Do you ever feel overwhelmed?
Note: What follows is email correspondence between myself and a designer seeking advice. Names have been anonymousized, and I’ve subtracted praise since it would be icky of me to just post praisey emails.
Hi Jessica,
I recently graduated from a graphic and package design program (whoop!) and I’m really struggling with applying all that I’ve learned to “the real world.” I interned at a fairly large branding and design company for six months and found myself drowning. While everyone there said I kicked ass as an intern, I really didn’t feel like I was getting the direction that I needed; it was literally sink or swim. Not getting proper direction made me feel lost, and eventually I started questioning my abilities as a designer. Since I’ve left, I been trying to pick up the pieces to regain that go-get-’em confidence I once had.
This leads me to the reason I’m writing you. In the way you tell your story, it seems so divine; the way you seamlessly moved from one place to another and eventually found your way to doing it all on your own. Was there ever a time when you had overwhelming doubts about where you were going in your career, and questioned whether you were competent enough to pursue all you dreams? I know these are incredibly intimate questions, and feel free not to answer them, but being an over-sharer, I had hoped you wouldn’t mind. Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank you,
Person McPerson
Hey Person!
There are definitely times even now when I question the decisions I make about my career. Doubt and anxiety are totally normal and happen no matter how much success you have. You’re in a good place already if you can see what is missing from your life / your career, the only thing to do next is to come up with solutions of how to get that missing piece back in your life. If what you’re missing is direct interaction with a mentor or someone whose opinion you trust, there are a few ways around this. You could reach out to any designer in your area and see if you can buy them lunch in exchange for a portfolio review or see if they would be game for on-going critiques. I find that critiques from peers can also satisfy a good deal of this since so often the problem for me is really just showing the work to ANYONE before I send it to the client. It could even be a non-designer—having to explain my process to them, and having to talk about my work lets me see holes in the concepts and areas that can be improved upon.
Questioning your abilities is far better than blindly moving forward thinking you’re awesome and never stepping back to question the work that you’re doing. Just judge yourself against yourself, not against people you feel are leagues away from you. Have you improved over the last year? If not, what do you think held you back. If you have improved, what do you think helped most to move your work forward and what can you do to continue improving? It can be super intimidating if you’re always comparing yourself to other people, especially other people that for one reason or another have had more time to practice or more opportunities to learn under a mentor. I’m sure you learned a ton at the big branding place that you worked though maybe it was more about how you want to run a business in the future and what kind of job environment is best for you.
I have to step back constantly and look at the things that are good in my career and the things that I feel like I’m missing or can improve upon. Half of my side projects started because there was a skill I wanted to practice or something that I was excited to make but no one was hiring me to make it. Now at this point in my career, I’m torn between wanting to write and educate more since I love to help people like yourself find their way or feel less intimidated to start projects, but I get very depressed when I spend too much time talking about work and not enough time actually making it. I stretch myself too thin and feel like I don’t devote enough time to client projects. There is always something that you’ll be frustrated by or overwhelmed with in your career, just find a way to step back, look at what’s bothering you, and see what steps you can take to fix it, even if they’re small and gradual.
All the best,
J