Do You Feel Like An Imposter?

Imagine you walk into your kitchen, take out your favorite skillet, and start frying up fresh, delicious ingredients. You begin to add oil, spices, salt. You take a quick taste..hmmm, needs more pepper. In goes the garlic, the onion, the meat. You taste it, and it’s perfect. Just like your grandma used to make. You've made an incredible dish full of color, flavor, vibrance, and taste.

All of a sudden you hear a voice say "Ok, sure. But you're not a real chef. You didn't really cook."

Your mind pushes back. "What do you mean? I cooked. I made the food, it tastes great, and it's nourishing."

"Yeah, but if you gave this dish to a true chef, they wouldn't be impressed. This really isn't that good."

"How can you say that? I'm sure they would like it. I've been making this dish for years, and learning how to make it better every time."

"Ehhhhh truthfully there are better cooks out there. Your dish is mediocre at best. If you gave this to another chef, they would tell you how much more you need to practice. In fact, I don't know whether you'll ever have what it takes to be a real chef. I just don't think you have what it takes. Don't you think people can see right through you? You really can only make like 1 or 2 good dishes."

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Both of these voices are you. They're you when you talk down to yourself about your work as a designer. Artistic endeavors like design, or cooking do not require anyone's permission to pursue, or to blossom in. Things like certifications, years of experience, nepotism, etc., which allow people to grow in other fields, don't apply as much in creative fields, where you can allow people to experience your work. You either can cook, or you can't. You can either create beautiful, intuitive, and applicable designs or you can't. And people can very quickly deem the level of your skill.

We often think "Ok but design isn't like cooking. Someone needs to hire me first. I need real life experience to be a designer. I'm a fraud, I'm a fake without it." But again, who is giving you these astronomical objectives. Who gave Frida Kahlo permission to call herself a painter? Who gave Toni Morrison permission to write books? Who allowed Vera Wang to create stunning wedding gowns?

No one. They carved the space out for themselves, by themselves. They said "I am capable, I am skilled, I can do this".

I am not by any means saying that you do not need to work diligently at your craft, and voila, you're still going to do great in any field. No.

What I am saying is I notice a lot of our students and mentees who have incredible talent, are super hard-working & thoughtful, but yet feel such deeply rooted insecurity about their skills, that they end up paralyzing themselves from moving forward.

Please remember- if you do not feel an ounce of insecurity over your skills, and the knowledge you possess over a subject, you might not be pushing yourself hard enough. You might be in a place that you're too comfortable in, and it might be time to step out of the comfort zone.

I leave you with this- No one can give you permission, or take permission away from you when it comes to taking charge of your career growth in design. If you design, you are a designer.