Originally posted 2020-11-07 12:40:40.
We all go through a point where we are stuck, don’t know what to do next. This may happen due to many reasons like:
1) If you are a designer but got a wrong job profile.
2) By looking at others’ work, you feel low because you think their work is very good than yours or rather say too much thinking. This will definitely make you feel stuck.
3) Not liking the work atmosphere at all.
4) Want to change my job but the profile demands are different. For eg: You are a graphic designer in a company and looking for change but the vacancy or opening are for only Ux/Ui designers.
5) By heart you are a designer but the profession you are not doing what you should do.
6) You are a very talented designer who knows everything and wants to do everything. This is good but you will easily get distracted and because of this you will always feel stuck.
7) If you are chasing money and you don’t recognize your own worth. Again at some point you will get stuck.
8) You have just graduated from college and are looking for a job. You took the job and realised after sometime that this is not meant for me.
9) If you are chasing someone and his art, you will try to copy and try to become like him. One day for sure you will get stuck because your identity is totally different from him.
10) Working too much in the office or for clients and not investing yourself.
Whats Wrong With Me Today?
If you are thinking that i’m here to demotivate you then you are totally wrong. I’m here to help you so that wherever you are stuck or facing problems, I can try to become your friend who is always there for you.
If you are stuck somewhere in life, just tell me I’ll try my best to solve the problem.
My whole blog is my experience which I’ve got till now and will continue to share with you people.
Now that you have recognised that you are stuck somewhere and looking for an answer but no one is either understanding or there for you, so let me tell you that I’ve gone through the same phase. After all running a company is not an easy job there are many other companies which are way too big from Mount Woods Studio but I’m still here competing and aiming to collaborate with Big Shots of every Industry.
So today I’m going to discuss ” Top 10 Tips To Identify Your True Inner Self As A Designer ” which will help you become better in life which is way more important than any other thing.
Tip 1. Never follow anyone only admire their work
This way you will get to know what you are and can do but at the same time try to learn the process which he or she uses of that particular person to whom you are following. You are on a journey to identify your true inner self not to become someone else. You have your own unique personality which no other can become.
Tip 2. Never try to land to any job, just have patience
Let’s suppose you have just graduated from college and you all are pumped up that you will get your dream job. Time flies a little and all your hope for getting a job is getting low and as each day passes the pressure to get a job is also increasing. At some point you will take any job that you got.
NEVER EVER DO THAT
I can understand that you are looking to get independent, want to make your parents proud and want to start earning. This is also important but in this case you will earn money by landing a job(if you opted) but the satisfaction will not be there.
Frankly speaking when I did my Engineering, I have gone through the same phase. It took time to get a job but the work atmosphere was not that good so after 4 months only I left.
There is no one to guide us, talk to us or show a particular direction what to do. So I would suggest you to have patience and keep looking for the job in which you have done your specialisation.
Tip 3. Never Compare Your Work With Others
Trust me on this, me and my designing team used to do this where we always say his/her work is better. We did this when we started but as we have grown we know what to do and what not.
Comparing our work with others is what we have stopped.
Yes the hunger to do better is still there and always will be.
What you should be doing is, just look at what others are doing and create your own unique design. After sometime you will feel satisfied with your work.
Tip 4. Try To Find Balance Between Taste and Skill
First of all don’t hate your work. With Time everyone evolves and you will too. This is totally natural. As we grow, we adapt new skills and taste. When your skills are better than your taste, you feel great. Your Expectations automatically becomes high and when that expectation is not met, you feel stuck. So it’s very important to find a balance between taste and skill.
Tip 5. Not Liking The Work Atmosphere, So Move On
I’ll explain this by giving an example of one of my friend, who is a graphic designer. I was introduced to her by one of my colleagues, we did a few projects together.
She worked like a robot where a logo design was completed in 30 mins. If not done within the given time, she might get fired.
There was always this fear of losing the talent that she had and moreover the workload was too much that she started hating her job. She was feeling stuck and when she saw others work, compared with hers, the demotivation hit the door and started feeling frustrated.
One day when we talked about her situation, she told me that she wanted to quit that job and move on.
I think this was one of the best decisions that she has taken because she was willing to invest time for herself, to upgrade her skillset as a designer and learn the process of graphic designing to create unique designs. Learn how to become a better designer not a robot. She wanted to define her area of specialisation for which she should be known for.
After we talked about the problems and the solutions that come up, she felt relaxed, moved one step closer to identify her true inner self and took the decision.
Tip 6. Start Exploring
By starting exploring I’m trying to say that no matter what you are doing and you feel stuck, start exploring for the things that you enjoy. Let’s say you don’t like your job or you have got a wrong profile, you want to do something else, that’s totally fine.
I have seen many founders choosing a different career path after a certain period of time. If you are a designer then it’s ok to explore and see what works for you and what not. World is not going to end today and never will.
Remember
“If you don’t like your story, change it… Fill it with hope, optimism and love”
Tip 7. If you are stuck with a problem, don’t get demotivated
There are so many situations in life where you want to give up, there is no solution to the answer and you just want to let go of things and say it’s enough. Then what should you do?
The best solution is – don’t do anything related to your task.
Move everything aside for a while and just forget about it. You won’t achieve anything with a mind full of stress and you will make the situation worse for yourself.
Take a break from your task and get rid of all the stress built up in your head.
Watch movies on Netflix or draw something or hangout with someone and do whatever you feel like will help you in getting rid of all the stress, or task has given you.
When you start from a fresh mindset, you’ll see the problem/task in hand with a totally different perspective.
You’ll find new ways to complete the task and realise what you were doing wrong when you were first trying to accomplish that task. With a fresh and stress free mind you’ll find new ways to tackle the situation and come up with new ideas to complete your task.
Tip 8. Try To Learn The Enjoyment Of Boredom
When you have done a lot and gained enough knowledge about your field that you can speak for hours on it, I mean you know everything, you will feel stuck because you will find the same thing again and again everywhere(according to you). You will feel bored and not finding anything new to do.
At that time you have to learn to enjoy the boredom.
Sometimes doing nothing is the perfect solution to everything. Let your mind, body and soul capture what’s inside going around you.
I still remember a famous artist with years of experience was looking for something new, exciting but was not knowing what to do. Then one day, while having lunch, he started staring at beat root, he saw the textures, the colors very carefully and thought to make a brush, sold online and people went crazy. So out of nowhere the idea came and he created something unique while enjoying his boredom.
You can try too and there is no harm in it. This really helped many other designers and people from different industry to identify their true inner self and do extra-ordinary things.
Tip 9. You either Under-Estimate OR Over-Estimate Yourself
You are a great designer, know that you can handle problems of clients and solve them very nicely but don’t know what’s the worth of your design.
You will get stuck in negotiating the correct price for your designs.
So this is an underestimate and soon you will start looking for the people or I say Fiverr, Wix or any other freelancing site.
Or any other place where people start charging $10 to a couple of $100s.
Not a good scenario I guess. This can be resolved when you think like a businessman who knows how to calculate the value of a product. I have seen many designers struggle a lot because they usually don’t deal with this kind of stuff and don’t know how much they should charge. So I would suggest you to start thinking and taking action.
Now comes the second scenario where you think you are the only designer in the world who knows everything. A very wrong attitude to have which should be changed immediately. Why?
The reason being is the world is a very big place and there are people who have more knowledge, more creativity than you. If you haven’t met them or heard about them, then there will be this mirage in your mind that you are the only one.
How can you resolve this? Start reading books, follow people through social media, meet people and hear what they say very carefully, learn from everyone and always stay connected from the roots.
Now you can understand why we have kept our tagline – Connecting With Roots 😉
Tip 10: I’m a designer who can help anyone
Yeahhhh, this is a positive thing, right !!! So why i’m discussing this?
Let me give you an example so that it gets clear Why helping everyone can also make you stuck.
There was a time that we took multiple projects which were big and I said yes to everyone who knocked at Mount Woods Studio’s door for help with their work. My team had gone crazy. What am I even doing?
Well, I didn’t know or didn’t want to say “No” to anyone because they would feel bad, also the revenue that was being generated was a good amount. At Least this was what I was thinking.
Everything got too hectic, stress level got increased as the number of people to do the project were less and I messed up badly. My designers, developers were not thinking of anything new, everything was blocked as I was trying to fulfil everyone’s needs.
At that time I realised, I can’t help everyone at the same time, I have a capacity to handle projects and I can’t be available everywhere. It’s good to help everyone and as much people or clients that we can but we should have proper resources, team and a proper management for such skills.
So if you are a designer or an agency, who has taken multiple projects at a time please please keep in mind that you should know how to handle everything properly or else you will lose clients.
Final Thoughts
If you are a designer and looking for solutions to your problems, or finding it difficult to identify your true inner self, these Top 10 tips will definitely help you.
I know its not easy and sometimes everything feels stuck, it’s very hard to identify your true inner self, no one is there for you, but if you have read this post completely, you always remember
“I’m There For You”
If you are looking for someone whom you want to talk and discuss your problem, please join our Mount Woods Studio Design Academy where we are trying to build a design community. This is a very special design community where you will find people who’s problems are being listened to and are being solved. Here other designers help each other and I’m also there for you.
Please share your experiences with others, teach them from your mistakes so that they don’t commit those again.
You can always connect with me on social media, or commenting down below and help Mount Woods Studio to build a design community. A community where all the knowledge is shared from different people and different parts of the world.
