Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tahir Juba. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Tahir , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Developing confidence and self-esteem as a creative was challenging for me especially in the beginning but also presently. Expressing yourself creatively is exposing a part of who you are and how you express yourself, which is a very vulnerable thing to do, so it does take confidence to show it off. Before, when I was less confident in myself and a lower self-esteem, I would hide a lot of my creativity, ideas, and skills because I was afraid of being judged and not being good enough but obviously, that’s not good for building a career. When ever I did show my creative work or shared my ideas, I would usually get some good feedback and oftentimes praise, but it was more of an internal thought that it wasn’t good enough. So, I will say the very generic and corny line of “it starts within”. It doesn’t matter if you get compliments or negative feedback on yourself or your work from other people, if you don’t believe in yourself then you won’t be confident. It starts with your mindset so making habits like positive affirmations and positive self-talk was really what kick started my confidence. If I was unsure about an idea or a project I worked on, I reminded myself that I am talented, I have a great skillset, and I am great at what I do. That also works with self-esteem, but more so reminding myself that I am more than just the work that I do and disconnecting how I feel about myself as an individual person and how I feel about my work. I give myself grace when I feel overwhelmed at work because I am a human and I love myself and, just like anyone I love, I wouldn’t force them to work when they feel overwhelmed.
Overall, my confidence and self-esteem comes from me continuously trusting myself when it comes to my work and who I am. I also respect myself and my limitations. And if I ever have trouble trusting myself, I just think back to a time where I truly didn’t believe in me and I surprised myself by completing the project or receiving overwhelmingly good feedback and then remind myself who I am.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Being from Baltimore plays a huge part of my brand because, as a filmmaker, I am a storyteller and Baltimore’s story is often being told from the outside and it’s often shared without care or attention to the people that live here. So I want to tell the stories of Baltimore with the eyes, ears, and touch of Baltimore. I focus on short form documentary work, event coverage, brand marketing, and music videos from time to time. I really want to head in a direction where I am producing short narrative films, taking them to film festivals and having screenings of my own. I also am working more towards building a brand agency, helping brands tell their story is creative and engaging ways through narrative film, graphic design, and social media.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think three things that have helped me throughout my journey would be being a hard-worker, taking risk, and being open to learning. Through my journey, I realized being a hard-worker isn’t consistent working and staying as busy as possible with no breaks (which is what I used to do earlier in my career), but it’s applying yourself and doing your best at whatever you are doing. I’ll always be an advocate for taking breaks and finding a balance between work and play, but when I am working I give it my best because you never know where a project can take you, no matter how big or small. Taking risk is always important because I needed to break out of my comfort zone in order to grow. I don’t mean huge, dangerous risk but even the super small stuff like saying yes when asked to film a music video when you’ve never done a music video before. Each opportunity is a door that leads somewhere, you may not know what’s behind the door but it’s new and potential to grow. Being open to learning is a huge thing as will, specifically in the film industry, things are constantly changing whether it be the technology or the practice. As a video editor, I always have to be aware of trends and new ways to edit faster or better. AI is always on the rise, so I have to be aware on how I can integrate it in to my workflow where it can help productivity. Also, being open to learn by making new connections and expanding my network has helped a lot. It’s great to spend some time on Youtube to learn a new skill but when you talk to people with different experiences, there’s always something to learn.
My advice for someone who is early in their journey and looking to improve in these areas is to practice. Make it a habit by doing something small everyday that contributes to it. When you’re working, set a timer and put away all distractions so you can get into your zone and put in your best work. Do something new every day to step out of your comfort zone and it could be something small like trying a new flavor from the donut shop or trying a new style of editing. Listen to a podcast about a topic you’ve never even thought about learning. Do Duolingo and learn a new language or try something you’ve seen on TikTok (safely). Just start small and work on it everyday!
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
In the past 12 months, my biggest area of growth has been my self-discipline. I do a lot of working from home so self-discipline is important for me to get work done, even to get out of bed. But, I started going to the gym a little over a year ago now and just sticking to it and seeing results has done a lot for my self-discipline. Usually, I wake up at 5am and get to the gym around 6:30am and that in itself took a lot of discipline but I translate that to my work and career. To wake up early consistently and in a healthy manner, it’s a mixture of getting enough sleep the night before, eating well, and just pushing yourself to get out the bed. So you set yourself up for success and then you push yourself a little bit to get it done. Same thing for work. I eat breakfast so I can be focused when working, then when it’s time to work, I sit down and kinda force myself to get into the zone by eliminating distractions.
That has helped my productivity, my self-esteem, and my career because now when I say I want to accomplish something I actually act on it and have the control over myself and my actions to get it done. Maybe I haven’t been perfect and am not a master at self-discipline right now, especially since things have gotten a bit busier, but it has definitely increased and has shown great results.
Contact Info:
- Website: instagram.com/juba_productions
- Instagram: @juba_productions
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahir-juba-999ab8a0/
Image Credits
Aziza Fahie Kamaria Avery Brandon Armstrong David Sloan Matt Freire
