Erik Enberg is a Copywriter and Creative Director based in Austin, Texas. We are constantly thrilled to work with him. He’s worked as Creative Director for agencies like Arnold Worldwide, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and Mother London. He recently shared five things with us that keep him creative.

My “FIVE THINGS” all come in the form of quotes that constantly find their way to the front of my brain, day after day.

1: “This can be anything you want it to be.”

This is something David Lynch told Louis CK in the midst of filming an episode of “Louis.” It is something I remind myself of all the time. We work in a creative industry and we can never lose sight of how amazing that is.

2: “Learn to love the process.” 

This is stolen from my old professor, Mark Fenske. It’s the other side of the coin. If you can’t learn to love all the rejection, false starts, redirects, scrambles and everything else that comes with getting from brief to realized idea then you won’t last long in this business. When art meets commerce, the process is the friction point.

3: “The truth is better.” 

I learned this one at Mother London. Most companies and brands are afraid of being honest about what they really have to offer, but the truth is always more interesting and compelling than anything you could make up. All the best work I’ve ever been a part of started with getting the client to admit to some ugly truth about themselves or their audience.

4: “Stay humble, stay hungry.”

I forget this one more often than I’d like. Most of my worst performances or experiences in my career can be traced back to being either too full of myself or too lazy. You can’t get away with being either for very long.

5: “Put a chicken in it.”  

Actually, the quote is, “I think you should, like, put a chicken in it, you know?” It was something Jeff Goodby said about a VO read. And I didn’t know. But we put a chicken in it anyway and it was great. I always think of that moment when I get stuck on a project. Sometimes you just have to put a chicken in it.

JUST FIVE THINGS: An ongoing LESS+MORE initiative designed to illuminate, in the simplest way possible, the five most important things to know about a particular art, craft, discipline or process.

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