Vol. I

Vol. I

Now, I don't know where I got this knowledge (yes I did a quick Google search to no avail). But what I have found over time is that we'll never get everything right. There will always be mistakes. It is what you do when you recognize those mistakes that matters. Having the answers on how to move past your errors is critical to your future success. Step one is always being ready to evaluate the state of things. Once you identify an error, you can then figure out how to move  past it.

Every so often, ask your colleagues if there is anything you can improve and always be ready to evolve. Getting older helps you realize that there are things you know, there are things you don't know and there are things that nobody wants to tell you.

Now, I don't know where I got this knowledge (yes I did a quick Google search to no avail). But what I have found overtime is that we'll never get everything right. There will always be mistakes. It is what you do when you recognize those mistakes that matters. Having the answers on how to move past your errors is critical your future success. Step one is always being ready to evaluate the state of things. Once you identify an error, you can then figure out how to move  past it.

Every so often, ask your colleagues if there is anything you can improve and always be ready to evolve. Getting older helps you realize that there are things you know, there are things you don't know and there are things that nobody wants to tell you.

I got this from the great Tom Waits who I think got it from someone else and so on. Simon Sinek attributes it to Buddhism in his book Leaders Eat Last. But regardless of where the phrase comes from, I found this to hold true throughout my life. This happens when you start to treat specific tasks differently based on your interest or importance. Repetition makes habit.

Let's say you start procrastinating on a passion project, maybe you're bored or you're stuck. Eventually, you get yourself used to the idea that this is okay, and one day that mentality can cross over into the other things you care about. You'll wonder   why you never complete anything, but the answer is in your process. How you did that thing...became how you do everything.

This can go the other way too. Whatever you do, make sure you put in a relative amount of effort. Give your best on the little things and you'll see that start to cross over into the big things in your life.

I got this from the great Tom Waits who I think got it from someone else and so on. Simon Sinek attributes it to Buddhism in his book Leaders Eat Last. But regardless of where the phrase comes from, I found this to hold true through my life. This happens when you start to treat specific tasks differently based on your interest or their importance. Repetition makes habit.

Let's say you start procrastinating on a passion project, maybe you're bored or you're stuck. Eventually, you get yourself used to the idea that this is okay, and one day that mentality can cross over into the other things you care about. You'll wonder   why you never complete anything, but the answer is in your process. How you did that thing...became how you do everything.

This can go the other way too. Whatever you do, make sure you put in a relative amount of effort. Give your best on the little things and you'll see that start to cross over into the big things in your life.

"Without effort, your talent is nothing more than your unmet potential" - Angela Duckworth

"Without effort, your talent is nothing more than your unmet potential" - Angela Duckworth

Angela Duckworth stated this in her book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Skill is the product of talent or potential multiplied by the effort you put into it. This passion, persistence, or perseverance is the driving force behind any measure of success. If you want to get better at anything you must be persistent but a lot of us stop when we come to an impasse. Persevering  through that impasse is what leads to becoming skilled at something.

Follow up: Accomplishment or success is taking that skill and putting even more effort into it.

Angela Duckworth stated this in her book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Skill is the product of talent or potential multiplied by the effort you put into it. This passion, persistence, or perseverance is the driving force behind any measure of success. If you want to get better at anything you must be persistent but a lot of us stop when we come to an empasse. Persevering  through that empasse is what leads to becoming skilled at something.

Follow up: Accomplishment or success is taking that skill and putting even more effort into it.

This I got from a random reddit post ( This might be random ). I can easily get sucked into the state of dwelling on things. It's a weakness of mine. Sometimes I dwell on my past mistakes, reliving them in my head, and imagining a better outcome.

But excessive dwelling can sometimes just lead you back to where you were. It drags you...and in turn, you drag people with you. Part of correcting errors in your life is to give them some introspection....but in order to move past them you gotta let them go. 

This I got from a random reddit post ( This might be random ). I can easily get sucked into state of dwelling on things. It's a weakness of mine. Sometimes I dwell on my past mistakes, reliving them in my head, and imagining a better outcome.

But excessive dwelling can sometimes just lead you back to where you were. It drags you...and in turn you drag people with you. Part of correcting errors in your life is to give them some introspection....but in order to move past them you gotta let them go. 

After you have been a ‘designer’  for a number of years, the one thing that should get easier is articulating your design decisions. One mistake I see designers make is thinking that there is such a thing as an "objective" design. That is – leveraging data in some way to make a design that is devoid of subjectivism. The cold hard truth is...that is not possible. Design is the rendering of intent. 

Now, that intent is actually your goal. Critique is the exploration of that intent and the choices you made to reach that objective. And when someone critiques your design they should be weighing the work against that goal or intent. Ya follow? In order to have a good critique, you need to be clear on what your intent was. When that intent or rationale is solid...that's when, I think, people start to understand your design decisions and you'll start getting better feedback.

After you have been a ‘designer’  for a number of years, the one thing that should get easier is articulating your design decisions. One mistake I see designers make is thinking that there is such a thing as an "objective" design. That is – leveraging data in some way to make a design that is devoid of subjectivism. The cold hard truth is...that is not possible. Design is the rendering of intent. 

Now, that intent is actually your goal. Critique is the exploration of that intent and the choices you made to reach that objective. And when someone critiques your design they should be weighing the work against that goal or intent. Ya follow? In order to have a good critique you need to be clear on what your intent was. When that intent or rationale is solid...that's when, I think, people start to understand your design decisions and you'll start getting better feedback.