Sticking Feathers In Your Ass Doesn’t Make You A Chicken

Authenticity is wildly rare. Wild isn’t even the best word… Authenticity is depressingly rare.

“Look at me”

“Nope, I’m over here”

“You had it right the first time”

Take a moment and think about Instagram. Every girl with a tattoo, account, and the selfie angle is a “tattoo model”. What’s wild about the world is they’re technically not wrong; they are publishing photos of themselves, some of which were likely taken by someone else. But this question is, are you really a model?

I’ve done this.

I remember the day I started telling people that I did graphic design. I felt like a fraud, because it all reality I was a fraud. I stuck feathers up my ass and called myself a chicken. The worst part of it was seeing the look on people faces who had actually done the hard work of becoming a graphic designer. They looked at me with eyes rolled like taquitos from Filibertos at 3am. The feeling was awkward and unbearable.

I grew up in the 90’s where the worst thing you could be called is a “poser”. That stuck with me. Shit, it still sticks with me…I’m super sensitive to not use adjectives that aren’t true, especially since I survived that “yeah, I’m a designer” phase.

It’s one thing to have feathers, it’s another thing to glue them to yourself.

Unlike most of my peers, I didn’t become a designer in my early/mid twenties mainly because I was too busy traveling and actually being a public/motivational speaker. At that time my path was clear…I was obviously going to have a speaking career that exceeded Tony Robbins! My professional creative career started in my 30’s and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Like Jay Z says, “30’s the new 20”. I’ve done and accomplished in 5 years what most designers work 10 years to check off their list. It’s not because I’m the best designer, it’s because I started doing “what I wanted to do when I grow up” as a grown up, and there’s a ton of value in that.

Well, sticking feathers in your ass does not make you a chicken, but if you want to succeed at something, put in the hard work and dedicate yourself to it, until you become it, then dominate!