said that he was very pleased with all my work. "I am more than impressed. Keep up the great work!" A small victory for today, and I decided to treat myself to a celebratory cupcake after work.
He had come to sit by me at my desk. "Remember when I said that you aren't going to learn anything in college? Well, I'm still right. College isn't about learning things for your future, it's about finishing a race that you started. This academic marathon that makes you pay $100,000 and then rewards you with a small sheet of paper. And when you leave school, you're going to be pissed for about 5 or 6 years afterward, because you'll be so far into debt, you're going to wish you hadn't gone to school in the first place. But what I realized several years after I graduated, got pissed, and then got over it is that I didn't need anyone to tell me who I was or what I was going to do or how to do it, because I was already the best. I had come so far, and I knew that I was the best at what I was doing. One day, probably in 10 years, you're going to realize that you are the best at what you do and there is no one better. I'm talking to the you you will be in 10 years of course, but the you you will be is going to look back on this moment and say 'I told you so.' Because I think the you right now could use the future you's confidence."
Powerful words that I didn't quite understand, but as I sit here typing this story, I realize what he meant. College isn't really about learning what I need to learn to become who I want to be, because I am already the person I want to be. I just have to give myself credit. After all, I had gathered up enough courage to come this far. Why wait 10 years to enjoy my success? Why not let myself enjoy being successful along the way?
Chris left around 3:00 to pick up his kids from school, but I stayed until 5:00 to finish the website proofing. I left the office dog tired, but sufficiently proud of the website and my work. I even managed to correct an error on the site that Chris couldn't solve!
I made my way over to Galaxy Cupcake and celebrated with a sweet treat.
We transitioned from story to whiteboard to brainstorm taglines for one of his client's websites. SAS Programming, as it so terribly sounds, is not sexy, but the goal is to make the BW tool sound sexy to CEOs. We brainstormed adjectives and phrase combinations for nearly an hour, and then decided to switch gears once again.
Chris called a member from the Chamber of Commerce, and I discussed my website templates with her, all of which she loved. I was pleased to hear her say: "I'm so glad you know your way around these things, I could never do what you do." She finally decided on a color scheme that she liked best, and I made the necessary adjustments, then Chris asked me to proof the rest of the site and add some pictures.
Around 2:00, I decided to take my lunch break and when I returned, Chris said that he was very pleased with all my work. "I am more than impressed. Keep up the great work!" A small victory for today, and I decided to treat myself to a celebratory cupcake after work.
He had come to sit by me at my desk. "Remember when I said that you aren't going to learn anything in college? Well, I'm still right. College isn't about learning things for your future, it's about finishing a race that you started. This academic marathon that makes you pay $100,000 and then rewards you with a small sheet of paper. And when you leave school, you're going to be pissed for about 5 or 6 years afterward, because you'll be so far into debt, you're going to wish you hadn't gone to school in the first place. But what I realized several years after I graduated, got pissed, and then got over it is that I didn't need anyone to tell me who I was or what I was going to do or how to do it, because I was already the best. I had come so far, and I knew that I was the best at what I was doing. One day, probably in 10 years, you're going to realize that you are the best at what you do and there is no one better. I'm talking to the you you will be in 10 years of course, but the you you will be is going to look back on this moment and say 'I told you so.' Because I think the you right now could use the future you's confidence."
Powerful words that I didn't quite understand, but as I sit here typing this story, I realize what he meant. College isn't really about learning what I need to learn to become who I want to be, because I am already the person I want to be. I just have to give myself credit. After all, I had gathered up enough courage to come this far. Why wait 10 years to enjoy my success? Why not let myself enjoy being successful along the way?
Chris left around 3:00 to pick up his kids from school, but I stayed until 5:00 to finish the website proofing. I left the office dog tired, but sufficiently proud of the website and my work. I even managed to correct an error on the site that Chris couldn't solve!
I made my way over to Galaxy Cupcake and celebrated with a sweet treat.