Consistency denotes professionalism. 

And the best creatives follow a simple rule to stay consistent and reliably solve business problems, maintaining their demand in the market for years, even decades. 

Bryan Buckley, for example, has been dubbed the “King of the Super Bowl” because since 1999, he’s directed 72 Super Bowl Sunday commercials. Seventy-two. 

He sat down for an interview on Real Sports with Bryant Gumble.

Gumble asked a softball: “As the guy who is head-manning the project,” he said, “is it part of your job to manage the expectations of those paying the bill?” 

Buckley, seemingly shy, looked away from the camera. “It is,” he said. “The thing is—” he searched for the right words, “the thing is I like to fix the game, basically,” he smiled, “so I try to choose the best projects, I think, that have the shot to win the game.”

“Oh,” Gumble said, incredulous. “So you turn down those that don’t have a shot?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, ya,” Buckley said, “ya, you don’t want to do the ones—” he laughed, hesitant, “the stinkers come in and you’re like, No thank you, I’ll pass on that. And then there are ones that come in and you’re like, Okay, I think I can work with this…”

At the beginning of a creative career, you take what comes to you. 

Because in the beginning you probably don’t have a selection, so you say “yes” to everything. But eventually, hopefully, saying “yes” to every opportunity will become unsustainable. Eventually, hopefully, you will have a selection. 

And when you have a selection, be selective: 

Choose projects with a clear path to success. 
Don’t be a hero.
Fix the game.