Morning,
I want to take you back 10 days.
I had just received my GCSE results. They weren’t what I wanted, and honestly, I was disappointed.
But the following day, I had to put that disappointment aside.
I had a two-hour brand strategy session to conduct, asking question after question to understand my client, his business, and what we were trying to build.
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
Three days later, I was expected to present the first concept in person.
I’ve always done my meetings on a computer. So presenting in person was already outside my comfort zone.
What made it even more surreal was that my client was travelling all the way from Newcastle to Manchester to meet me.
So there I was, just days after getting results that had left me feeling pretty defeated, sitting across from a client who had travelled hours to see me.
We met.
I presented the concept.
He loved the story and meaning behind the logo.
But there was a problem.
The design itself felt too common for the industry.
So we went back to the drawing board.
At the time, I could have easily seen that as another setback. Instead, we kept working.
Now, a couple of weeks later, we’ve made some real progress, and I’m getting ready to present the next stage.
Looking back, this whole experience taught me something.
Sometimes life doesn’t give you time to sit with how you feel.
One minute, you can feel completely destroyed.
The next, you have to get up, put those feelings to one side, and do what needs to be done.
And sometimes, what needs to be done is something that genuinely scares you.
For me, that was conducting a strategy session, presenting my work in person, meeting a client face-to-face for the first time, and having someone travel from another city specifically to meet me.
That night, I ticked something off my list.
I had finally done something that forced me out of my comfort zone.
And honestly, I think I needed it.
Talk soon
Yousaf