I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and realised that rather than feeling excited about what the day might bring, I was feeling anxious.
As I get older I’m learning more and more about myself. One thing that I’ve learnt, in what would seem like quite a sad epiphany, is that I’m not the type of person who says ‘yes’ all that often.
I’m also the type of person who doesn’t think that what I’ve created is good enough – or that what I’m doing is as good as what others are creating. As a developer, I always feel as though there’s room for more and continuous improvement.
I was surprised to find that I wasn’t alone in this feeling. There has been quite a lot of research around the links between insecurity and creativity, with science alluding to certain insecure people being creative geniuses (and no, I’m not saying I am one).
Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill, all creative geniuses in their own right yet all suffered from bouts of anxiety.
By living in this way, it can often mean that I’m a little jaded by my creative output – even when others are raving about it. As a designer and coder creating is everything I do – which is why I need to learn to overcome these thoughts; I need to start ensuring that my glass is half full, not half empty.
Although inspired by Jim Carrey’s Yes Man, I’m not referring to having to limit myself to saying ‘yes’ to absolutely everything. Instead, it’s more about pushing myself out of my comfort zone once in a while and improving my spontaneity. I’m obviously not going to go out of my way to put myself in strange situations, but I do need to get away from my comfort zone.
I really love my job and I’m fully appreciative of the diverse projects that I get to work on, though I often get anxious when presented with a brief if it’s something outside of my comfort zone. This is usually due to working with new and further-advanced code that will help to enhance the project itself.
From here, I want to have more confidence in both my skills as a designer and a developer. I know, deep down, that I can create awesome things – I just need to be easier on myself at the beginning of projects to think I can achieve the brief from the get go. I need to be better at taking onboard what others are saying about my work, both good and bad, and be able to take that into account so I continue to evolve and develop. I basically need to high five myself a little more often.
Learning and growing are such major factors of life – and from now on I want to see a confident change in the way I approach new projects and situations. I believe that this will help to make me a better designer and developer as well as increase the happiness I feel towards other aspects of my life.
Let’s remember, you never know what saying ‘yes’ will turn into, so why not go ahead and enjoy the journey of throwing yourself into a new adventure.
If you have ever felt this way about your work, or feel inclined to get in touch around this topic, we’d really love to hear from you. Tweet us @FiascoDesign or @Nickylewlew
