Or how I deal with professional challenges.
Fight Club (1999) by David Fincher.
Respect, culture, maturity, resources… You probably face challenges in one (or all) of these areas at work. What to do besides sitting down and crying? Is there a way to deal with it?
There are ways. I’ll share mine, and I’ll tell you upfront: it’s not about accepting what can’t be changed.
Prologue
First, I’ll be direct:
Doing design isn’t fighting for design. Doing design is a responsibility.
Writing an inclusive text isn’t the challenge; inclusion is.Designing an accessible screen isn’t the challenge; accessibility is.Hiring minority groups isn’t the challenge; diversity is.
The work isn’t the challenge — the work is our role.
The challenge is to do the work well, ethically, and responsibly.
The three pillars
To fight — for design, a cause, a relationship, or anything — three things are necessary:
FramingComprehension, andIntention.
1. Framing
It’s common to treat challenges as problems. But there is one thing that separates the two: framing.
Every problem can be framed as a challenge.
This is so true that there are techniques for it:
Writing can be a problem (“I don’t know how to write”) or a challenge (“talking about something I’ve experienced”).Reading can be a problem (“deciding which book to read”) or a challenge (“maintaining a habit for a week”).Discussing can be a problem (“proving I’m right”) or a challenge (“understanding what caused discomfort”).
Framing problems as challenges brings three great benefits:
Posture. Problems are boring and bureaucratic. Challenges are interesting. This changes how we look at and deal with it.Motivation. Problems bring stress and anxiety. Challenges bring desire, meaning. Challenges are exciting.Focus. Problems focus on the “self,” the outcome. Challenges focus on the challenge itself. Doing matters more than solving, or who solved it.
2. Comprehension
This is the hard part. Let’s go:
Just because it’s important doesn’t mean people will care.Just because it must work doesn’t mean it will.Just because it took effort doesn’t mean it will yield results.
Things can go wrong — and let me emphasize; they can go wrong, not that they will.
It is necessary to be comfortable with the destiny because not everything will go as expected. The worst might happen, but that doesn’t discourage; on the contrary, it’s a motivator.
First because if there was no chance of failure, it wouldn’t be a challenge, right? And second:
Knowing that something might go wrong is precisely what makes success so gratifying.
The reasoning is: I hope it works, I know it might fail — but I’ll do it anyway. Regardless of the result.
This comprehension leads to action, but we know that willpower isn’t everything. The question remains: how to not give up?
3. Intention
Caring about challenges is complicated for two reasons: External and internal.
Externally, the intention comes from others:
Do this to help the company.Do this to meet our target.Do this because someone told.
But this intention stops making (or never made) sense.
Internally, the intention comes from within. But there’s a catch; focus is usually on the reward:
I do this to make an impact.I do this for recognition.I do this to get a promotion.
Wrong? No. People are different and motivated in different ways.
But things can go wrong, remember? When we base our intentions on rewards, we take a risk because… what if the reward doesn’t come?
The solution? Meaning.
When we seek meaning instead of rewards, our choices become mechanisms of self-discovery. If it works, I did it. If it doesn’t, I learned. It’s a win-win.
In fact, it may seem contradictory, but being guided by meaning also brings even more rewarding results. Why? Because the reward wasn’t the goal. When something good happens unexpectedly, it’s twice as satisfying.
We shouldn’t approach challenges like we approach work.
It shouldn’t be a checklist of achievements.
It shouldn’t be a dashboard of metrics.
We should approach challenges as choices. As love.
I do it because I want to, and it means a lot to me, and this meaning is something I create.
Seeing problems as challenges, understanding that things may go wrong but still making sense to fight because fighting means something to me.
As “romantic” as it may seem, this is a realistic view: how many crazy things do people do for love?
If you want to fight for something you truly believe in, don’t love the solution, the outcome and even the problem — simply love.
And you, what do you want to fight for?
References
A guide to problem framing: best practices & templates. David YoungEither/Or: A Fragment of Life. Soren KierkegaardExistentialism is a Humanism. Jean-Paul SartreHow Might We. IDEOProblem framing, not problem-solving: the skill necessary to grow as a UX professional. Kai Wong (Without paywall)The Gay Science. Book IV, Aphorism 276. Friedrich Nietzsche
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