Going back to what I love
So I told my family I was starting a new job, and my sister called me a “revolving door” (she is nice though, don’t worry). Like those nice glass ones, the automatic ones that keep spinning at the entrance of a hospital or airport. Apparently she felt I change a little too often. But let me say this. I am so incredibly happy to finally feel energy again. So many ideas on how to improve the current processes, meeting my new team, finding out what they need. The clients, the projects, all the colleagues. I want to get my hands dirty, start immediately! Like yesterday! I hope you have felt this before, because this feeling is amazing.
A good friend of mine kept saying to me that I wasn't really happy in my old job, and it was draining me. I mean, I loved what I was doing, but I didn't do what I love. I was good at my old job, managing team, setting out the strategy, oversee overall communication and make sure the whole management was in line with the future product strategy. I loved doing that, but as you could have understood from my last post, it wasn't me.
“I mean, I loved what I was doing, but I didn’t do what I love.”
So, over the years I have learned the hard way that you should do what you love, not love what you do. We all could do multiple jobs, based on education or through career evolution, in startups or in large corporate organisations. Many people evolve in what they are doing, they were at the right place at the right time. Friends with the right people, or when critical delivered the value needed most and therefore “moved on and up”. Climbing the ladder is easy, through loyalty or perseverance. But exactly this path of “success” that we all follow got me to a place where after 3 years I realised I didn't want to be.
So what do I love? I love design.
Design always has fascinated me, from urban design to architecture, from web design to print design. Design is this beautiful creation from the mind, for the mind. Design comes for our brain creating objects, elements, experiences we find beautiful, useful, delightful. And in turn, design is consumed by our brain, we look at it and intrinsically have an opinion, or feeling about it, we have been trained to “know” what will happen if we click a button, or what we should expect when we walk around the corner. This “play” of unconsciously being able to accurately predict gives us a certain satisfaction and sense of fulfilment. It’s like humming along a new song and already knowing the melody.
Good design follows rules, breaks them where needed, evolves them gradually, adapts, adjusts to new generations, new experiences, new demands, new ways of delighting the users of tomorrow.
All I hope for, is that you too, don’t love what you do, but do what you love!
