Letter to my future designer

I wanted to take a break this week to reflect on my design journey and was inspired to write a letter to my future self. Hopefully, I landed my first full-time design role by now and thriving in my career as a Product Designer! At the moment, my future is uncertain — I don’t know when I’ll land a role but I hope to manifest my ultimate goal through this article.

Heyo! So congrats! You did it — you are now well into your career as a product manager and thriving. You’re getting fantastic opportunities to work on some amazing products and really drive impact within any organization you’ve been apart of. Don’t forget your roots and your design journey. Always remember to give back and help new designers — you already know how rough the industry is to career changers.

Overcoming imposter syndrome

Chances are you’re still struggling with imposter syndrome — that's okay! It's truly a massive challenge to overcome and you may never fully overcome it. That’s completely fine but you’ve been able to sift through the noise and hone in on your craft as a product designer. You overcame the negative self-doubt and flourished into a confident and well-rounded designer.

Don’t forget to be curious and scrappy

A lot of what led you to your current path was due to your incredible curiously and level of tenacity to be willing to leave your comfort zone to quite a decent job to pursue design. I know there have been periods of doubt and regret, but always remember that you did not get into the field for the money. You pivoted into the design field to feel a sense of purpose and motivation. You want to be creative and you want to make the most impact. Don’t compromise your goals for short term money. Focus on the long run — it’s a marathon and not a sprint!

Continue to learn!

Continue to stay hungry and continue to learn — you need to continue to improve and avoid being in this area of comfort and safety. Learning comes from being uncomfortable so be intentional in pushing yourself into discomfort. You want to be better and do better. It’s not a competition but keep that fire underneath you pushing you to constantly do more.

Setting goals

Always have new goals set! Right now you’ve accomplished your first goal of landing your full-time role. Continue to have new goals and be okay with changing those goals. Life can do in unexpected directions so don’t be afraid of changing your goals. Goals will push you through the negative noise and focus your efforts in pursuit of a goal.