Don’t Get too Comfortable

I really enjoyed this ted talk. Because he talked about not getting comfortable. In the sense of him sleeping on the floor beside his bed. Because if you always do the same thing you will continue to get the same results. In other words you will feel Ok my current situation is good so therefore I do not need to strive for more.

If you are currently a web designer or a graphic designer and you’ve gotten comfortable try new things for your career. Maybe you could take up illustration to combine with your current skills. Never stop striving for more and to become more. But the main thing to ask yourself is if you want to become more and have more.

Striking Out is Not Bad

Striking out or failing as you may say is not a bad thing. The quote above is from Babe Ruth and Babe Struck out many times during his career. But what is he known for? Hitting home-runs. Because not many people pay attention to him striking out.

People remember things that are good. The more you are failing the quicker you will end up getting to your desired destination. Getting to the destination can seem impossible at times. More so we are impatient and wanting to get there in a hurry. I for one am learning this more and more each day.

Therefore while continuing to try things until they work and keeping the belief that sooner or later they will keeps me going. Also none of this matters unless you believe. If you believe in yourself and what you are doing sooner or later others will believe as well.

Avoiding Sameness

Sooner or later you will began to realize that your work is starting to look the same. More so you may get style confused with how the problem should be solved. Because if you look at many of these portfolio sites a good amount of the work would not get accepted by a client and also starts to look the same.

A good way that I learned to sameness is to avoid falling into the same practice of solving design problems. If you just try once a different approach you may end up with a different result. Because you should be listening to yourself. For example if before you start a project you say I would want to have a glass of water and lay down for a few minutes do it. Maybe you want to stare out the window for a few minutes do it.

Since I started listening to myself I began to enjoy designing even more. At times we can get into a routine which ends up in us not enjoying our profession. So therefore stop approaching things the same way and do not be afraid to experiment.

Remember being a lazy artist and falling into the same routine will only produce the same results.

Wisdom Listens

This goes hand in hand with listening before you speak. If there is someone that is offering you advice shut up and listen. Sorry for being harsh you have to realize that there are people who know more then you. Especially when they are critiquing your work. Do your best to put your ego aside and learn from them.

I advise you to try this for at least 30 days that when you talk with people whom are in your profession and or not in your profession to just listen to them. But of course contributing to the conversation will help and make things go better. You will be surprised at how much people will tell you if you just simply ask them.

The value of being honest with yourself

If you are not being honest with yourself its time to start. I for one have always did my best to be honest with myself. Because you don’t want to be a designer that is living in some fantasy land. What I mean is being a designer that thinks their work is the best in the world. Not saying having confidence is bad. More so if you have a small portfolio then you have to get to work.

Because I have built up my calligraphy portion of my portfolio now I just have to get to building up my branding portion and web design. Don’t wait to start upon doing what you know you need to do. Simply start today and get to work. You have to realize that you may have a plush design job at the moment. Also you have to realize how many people out there are wanting your position and are willing to work harder then you.

If there is a skill that you do not have stop thinking oh I’ll be ok without learning it. Then later on in life you’ll be saying I should’ve taken that class. You may not need to learn another skill in your industry or you just are happy with what your doing. Just remember to not be blinded by what can actually happen later down the road. With more skills your more valuable.

Don’t die wondering

If you are hesitant about doing anything in your life I recommend you to ask yourself what am I going to do if I don’t attempt such a thing. I learned that life really is short and we are not put here to stay. So therefore why settle for just doing what society expects us to or family.

This year has been moving pretty swiftly. I mean we are almost through January and what are you doing to make this year better then the next and or the previous year?

How to avoid being bored as a Designer

Boredom is a very hard thing for some to deal with. Doing a task over and over again seems as if we are on a treadmill. When you have the mentality of running in place not making progress it will become like weeds to a garden. You have to believe that you are making progress.

One thing is to keep track of your progress. Then you have to realize that the designers you look up to they have been doing things over and over. The same for Kobe Bryant being able to shoot a basketball so well. He has practiced daily and for hours.

This can be said for many successful and well known people. If you remember when you first started designing how the quality of your work is not as good as it is now. Because you applied yourself and kept going. If you are just starting out keep fighting through the stage of not producing good work.

Fighting through the boredom is very simple to do. There are many ways that I use to avoid getting bored with anything that I am interested in. You may be a web designer and you are getting bored with it. You may be a graphic designer and you are bored with graphic design.

Here are some ways that you can avoid getting bored while being a designer.

How are you different know in your field compared to now?
What can you do differently to rekindle the flame?
Find a creative hobby that you are interested in and go do it
Watch documentaries on your profession
Learn the history of your profession. This is very recommended because you are able to learn from how others thought and created the industry in which you work.
Remember to have fun
Practice and do it regardless if you feel like it.
Stop living based on your feelings

It Looks Good

“It looks good” is the worst feedback you can get.

— Whitney Hess

There ain’t no shortcuts, you gotta do the work.

James Victore telling the utmost truth. Because you cannot take any shortcuts to being a good designer. The path to being a good designer is to design daily. Design daily even when you do not feel like it. Because living according to how you feel is going to really limit your growth as a professional.

The way of living according to you how you feel will limit your growth is because while you don’t feel like doing something, there is someone else who is doing the work. They are working harder then you and they want it more then you.

Stop making excuses and do the work whether its turning out crappy or not. Because eventually it will be better over time.

All Hustle No Luck

This should be the mentality you have with whatever it is that you want to do. Whether its finding a Job in the design industry or launching a product. The results may not be turning out how you expected but you cannot give up. Think of all of the time you have invested to get where you are currently.

If many of the well known people in any industry gave up we would not be talking about them. There are a variety of things you could to be keeping track of your process. Really you should be keeping a journal anyhow. The whole aspect of keeping a journal will let you know what is working and not working.

One major thing that helps me keep going is to set goals for the week. Then on sunday I go back and check my goals. The ones that I did meet I check them off. For the ones that I did not meet I make sure that I set them for the coming week and achieve them.

Steps to keep going

Keep a Journal
Set a schedule so you will not waste time
Set weekly/daily goals
Continually strive to improve.