Category: inspirational

Focusing on the things you are doing

Focus that is a very interesting thing don’t you think? How many times have you started something and then lost focus? Losing focus can be detrimental. The reason I say that is because one simple mistake will mess up everything.

Whenever I am doing a calligraphy piece and I am utterly focused and then I misspell a word by a letter or I have a line wave a bit (not straight) its because of me being focused poorly. You have to do your best to be focused. I’m not saying be so focused you forget about everyone else.

More so having a clear focused vision on what it is that you want to do. Especially with creating design projects being focused is important. When I am starting off a project for a client if I am not focused and confident all the way through then it will turn out poorly. I’ll admit I did experience this often. But now I know how to diminish that feeling immediately.

Because I want to be the best and so should you. You may be thinking yeah your talking about being focused right now, But I don’t have any clients or I cannot find a Graphic design job. Well you know what I don’t have any clients either and I have not been able to find a Graphic Design Job yet. You and me both have to hang in there. Remain focused and maintain your vision.

While your focused on securing that position and those clients you should be designing. Because if your not then it seems as if you don’t really care too much to be a designer for the long term. Remain focused and continue striving to improve and better yourself.

Be Proud of who you are

 

If you are not proud of who you are I want to ask you why not? Whether you’ve graduated from college and you have not been able to land a job in the field you studied don’t worry. You should be proud that you have even made it this far. Just think of the people whom you studied with in school that just gave up.

This is part of the process of this thing called life. If you have graduated from design school or wherever you have to stay committed. Do your best to not be afraid of trying new things. Trying out things that they did not teach you in school matters. Just think what they taught you in school is from a book and your sheltered.

A great example is a mother who never really lets her children experience how it is hanging out with friends and other things. You will fail and fail some more. I have been failing and I know that it is something I cannot avoid. But what I can do is take notes whether writing them down or mentally and learn from it.

One major thing that shocked me was when I learned that right now may not be your time. Because you may want to be the best and change the industry you have the utmost passion for. Until the time comes make sure you are working on yourself and your skills. Because if you are working on yourself and improving your skills the time is going to come.

 

Have a great weekend.

Driven by the fear of humiliation

Not being afraid to fail completely out of the fear of humiliation is very valuable. Because lets take a second to think about, how afraid many of us are of looking bad. The same thing can be said for those who are afraid of raising their hand to answer a question they know the answer to.

So what I decided to do a long time ago is to let go of the fear of being afraid. This is as bit of confidence you have to start nourishing. Then you do little by little each day. For example if your in college sit at the front of the class or if you take public transportation sit at the front of the bus instead of the back. Basically do something differently to get rid of your fear.

Another thing is admitting when your wrong. Admitting your wrong in-front of people can be utterly self depreciating. Honestly you show yourself that your confident in your beliefs and that your not scared to admit that you do not know everything. This can also be called being transparent.

P.S I’ve got some great things coming for the site. and one more thing if you have not already downloaded a free wallpaper go do so before they are all gone.

First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

 

I came across the original video of the dancing guy a while ago. But anyhow I did not think about it on the same terms as is described in this video. Because being a leader is clearly shown by the dancing guy here. Then you have someone else who joins in and then more and then even more.

To keep it short do not be afraid to stand alone while others are sitting down wondering what you are doing. Because you’ll eventually create a similar thing from the dancing guy here.

University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address

 

One of the most honest, motivating commencement speeches I have ever heard. The reason is because he knows what he is talking. Also another thing is the amount of discipline that he has undergone in his career.

 

Enjoy and have a great weekend everyone

Get yourself together

If you are at a time in this year and your not together take sometime and get yourself together. Take time to re-evaluate your goals and etc. You may feel as if I cannot do it. I cannot get clients, I cannot get the junior design position I have been applying to. Keep at it.

Do not let little bits of failure keep you down. You have to outlast the pain, the defeat and repeated emails of the typical copy and pasted

“After reviewing your qualifications based on your experience we have decided to move forward with another candidate”.

Then when you email them and ask them what you could have done to be a better fit and they never respond. Just realize that you are going to get to where you can see yourself. Continue designing, networking and building your brand. Learning from experience for example you will get a call or email and your daily practice will come into play.

You know its better to be prepared then unprepared. Another thing is to not stay stagnate with your skills, knowledge and other things you know. Yes you may have a master, bachelors or associates degree but what are you doing with it. Are you putting what you learned to use or just passing the final was the the last time you used that knowledge. Also what are you reading? What are you doing to continue your journey to being the person you talk about or admire.

Have a great weekend

Everyone you meet

Whether or not you already have this mentality its the truth. We at times are so interested in never shutting up and letting the other person talk. When you shut up and listen to the other person you can learn so much. A good saying to remember is Knowledge speaks and wisdom listens.

Just take a second to think how much you will gain by listening. You gain insight from someone who has been through what you are going through or they may offer you help with something that you will experience further down your journey through life. The other thing is for you to make the decision whether they are credible or not.

Because you would not take advice from someone who has no idea about what you are doing. If you are a football player you would not take advice from someone who is a social worker on how to run a route and remember it exactly or how to keep a defender from stealing your pass. You want to have credible sources for everything. Because if you do not you will wind up who knows where.

When you do seek advice, help and etc from those who are credible it will be more valuable. Also you can learn from those who are failures. If you meet someone who is broke and penniless sit and talk with them. Learn their story and find out what you can do to prevent it. Because if you are not a curious or person who questions things you should probably start doing so.

Do not be afraid to ask people questions about things. Also to even ask them what their profession is and letting them know what you do. I feel as a designer that is something we can forget to tell people. So therefore do not be afraid to tell people what you do and to ask them questions.

My Hand will always

When I first heard this quote from Margaret Kilgallen it was an eye opener. A great example is in our design work,calligraphy,lettering we focused so much on getting everything crisp and clean. Not to say having clean and crisp design/lettering,calligraphy work is bad. More so that you can try and try to get your lines straight but it will never be straight.

Therefore that is where the beauty is. If you look at something that is hand done it captures a different essence to it. The feeling of not being done by a machine lacks certain aesthetics. Lets take hmm a Renaissance  painting and compare it to a digital painting. The painting from the Renaissance will evoke more feeling of human like quality to the piece.

While the digital painting will have a mechanical feel to it. But this is could be up to debate for many people. I just want you to realize that the importance of having a human aspect to your work will allow you to invest yourself even more into it. Because if you look at someones lettering or calligraphy really close you can see the line waver.

Maybe from afar it looks amazingly beautiful. When close up you notice the flaws better. This involves training your eyes to be able to spot certain things. Another thing is with other aspects of lettering,calligraphy and graphic design.