Just had a discussion and thinking about many designers situation… Few asked me questions, “How can I influence the team when they think I am only a designer?” “How can I create change when no one is listening to me?” “How will they value my work deeply?”

Hearing that feedbacks from my friends in Design community, makes me sad… How does the external circumstances for many designers?

It takes me weeks to think and do self-reflections. How if we change our perspective… Not what others do to me, that affect my moods. But because of my internal virtue that affects around me?

If you are allowing people push you around like a doormats, you will always worry, “What this person, that person, my boss, my boss’s boss, my colleagues, my supervisor, my team, think about me?” And… You can’t please everybody, losing your spark and originality.

How if you change the perspective? When you are happy, honest, humble, you are creating a heaven environment around you. And when you are stressed, frustrated, upset, etc. You are creating hell within yourself and people will sense that and respond accordingly.

Most others designers focus from external environment, if it external is good, they are happy. If it is bad, they are sad…

1. If Product document is complete, I will be able to design good.
2. If Tech developers follow my design, I will have easier job.
3. If Business tell me more data context, I will learn more.

But there is no ideal situation… and We are different. Therefore, We focus from Internal to influence external. If I do really well, everything will be happy. If I complain, everything will not work.

1. I can do more UX research, and give Product more ideas.
2. I can do UX Guidelines, Tech will implement better.
3. I can do UX Measurement, Business see values.

Start from Within, Start from yourself.

“God.. That’s nice to say, but you don’t know how difficult my circumstances!” Yes, that’s nice to say, and it will become nicer if you put it into practice. Now, I don’t ask you to endure toxicity / ruin your health, etc. If it really happens you should seek help.

What I asked you to do is to take ownership, to create change that you can control within yourself and when you did, you will see everything goes better for you.

The outcomes for your UX projects comes from within yourself. Therefore, when you creating value proposition.. a promise of value to be delivered, communicated and recognised. You are taking 100% ownership of what you are doing.

1. The improvement on the quality experience
2. The expertise and talent working on the project
3. The quantity and quality of implemented changes
4. The methods and metrics being used to measure.
5. The ease / difficulty in changing user-behaviour.

For example, I might not be 100% positive all the time, there are many think that comes into my mind every single day. I very focused on achieving a lot of goals in my life. Once I reach the goal, I set the bar even higher. You see how many pressure I put into my shoulders?

Then I realised and do many self-reflection… “That I can’t keep see how far should I go?” Like the movies Moana, “How far will I go across the ocean?” Haha..

But also see “How far I have gone?” and appreciate better. Then continuously grow towards the future… Not as a pressure, but as a hope. And I hope you can do the same, to take ownership, to take control, and become the best version of yourself.

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