Focus on Your Strengths, Michael Janda and Cassi Nicole. // It seems we breed self-judgement, comparison, and insecurity right from the first day in design school. “Ok, everybody put your designs on the wall for the rest of the class to see and critique. Now, go out into the world and talk confidently about your work to your clients!” (It seems a little counterintuitive when you think of it that way.
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Highly self-aware of every talent we lack, we take our trained insecurity with us after graduation and continue to judge ourselves against the strengths of our coworkers and international design heroes. This leads to discouragement and sometimes questioning whether there is a future for us at all in this crazy industry.
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One of the best ways to combat this, is to stop focusing on your weaknesses and start focusing on your strengths. Of course, you should be working on your weaknesses and improving every day, however, when you find yourself in a pattern of negative self-talk and comparison, start looking at what you are really good. Where have you improved? What do you do well? What do you do better than your design hero? Focus on your strengths and flip the coin on discouragement.
