Marking Time. And Progress.

A lot of people ask me about my blog. 

My famous blog.

How I've managed to write a post every working day since June 4, 2007. 6241 posts in all, including my 20 or so so far this year.

A lot of people ask me how.

And a lot of people ask me why.

If I say, I do it because writing is a discipline like exercise or, even, brushing your teeth, or if I say writing a lot makes me a better writer, they look at me funny. They act as if they still don't understand or as if I'm trying to be inscrutable in some way.

Going into October, 2023, my phone started ringing fairly off the hook. GeorgeCo., LLC, a Delaware Company had had an ok year up to that point, but each of my final three months of the year was like like three months of work in an of themselves. In a sense, each one made my year.

That pace hasn't slackened in 2024. I don't want to jinx things but my guess is that GeorgeCo., LLC, is bigger than a lot of "big" agencies. They're better at boasting and announcing they've won 77 Gold Titanium Harpsichords in the Latvian International Advertising Festival. They're great at announcing they've won for the eighth consecutive year "Fast Company's" "Best Places to Get Downsized From." 

They're proud to trumpet that their nineteen CCOs, each of whom are desperately looking for new jobs, have once again won "Creative Director and Lemon Zester of the Year in the Borderless Creativity Awards," but they're not so good at actually helping brands. 

Wow. Helping brands. Talk about passé.

Man, do I harken back or what?

Going into last Sunday, January 28, I had no posts written for next week. Given that I have meeting in New York on Monday and three different client presentations on Tuesday, I was feeling the pressure. 

The pressure of having nothing written and no ideas. And very little time.

And there, my friends (and if you've read this far, you're my friend) is exactly what I've gained from writing this blog and the discipline that writing this blog has demanded.

The pressure of having nothing written and no ideas. And very little time.

That's just about every day.

That's just about every brief.

That's just about every aspect of your life and your career.

Who doesn't feel that way half a dozen times a day?

That feeling of being neck-deep in shit and someone starts throwing baseballs at your head.

You can't duck. 

You've got to figure a way out.

That's what I've learned from the ardor and the rigor of writing every day. That the best way to do it is to do it until you do it to your satisfaction. It ain't waiting until the moment's right. Or hoping you can get an extension. Or hoping someone else can do it.

It's doing it.

It's training yourself to do it.

To do it every day.

You never hear of a plumber or a blacksmith or a baker saying "I know I have a thousand horses that need shoeing, a thousand drains that are clogged, and a thousand families that need fresh bread, but I wasn't in the mood."

Just about seven-ninths of the way through nearly every client briefing as we're wrapping things up and the client's talked me through their needs, I say something like, "It's 11 now. If you told me you needed something by 11:30, I could do something pretty good." That's my way of saying "I get it." That's my way of saying "I get it now. And I have enough time to make something special." It's my way of saying, "Relax, I've got this. This is handle-able."

That's what 6241 posts have taught me.

That's what 6241 posts have demonstrated.

I know how to put words on paper that make a difference.