Baseball players who fail 70% of the time make the Hall of Fame.
Creatives aren't that different. If you're getting 3 out of 10 ideas through the gauntlet of reviews, and "can we make the logo bigger" requests, you're batting .300. In baseball, that's elite. In advertising, that's Tuesday.
The other 7? Those are harder to talk about. The ones where you walk out of a presentation questioning everything, including whether you've just been extremely lucky for the last two decades, AKA the quiet but persistent voice asking, "Wait, are you actually good at this?"
Yes. And no. And it depends on the brief.
Here's what I've learned: the biggest wins in my career grew directly out of the most brutal defeats. Not despite them, because of them. Rejection has a way of forcing you back to the brief, past the obvious ideas, past the safe ones, all the way down to the hidden gems you would have walked right past if you'd gotten the first concept approved.
However, it only works if you're willing to accept two things: you're not perfect, and every loss has something to teach you. Skip either one, and you're just collecting scars instead of experience. So, pick yourself up. Read the brief again. Go deeper.
And as the great philosopher Stuart Smalley once reminded us on SNL's Daily Affirmations: "You're good enough. You're smart enough. And doggonit, people like you." If that reference went over your head, please stop what you're doing and find it on YouTube. You'll thank me.
Then go make something great.
