A New Perspective.

Something interesting happened to me in the past two weeks. Something I have been waiting for since the past seven years. I found my confidence.

As a writer, confidence is both omnipresent and elusive all at once. On one hand most writers feel that we can't do anything other than write, because that's what we love and it's what we're good at. On the other hand, we can't stop criticizing our own work, constantly thinking that it's not good enough, or that we're not creative enough to be able to showcase our work.

I've been going through this constant struggle to find myself, and some proof that I'm good enough to enter the advertising industry and last. Finally, it came to me, my proof.

One day I was dejectedly staring at my portfolio, finding errors and being overly critical. Then suddenly, inspiration struck from nowhere. I decided to start from scratch. I took out everything I had done before, and decided that it wasn't good enough. Then I came up with 13 different products, and began to do some hard core research. A couple of days later, when I felt like there were enough insights for me to begin writing, I decided to put pen to paper. The more I wrote, the better I felt. Some ideas got rejected, and some I fell immediately in love with. There was such a serge of creativity that I felt elated. It was a total rush.

When I finally hashed out all the good ideas, I was convinced that I had something good. I continued to work on my ads for the next few days, lapping up critism from whomever would give it to me. Then, after tweaking and turning and obsessing, I finally finished my second version of my portfolio. The real moment of truth came, when I compared it to my old portfolio and realized the long way I had come since then.

The real lesson I learnt wasn't that I'm a genius writer, but that with practice, and constant revision, I can be the writer I want to be. It's hard work, but totally worth it.

Here's to working hard and achieving our dreams.

Cheers.