For more information about the contest and the entry, visit Greplin’s blog post.

The Problem

Ideas surround you at all times. It doesn’t seem to leave you alone. You find way too many things interesting and you feel that you can really improve that experience and hopefully make a difference in the world. You end up stacking up way too many things on your plate and focus becomes a word that is foreign to you. This describes a large majority of my own life.

I needed that moment of clarity. That ability to see past all the things I could potentially do and list the things I can actually work on, and most importantly, finish. If you had asked me what I wanted to do in high school, you would have heard everything under the moon, from fashion to marketing to music. This probably describes many of you. We are dawning an era of great thinkers and creators and I am very proud to be surrounded with such talent, but with a saturation of great ideas, comes the responsibility of executing them. You need to actually give a shit about what you are working on. When you have that level of conviction, focus becomes a by-product.

Realization

Over time, we have come to realize that perfection is not achieved on the first try. Only a select few can knock that off, and not all the time. We have come to develop a deep appreciation for the iterative process. We have learned to respect the microscopic details. The little things that leave you mesmerized. Ogilvy, one of the finest ad men of his era, considered himself a terrible copywriter, but an excellent editor. He went onto create some of the world’s most memorable advertising messages. Ads that go beyond selling a product, but instead creating a feeling. I think that the role of the editor is going to be more crucial now more than ever. When taking on such a massive role, you need the skill of zooming in on both the details, and getting a holistic view of the entire problem. You need to pose the right questions to get people to think of the right answers. You need a great sense of focus to pull this all off. So how do you attain it?

The Solution

The answer is simple. Find the thing you care about. Notice the books that you read. For instance, even though I  am enrolled in an undergraduate design program, I caught myself reading business blogs, picking up on related TED talks and writing down management theories in my sketchbook. People always take these subtle clues for granted.

After you find your passion, make it a mission. Make a list of three things that you want to focus on. Post that on your wall, your mirror and try to get that starting excitement out of the way. Once you convince yourself that you truly love what you do, that feeling of hype just goes out the window and you get excited every time you work on it. That moment of control gives you the reason behind all the grunt work, the stuff that success stories fail to mention. The hustle.

When everything has it’s own routine and focus is achieved, you just created a vision.

Passion. Mission. Vision.