A letter to a student about their future referencing my past

The below is an excerpt from a round of correspondence with a student this semester. The student was having a hard time connecting the great ideas tin their head with a way to properly communicate them through design... as well as how to get the most out of the in-class critique.

Upon reflection, I thought that some of the sentiments might be beneficial to a wider audience, so here you go:

...

"... you have so many excellent ideas kicking around in your head (and you’re so anxious to get them out) that pacing them is hard.

I know it can be frustrating when someone tells you to slow down and take your time — or worse when someone might overlook something that you think is important because cause they’re not able to dive into the details… but, as you can imagine, these are lessons hard-earned myself. As someone who was also once young and full of good ideas — and also anxious to get them out — it took me a while to understand that not everyone was on the same page.

In fact, I remember exactly when that was:

It was the summer of 1993. Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted was on constant rotation. I was 22 and I was working on a movie set for the summer. One of the grip-electricians and I were talking about “life on set”. For me, it was a summer job. For Eddie, it was a life — he drifted from movie to movie and from one high-stress environment to the next.

He said: “Man, I've gotta tell Ya. I've burned a lot of bridges in this business… but sadly, they've all been in my personal life: the last thing my ex-girlfriend said to me was: ‘Eddie: when are you gonna learn — the rest of the world isn’t working on your stupid movie?…’…” … and with that, I began to understand the difference between professional goals and audience needs (and expectations)… and I knew I didn’t want to be Eddie. It was hard, but I tried to look at things through a different lens after that.

You’ll do great but take your time. Remember your goals — both long-term and short-term… and always consider the context and where your audience finds themselves within it."