Call and Communication
Do What You Love
In the spirit of trying to pinpoint my life’s task. Based on the video featuring Tom Kelley, I would sum up my three circles, “good at, born to do, and pay you to do,” as follows (Kelley, 2008.) I am good at recognizing problems and brainstorming solutions. I am good at crafting a solution depending on the tools and funds available. I have been paid several times for it as a graphic designer and product designer. My only issue was that I was not happy with what I was solving for. I was able to execute and deliver what was needed, but I never lasted long in those positions due to eventual unhappiness and accumulating unfulfillment. So, ultimately, I still need to work on my third circle, which involves what I am paid for. I hope this degree will help me get closer to figuring that out.
Steps Toward Life’s Task
The most recent step in my master's journey toward my life’s task was learning user experience design and applying my past knowledge of graphic design toward better user interface design. This, unknowingly at the time, was a step towards my life’s task because it gave me the experience and knowledge I needed to help create digital products. For years, I have constantly made gym notebooks, journals, and spreadsheets and downloaded countless fitness apps, only to be continuously frustrated and not finding what exactly I needed. I have also waited a while to see if someone would create what I am looking for, but I have yet to find anyone making what I am looking for. So, after working as a product designer, I gained even more insight into an established startup culture and witnessed much growth. Once my husband and I felt comfortable, I left my job to pursue this product I had yet to find.
The Positive and the Negative
Working as a product designer, I learned a lot, and it was a positive experience since I was starting as a true junior in the field. Once I left that job, I was no longer considered a junior product designer. Something my extraordinarily supportive and excellent senior designer told me when I was first starting was to save my first designs, so I did. Looking back on those experiences has been a powerful testament to my improvements. I have worked with some incredibly supportive and friendly people. With tremendous growth comes growing pains and a need for organization or structure when scaling with the growth. While I try to be highly organized, I must catch up sometimes. I witnessed it at a company level. There are so many great ideas, but not enough people to execute them, and not a good priority level on those features. For example, there needed to be more designers to complete all the features being created. Everyone’s features were the most important according to them, and in a way, they were, but there were not enough hours in the day to complete them all, and the designers were taking a hit. And, of course, it wasn’t just designers; other people were taking hits, too, such as product managers and marketers. It was like a ton of spaghetti being thrown at the wall, and you were trying to make everything stick while not getting your shirt dirty. But witnessing this shows that having a product roadmap and a keen understanding of what you can do and handle is extremely important. I think that can be applied not only to companies but also to life, and in this specific discussion, mastery of your life’s tasks.
Seven Deadly Realities
Out of all the seven deadly realities, the one that resonates with me is rigidity. I can deal with flexibility and some chaos, but I still have some routine and rigidity regarding family life. I understand the irony coming from a military spouse, but I think it makes that feeling even more vital because we are dealing with so much that we cannot control, and the things we can control become even more critical. I agree with what Greene says about rigidity: you must “maintain your open spirit, letting go of bad habits, and deliberately cultivating new ideas” (Greene, 2012, p.143). Thankfully, my rigidity deals with what time my kids eat, their bedtime, my bedtime, my workout time, or just quiet time, etc. When those things become chaos, I am not in a very happy place. To overcome these realities, the best way is through study and observation, detecting their presence and avoiding what sets them off (Greene, 2012, p.141.) This could be a good and a bad thing for my mastery journey. I will be rigid about my schedule, but I will be flexible and make it work depending on what the day brings. I need to remind myself that one bad day is just one bad day, and all is not lost because of it; tomorrow is a new day.
References
Greene, R. (2012, November 13.) Mastery. Viking Adult.
Kelley, T. (2008, November 12.) Do What You Love. Stanford Technology Ventures Program. Retrieved from YouTube at https://youtube.com/watch?v=nPRW9q-0unc