“ Being very good is no good, you have to be very, very, very, very, very good”
I got this book on my first day; everyone in the agency got one. The eternal pursuit of unhappiness, the title of this crimson bible like book, about David Ogilvy’s ideal of what he thinks is the most prominent character that a highly creative person should possess. This little book changed the way I think and my altitude at work.

At the time I read it, I did not quite understand what it talked about at first. I thought I was either getting dumber after 2 months away from school or this book just plain boring. Until now, after more than two months into my internship, I started to really understand what the book really meant. The book captured a share belief that you should never be satisfies with yourself, you must always learn and make things better than the last time because “ when we green, we grow. When we ripe we rot.”
The book started out with eight virtue habits of a creative person. There are courage, idealism, curiosity, playfulness, candour, intuition, free spiritedness, and persistence. These habits are not only proprietary to advertising, but it is necessary for everyone to be a successful person.
Courage, this character is one of the most important because fear will suck away the youth, the adventure and our imagination. It will leads to self-doubt, and in the absent of courage, nothing good can be accomplished. Courage is the first habit that I related to. It is the first problem that I encounter at work. On the first day of my internship, I have this fear of saying or doing something wrong and it prevented me to express myself and be who I am. My first day was also my first time to attend meeting with customer and I was hesitant to express my opinions and ideas for a project. Then I realized if I keep minding what others think of me, I would never done anything worthwhile during my time at the agency. Courage will bring a person confident, character; and will leave customer a trusting feeling in the agency.
Idealism, “when our dreams are little we become little people: our aspiration becomes meeting next quarter’s target and not losing an account.” I hear this all the time, all the quotes about dream big and be yourself, but I was not aware that I was sucked into the insane cycle of going to work and go home, trying to get everything done and having the customer feel satisfies and happy. It was one day when I was panicking in the middle of the preparation for an exhibition in a couple days, and trying to have the customer satisfies with the pictures; I was lucky enough to reminded by a photographer that it not about finishing your tasks, it not about doing exactly what your boss tell you to do so you can go home but it about what you learn from all of this. Then it got me thinking, and reflects on what I have been doing; I realized all I’ve done is trying to do what others tell me to do. That is when I started to change the way I approach my work. I learn so I can become bigger. This leads to Candour, a habit that I learned from doing the exhibition. “ Only dead fish go with the flow” you always have to give your opinion, dedicated to the truth so we can go on and solve the problem. I learned that even when customers want a certain thing to be this way, I still need to advice them when you see a mistake. Only then can there is a spark in the project and trust in each other to do the job. Which is why David warned about the tyranny of politeness.
Persistence- it is not school anymore, you not going to an A or a B or an F when you miss one little task in an assignment. It is the responsibility and the drive to become successful that drove me to become persistence. The constant repeat of the sentence from my boss “ Don’t give in, you have to get what you want” have become the ritual for everyone in the room. Even a photographer that I worked with for a project, every time he saw me, he would say “ Don’t give up. Don’t give in.” Contradict to what I heard in school “ Do your best”, at here, you can’t just do your best, you have to be on top of it and get the trophy back to the agency. And, that to me at the time was very important, because I needed that.
Curiosity- “ An endless trail of ideas float in the ether. You will only see them if you are curious.” A co-worker once told me, just randomly, you have learn as much as you can, 50% at work and 50% on your own. Then I looked around the room and realize one thing, everyone in my office is driven to work and focus on their specialize department, they don’t really know how to do anything other than being a producer or a PR. It is restrain of a person to become better.
“ Rule 1: There are no rule. Rule 2: never forget rule 1.” In the creative world or any industry, I realized it is important to be “ Playfulness” and “ free-spiritedness”-. I find these two habits particularly true when I go to work, not only does being gloomy and serious don’t produce good work but also the pressure will get to you. The pressure from the clients, from your boss, from supplier will get to you if you don’t know how to get the pressure off and have a playfulness altitude. The rules are there, but it is easier to forget the rule so we can be creative like Picasso once said, “ we are all born children. The trick to remain one.”
People have to make decisions in almost every minute of their life. Those decisions vary in their importance and range from everyday life decisions that can be made more or less automatically to sophisticated decisions that need more attention. Therefore, intuition is very important when working in a fast pace, creative environment. Besides, the “follow your heart vs. think twice” dilemma is confronting us with an additional decision. It might seem odd or even unprofessional to rely on intuition on the job. However, if one can trust our instincts, feel confident in our decision-making, and anticipate the needs of our colleagues and customers. That kind of competence enables the team to work efficiently, handle complex projects and quickly respond to changing business needs. These 8 habits are summed up in two words “ Divine Discontent”. Don’t bow your head. Don’t know your place. Defy the gods. Don’t sit back. Don’t give in. Don’t give up. Don’t win silvers. Don’t be so easily happy with yourself. Don’t be spineless. Don’t be gutless. Don’t be toadies. Don’t be Gollum. Don’t go gentle into that good night. And don’t ever let a single scrap of rubbish of the agency. These are the habits that I have came across from the lesson I learned during my internship and it has changed the way I think and how I work. It not about how I finish my task and accomplish a project or an exhibition, it the valuable lessons I have learned from my co-worker, from my boss, from this book that changed me personally and professionally in the future.