I was invited to to speak at Barnsley College this week where I studied Media Production and Film & TV Studies back in the day. The idea was to talk about our business, eighty®, what I do now and how I do it. I’d listed a few bullet points to get me going and took on questions from the students that mostly centered around value. Valuing jobs, your time, priorities, work schedules and so on.
What stemmed from this were 5 key thoughts I saw as essential for anyone aspiring to go out there and make something of their own through doing something they’re passionate about. It’s not always easy to build confidence in who you are and what you do especially at such an early stage, but I think these things can help you get there…
Know your worth
In the very sense of having pride in who you are as a person and knowing you are worthy of your goals, but also more literally in the sense of understanding how much you should be charging for your work. So many of us, especially creatives, undervalue projects because the thing we’re good at comes easy to us or because we’re not comfortable with pricing. Once you can gauge where you want to be in the market vs the real value of what you do and champion that, so much more follows.
Value your time
Time is the most valuable commodity yet many of us fail to allocate the right amount of time to a job or simply give it away too freely, leaving little time for ourselves and other things we’re passionate about. This is a sure-fire way to burn out and does no favours to finances either. Think about the limited time you have and how much of it that you’re willing to give to the work is worth.
Carve your own path
The easy thing to do is to fixate on someone else’s success and how you can get there without considering the process and path that they took to get there. Everyone has their own story to tell and you will achieve your goals your way, with a healthy dose of inspiration from others along the way. Everyone you admire did it their own way.
Focus on your strengths
Looking into our weaknesses and how we can improve those can be helpful, but championing our strengths and using those to our advantage can be much more beneficial short term and long term. This helps to reinforce the positives and avoids wasting time on fixing things about us that aren’t perfect.
Challenge yourself
I’m a big fan of learning something new every day and most of us do it without realising it. Challenging yourself to learn something new or do something outside of your comfort zone can be a great habit in moderation, helping to improve yourself and regularly reach new achievements.
Solid reads on this:
- 12 Rules For Life - Jordan B. Peterson
- Atomic Habits - James Clear
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - Mark Manson
- Deep Work - Cal Newport
👇
It’s great to know that these students are in good hands when it comes to getting a head start and I’m glad I got to visit and answer some questions. Where I absolutely feel unqualified to give advice it’s good to be able to share a bit of the knowledge I’ve gained so far and it’s given me a chance to reflect on these things too!
Top comments (0)