🔥 Campfire 9
Man’s search for meaning at work, beginners learn faster, seeing problems as projects, why is good design so expensive.
Man’s search for meaning at work
Young professionals often feel frustrated because they’re looking for more meaning in their work. I was there as well. But when you ask people who enjoy their work, the best piece of advice they give is “just chill” and “have fun.”
Yes, meaningful work is an essential element of a good life. But also, obsessing too much over whether your work is meaningful will make you insane. — Max Nussenbaum
People start searching for meaning in their work to distract themselves from what they’re doing. What can I say? I’ve been on this path as well. Constantly stressed, trying to find joy in the process, figure out the “secret knowledge” that will make my work more meaningful.
But the secret to meaning for (and life) is stopping to search for purpose and starting to do things you enjoy doing.
Read the full post by Max Nussenbaum on Man's Search for Meaning (at Work).
Beginners learn faster
A few days ago, my older son got homework from school to learn a 4-page poem. He had two days to do that. On day one, he read the poem a few times. Then once more time in the evening. On day two, he reread it after school, and in the evening of the same day, he was able to tell it word to word without stopping.
It's always fascinating to me how good kids' memory is. The reason it's so good is that their brain is not filled with the information like in adults.
That's why beginners learn faster than experts. Daniel put this in his tweet in a perfect way.
Beginners tend to learn faster from others who figured things out recently. You can teach something even if you don't have a lifetime of experience.
In fact, you newness can be an advantage.— Daniel Vassallo (@dvassallo) January 20, 2022
Seeing problems as projects
Recently, I watched TikTok. One girl explained in her video that problems are tasks with attached emotions.
Problem = Task + Emotion
And if you remove the emotion from the equation, what's left is a task you can complete. We often treat our problems as something we can't overcome.
But look back at some situations when you thought “what a problem is that?!” Now you see how small it actually was in a perspective.
That's is why detaching emotions from problems is so important. The visual below by Aidan explains it well.
See problems as projects that need to be solved, not to run away from. pic.twitter.com/itrx7soBnD
— Aidan (@AidanYeep) January 15, 2022
Why is good design so expensive?
We all had a client saying, “I know someone who can do this cheaper.” You gave the client a discount if you're afraid of losing him.
Small clients don’t know the value of design. They don’t see that designer’s work includes a combination of research, hard work, creativity, and imagination. A good designer also has well-developed writing skills, business knowledge, and technology constraints.
Good things always come for a price. Remember that when a client asks for a discount. Explain your process and communicate the value of your work as a designer for business.
In the end, it all comes down to two main things for a business:
Increasing revenue
Cutting down expenses
If you can do and communicate at least one of these – you can charge more right away.