My advice is you need to have a vision. Be confident. Or act as if you are confident as a way to get people to believe in you. Then repetition is reputation. Keep growing, keep changing, but always remain true to yourself and your vision.
– American fashion designer, Calvin Klein was born on this day in 1942.
Where was Calvin Klein when I needed that advice in high school?
Oh, that’s right, making jeans that didn’t come in my size.
No, we’re not bitter.
But I did go through a period in life where I measured the worth of something based on how many pairs of Levis I could buy for the same amount of money.
Don’t judge.
Klein had a vision, and he didn’t give up.
I’m not designing jeans, and really not even wearing them as much anymore. At least not as a fashion statement.
But this post isn’t about jeans. It’s about vision.
Not that I wouldn’t be a vision in jeans.
I digress.
Really when I got out of high school I didn’t have much of a vision. Or at least not a clear one. As I’ve written before I was in my 50s before I knew what that vision was.
More accurately, I was in my 50s before I was able to admit my vision and accept that it was okay and that maybe I didn’t need the real job.
Okay, so now I need the real job because I have real debts and real responsibilities.
Again, I digress.
Klein’s point is, once you have that vision, hang onto it. Keep working on it. Keep moving forward.
Setbacks don’t matter.
They’re inevitable.
What matters is that, when they come, you pick yourself up and you keep going.
And going.
Don’t give up the vision. Don’t give up the dream.
Keep working for it.