By Alice Burden

 

Does KRAK dream of electric Marcs?

 

A good night’s sleep is a central part of learning. Your brain processes what has happened to you during the day and allows your memories to solidify. 

 

But this scab is not about getting a good night’s sleep.

 

This scab is about half term. 

 

To me, half term has been like one long sleep, in which I have been able to process the first 6 weeks of SCA, because, sometimes, taking a break can be the best thing for learning. 

 

Here are the top three things I’ve learnt:

 

Lesson 1: Self belief is key

 

The biggest lesson I have learn so far has been about myself. I entered SCA believing I was a negative person, who consistently compared myself to others and complained when things weren’t my way.

 

When you feel that way about yourself, you become a self fulfilling prophecy. So I tried my hardest to be positive.

 

Step 1: Surround yourself with positive people

 

This was easy; everyone in KRAK is so supportive and wants each other to succeed. Of course, there is a level of healthy competition but there is also a lot of camaraderie. 

 

Step 2: Talk to someone about it

 

I spoke with Alex, our life coach, about my “negativity”. She made me realise that I wasn’t negative at all, but just cautious. To be positive, I need a certain level of caution, and this can come across as negative to people who don’t need as much caution. This was a huge turning point for me.

 

Step 3: Believe in yourself

 

The week we did scamping, my self esteem hit rock bottom. I’m meant to be an art director! Why couldn’t I do it? Then I realised the only way to get better is to believe that I can get better. Since then, I’ve been really proud of everything I’ve made and I think the quality of work correlates with how I see myself.

 

Lesson 2: Rest

 

There is no point working when you are tired, you’ll just produce nonsense. Working late drives your cortisol (stress hormone) levels up which means you will struggle to sleep, thus impacting your work. Lastly, if you work all day, work all night and don’t sleep, you are heading towards burn out, which is the last place you want to be.

 

I am yet to have a panic attack, which is a good sign for me. I’ve kept the stress at bay by working hard during the day and relaxing as soon as I’m home. Sure, I’ve had a couple of nights where I’ve worked late but I’m trying my best not to do that again.

 

Lesson 3: Learn from your peers. 

 

This is an obvious one: watch them and learn. Figure out what it is that they did that made everyone go “Oooh” and try to put it in your own work. If you like what they did, ask them to help you.

 

So the three most important things I’ve learnt from the first six weeks weren’t creative techniques or strategic thinking or positioning or stickiness… they were transferable core life skills. Things which I should have known already. Things which I probably did know, but wasn’t practicing. 

 

I can honestly say I am a much happier person since starting this course, and I can’t wait to see what the next six weeks teach me about myself and how I can use those skills to create better work and to become a better person.