Saying No
As a young designer, I like to achieve a lot of things. In Singapore, they have a special word for it, Kiasu (怕輸), which means 'fear of losing'. When opportunities come, why would I say no to them? This is basically rejecting my chances of success, right?
In the beginning, it seems fine to say yes to everything. It feels great to be able to help people. It opens me to tons of opportunities to learn new stuff. It gave me the chance to work with different people with various cultural backgrounds. However, things piled up fast, and even if I force myself to work as fast & efficiently as I could, I wouldn’t be able to catch up with all the requests and demands if I constantly say yes.
Back then, there were moments where I feel overwhelmed and burnt out, because of the amount of stuff that I agreed to work on. I didn’t know where to begin. I was drowning and barely able to breathe. I don’t feel the joy anymore doing the work that I do, everything feels like a grind. The quality of my work deteriorates. I can’t come up with great ideas for my designs. It is as if my creative bulb is burned out. I needed help.
At that point, I discussed my situation with a group of close friends. They made me realize that I’ve been accepting almost everything that comes my way. No wonder I couldn’t breathe! I was literally suffocating myself with piles and piles of new tasks & projects even before finishing the ones at hand. That’s when I realized that maybe saying no is actually better than I realized.
Saying no does not mean closing my chances for new opportunities, instead, it opens up my time and capacity to do new opportunities that matter for me. Saying no does not mean being selfish and not wanting to help people, instead, it lets me focus to perform my best on the things that I choose to focus on, that way I actually help people by delivering the quality of work that they deserve.
Saying no doesn’t need to come from a place of aggression, it can come from a place of humbleness, because you realize that your time & capacity is limited. You need to be kind not just to them but to yourself because both of you deserve the opportunity to create something great.
So start saying no to things that are not aligned to your goals, and start to take charge of what you want to do next. Your career as a designer is paved by yourself, steer the path wisely!