You Might Just Miss It
The sun came out in Paris on Sunday. Instead of the typical “get up and go” agenda, Lu (Lucia) and I used our final precious moments to enjoy a truly Parisian day and pop a bottle of champagne for the first of many goodbyes.
Over the past month, I have seen, tasted, photographed, walked and laughed all over this city. In an effort to make sure I didn’t miss anything, I adhered to a rigorous agenda of never pausing. True to my advertising nature, I didn’t think I had time to stop.
So, on this day, I decided to stop. Take a breath. Close my eyes and just be– just for a few seconds. And you know, something amazing happened:
I had time to think.
Over the course of this program, if I have learned anything, it’s that you need to give yourself these moments of pause. I think we are accustomed to continually being on the go, and thus, foregoing the time we would have allowed ourselves to process the world around us (the world, mind you, we are hired to interpret for our clients). To make sure we don’t “miss” anything. However, in the end, that’s exactly what happens. You miss the important stuff.
You see, I’ve been trying to crack the code on the creativity that comes out of Les Gaulois for a month. Sure, it’s the risk taking, creativity, employees and consumer first thinking. Yes, it’s absolutely all of these things and more. Yet, what struck me most about the environment was the importance placed around pausing. If you just stop and take a beat, you can focus on what really matters: truth, insight….stories. The work does not begin until that story is defined.
At the end of the day, it all begins and ends with that one story. It’s the only thing that separates the good work from the truly great.
Life will not always afford you the opportunity to pause. I’m realistic in understanding our work is fast-paced, but when it does, don’t ignore it.
Use it. Take the moment, find the story– make something great.
My advice? I’ll have to steal a line from an all-time favorite,
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Thank you, Havas Lofts, for the life changing opportunity.
(And, special shout out to Aurore, Stephanie, Pascale and Céline for being incredible teammates!)
Until next time,
Marissa
