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Ed Says. . . dream jobs are hard work!

Our super assistant Ed is back with another weekly blog post.:

Well, we have been busy over the last few months. So much so that I've been a tad neglectful of my weekly blog post. But, all that is to change! Don't get me wrong, ABoF HQ is still packed to the gills with new artists, campaigns and exciting developments (all of which will be revealed in time), it's just that I'm getting better at managing my time (and Claire threatened to drown my iPhone if I didn't start blogging regularly again).

This week I'll be casting my eye on dream jobs. Luckily, I've always had my head screwed on pretty tightly. There are industries I've always wanted to work in, but I've never had any illusions that work is, as the name suggests, work. I've come into contact with quite a few people in their late teens and early twenties who think that a media job (working in music, video games or film) is the ultimate in dream jobs - and it is. What they fail to realise is that, just like any job, once you've been doing it for a certain length of time and the initial "ooh, I get to talk to musicians/actors or play video games all day" buzz wears off, all you're left is your own solid work ethic. And if you don't have that, you're stuffed!

I've got some sad news for some of these people desperate to break into their dream industry - if you can't motivate yourself to do a job you're indifferent to, you're probably not going to be able to cut it in any other industry. Once you've listened to over a hundred promos, watched your thousandth indie film from some student director desperate to be discovered, and spent the best part of 6 months designing a level for some video game that might ultimately be shelved at the last minute - you need to start depending on yourself for motivation.

I used to test toys and gadgets for a living, then write about them for a website. It was amazing! The 7 year old trapped inside of me got up every morning, and laughed gaily at the sky while I skipped to work. This lasted about three months. After that, the sight of another remote control helicopter was enough to send me reaching for the cunningly hidden bottle of Jack Daniels the creative team kept hidden under the desk. Did this mean I hated my job? No! The honeymoon was just over and, as anyone in a long term relationship will tell you, that's where the hard work starts.

You need to take pride in your work, strive to be the best that you can be. It doesn't matter if you wash dishes for a living, or look after an internationally renowned band on their world tour (I've done the former - working towards the latter) - you need to be on you’re A game all the time. If you're not, the only person you're cheating is yourself.