Drop the Banana and No One Gets Hurt

By Justin Oberman

It takes thick skin to be an advertising creative (or any creative for that matter).

DISCLAIMER: If you’re not into tough love advice stop reading here. Because I’m about to drop some on you like a ton of bricks.

Not to hurt you. But to help you make your skin a little thicker.

Your idea was rejected or laughed at.

What is being upset about it?

Opinion.

You didn’t win the pitch? No one curated your post on SteemIt?

What is the misfortune?

Opinion.

Someone interrupted you?

What is chaos, disagreement, blame, accusation, disloyalty, even stupidity (your own or theirs)?

Opinion.

All these things you feel about your work, about THE work or about the way people perceive the work, are opinions.

They are nothing else.

Opinions are liked bruised bananas.

Everyone knows that the black mushy spot on a banana tastes just fine.

But most people will eat around it if they can.

Just like a bruised banana, you are not disturbed by the things that happen to your ideas.

You are disturbed by your opinions about what happened.

Rejection is not terrible; for if it were, it would have seemed that way to Ogilvy, Gossage, Bernbach or George Lois.

Rather, the opinion that rejection is terrible - that is the terrible thing.

Is no one reading your post?

Well, get to know your audience better.

Did the creative director or someone higher up in your agency reject your idea?

Well, at the end of the day it’s not your agency.

So why should you care.

Did the brand turn your great idea into a bland one?

Well at the end of the day it’s not your brand.

So let it go.

Or as my Creative Director Mark Szczepanik used to say, “If you have to eat shit, it’s best not to chew.”

So don’t worry about the things that are not in your power to control.

Worry about the things you can control.

”Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and if they will not adapt to me, I adapt to them.” -Montaigne

Until you’re running your own agency or brand, pretty much the only thing you have control over is the way you think about things.

So control your thoughts.

And if it at the end of the day you are still upset or angry about what happened, don’t blame others.

Blame yourself.

That is, blame your opinions.

Then go wash your mouth.

Because that shit stinks.