Maybe you're not special.

Within the past two months I have briefly touched on a crypto product that needed branding & strategy as well as a financial technology product that needed marketing and branding assistance. My world view - this is a side note - changes ever so often each time I get a new project and for some time now, after some 20+ brands and products, one global pandemic later I have begun to come to terms with the possible reality that I am inching closer to the cliff of consciousness; the cliff that every ‘tried and tested’ professional stands as they peek into the depths below and wonder what monsters lay beneath…

Yes, this cliff is significant in two ways: on one hand the figure standing on the edge, you, can see the effects of mediocrity laying thousands of feet below. From the top of this cliff you can see what happens when brands, organisations, products, governments, people and ideas that dared to be different, failed at it and then chose to be like everyone else. You can see that the bottom of this cliff isn’t in fact a bottom but a large body of water and from this echoes the voices of self doubt that plague your mind, from the surface of this water you can clearly see your face as the poster child for mediocrity.

It stings. Like a bitch. And rightfully so.

Greatness is hard. You will learn and you will learn painfully. That is the nature of the cliff of consciousness; it shows you what can be from what cannot be, even though more often than not we are too scared, too frightened, too beaten, too defeated, too accepting, too easy, too human, too…us, to dare look up.

This is good because looking up makes us forget what lies beneath and suddenly we forget what failure feels like, thinking we can soar the skies without regard for the fact that the moment we do take flight off this cliff, the real struggle is flapping our wings consistently and efficiently to survive the weather, the environment and weirdly enough but believe this—to survive our very own selves.

Icarus, where are your wings?

Back to me. A while ago I reached this cliff and stayed there for a long long time. I was comfortable and being too comfortable is uncomfortable for me so I stared into the depths until I saw myself in the projects I did that died, the products that never took off, the brands that failed, the Ls I’ve had, comparing myself with others like me and I came to the conclusion that:

…hmm, maybe you’re not special.

I may never know. I may be wrong.
What I do know is that I will fly, the depths be damned!