Eventually you’ll be the best option

When did you realize you won’t be a world-renowned prodigy? For me it happened when I turned 26 and my daydream of owning a creative agency in my twenties was nowhere close to happening. 

Maybe you realized it when you turned 20 or 30 or 40. Maybe it became clear when you stopped understanding TikTok lingo. Maybe it sank in when someone much younger than you was in charge. 

So what do you do now that you’re not Justin Bieber? It can be tempting to give up. If you can’t be the best, is it even worth it? If you’re no longer the hottest, youngest, hippest person available, what’s the point? 

Don’t fall into despair. Instead, find some new heroes. Justin Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo and Sam Kolder and Millie Bobby-Brown were anomalies. There are even more successful people who didn’t even start until they were well past the point of youth. Take a look at Harrison Ford or Kurt Warner or Morgan Freeman. These guys were not very successful until later in life. But then they got all the opportunity in the world.

The thing I tell creative folks when they first move to Los Angeles is this: if you can stick it out, eventually you’ll be the best option. If you can keep your head down, make connections, and be good to work with, eventually the phone will start ringing. Even if you aren’t at the place you thought you would be, and even if your work isn’t as seminal as you daydreamed, eventually you’ll get your shot. 

Just don’t give up.