Design and enjoy it

I design websites all day which means I’m one click away from the design community.

Participation is rewarding but exposure can be difficult to control. On a good day it leads to inspiration that keeps me up at night in awe. Other times I’m left feeling like a mighty small fish. At worst I develop a sense of frustation when reading something that just doesn’t sit right with me (which generally includes a heavy dose of negativity).

What I’m starting to realise now is that allowing such things to depress me is crazy! The world is too big, too grand! There are so many good, positive designer working right now – why focus on anything else?

It’s too easy to fall into the negativity trap. I’d be a hypocrite to say I’m never cynical and I’ve never ranted about design-related topics (a certain amount of that is probably healthy) but from now on I’m never going to let anything demotivate me again.

I’ll rigorously defend a positive attitude towards design. I’ll only communicate and collaborate with others that have the same attitude, and if I get fed up, I’d appreciate if you could link me back to this post! This is not a new revelation I must admit but by posting it here I’m making an open commitment to myself.

My mid-year resolution is to continue enjoying and progressing what I do and not allow anything to get in the way of that.

That doesn’t mean I’ll ignore the difficult and controversial topics and close my eyes to differences of opinion, but it does mean I’m avoiding negativity at all costs.

Design and enjoy it.

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Update 25th April - Thinking about it more practically it would seem obvious that everyone naturally has emotional swings in their outlook. The key is recognising when someone is off kilter and either guiding them if I can, or ignoring them when it’s “killing my mojo” – thanks for the comments everyone!

Update 27th April - Bill Kenny of Focus Lab has written some great words on the idea of positive thinking - thanks for the shout-out :)