UX Planet — Medium | Jack Strachan

staying sane and feeling like a better designer

Over the last three months, I’ve hopefully formed a narrative through these blog posts. They were caused by my intent to digest as much content as possible and start a conversation, instead of feeling useless in my down time after moving country and starting my first internship.

In turn, they just fuel my desire to learn more. It’s somewhat not a bad cycle to be part of.

It’s been three months now and this is how I have formed the habits that keep me sane whilst feeling like a better designer.

It’s all about the short term

Don’t get me wrong, I like to think I have a plan for the future but right now I’m taking little steps at a time. Focusing on whats in front of me, setting goals and making sure I’m focused on the right task at the right time. Whats better than feeling like you are improving certain skills each and every day?

The problem in this stems from routine. It’s good at first, it’s challenging and you are able to find a way to design your time around it. But, and I hope you can relate, once something becomes a routine it’s no longer stimulating enough to feel like you’re getting better.

That 30-minute German lesson every morning no longer feels like it’s enough, the 10 pages of my book went too fast and why isn’t my sketching getting better?

What I’ve learnt is that short-term goals aren’t about meeting expectations. They are about adapting them continuously so you give yourself a pat on the back and then keep striving for more.

This is possibly the best and worst part of user experience design. There’s so much to learn that I literally feel like the living analogy of the guy forever rolling the boulder up the hill. And then when I’m not pushing it I’m being crushed by it.

I don’t see these blogs as writing

A level English literature was for writing. I like to think I’m designing these blogs, giving them structure and turning them into stories that communicate core values.

The concept of ‘making an idea stick’ is the holy grail. By committing my time to sharing quality content that I write or share with others makes me feel as if I’m contributing to the community and myself.

I’ve used this phrase before and I would like to keep using it. Design your time. There’s no such thing as nothing to do or no time to do it, I’m learning that in order to continuously be able to cope with changing circumstances I should be able to adapt each day to the different demands asked of me — either by myself or others.

Staying sane and feeling like a better designer

It’s been three months now and maybe I’ve reached my stride. I certainly didn’t hit the ground running. It’s been lonely, frustrating and really difficult to get to grips with the whole I can’t speak German thing but through the habits and lessons, I’ve learnt I feel like a better designer.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

I’m my own worst critic sometimes but it helps to hear from others so hit me up if you’ve got or need advice!

Forming habits was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.