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Date: June 26, 2022
“Can we do a thought experiment?” I asked Mon. “It’s a little woo. But. Just… humor me.”
His eyebrows: raised. His guard: up. His attitude: slightly skeptical with a mix of bemused.
“Okay?”
“Okay. For this experiment, I’m going to believe the compliments people say about me. When they say I’m talented, and that I’m good at what I do. Let’s pretend and assume for now that they’re all true.”
“But they are—”
“Shh. Wait,” I interrupted. (I know I know, I asked for his help and shushed him!) “So, let’s say there are no questions about my skill and I do great work. How would I show up if I didn’t hold myself back? If I didn’t feel insecure or need validation?
”Can you help me visualize the person I need to be? The one whose own head doesn’t stop her? The one with the confidence of Lin-Manuel Miranda when he sings?“
You know Lin-Manuel. In the Heights, Hamilton, all the Moana songs. The man is a genius. Certifiable. MacArthur Genius Grantable.
And. Does he sometimes warble when hitting notes?
Yes.
Does that stop him?
Absolutely the fuck not.
That’s the energy we’re going for.
Who would I be if I weren’t in my own way?
Well, reader, at present moment, Mon is at the office and K is asleep. So we are going to do this together.
Let’s begin:
That energy of building off one another? “Ooh, what about this?” “Oh yeah! And then we could…” “Right!! Then when that happens, maybe a…?” “YEAH!”
Unmatched.
We’re on equal footing; strategic partners. The dynamic isn’t: I’m working for them. The dynamic is: we’re working together.
Or have the time to get to know each other. The designing experience is different when you know how they think, what their preferences are, and the way they work.
Like, with some clients, especially those I’ve been with for a while, I just know.
I go into my cave and hyper focus. I’m drawing. I’m checking apps to see what’s possible. Slowly, slowly, I’m turning a desired outcome into a process into automations.
I can feel the connections clicking in my head. The image start to form. This is beautiful and one of my favorite parts.
We said thriving!!! The big puzzle and brain-joy was the step before this 😄
These are all basically mini-puzzles. My brain loves these. Hit me up with that sweet, sweet dopamine. All the puzzles. Feed me the puzzles. PUZZLES.
There’s time and space to iterate and tweak to make it fit and work even better. People will discover new ways to break it. I want to digital-garden-ize that build and be able to tend to it and cultivate it as it grows and matures!!
That’s different from one-off projects where it feels like you’re seeing your baby off to college just as soon as they learned to walk.
(This is a WIP journal entry! I’ll be coming back to it (in theory) as I keep interviewing myself. Message me interview questions HAHA on IG!)
