I've gotten a lot of advice along the way, and picking a single most important piece of advice seems daunting.
Older architects all say "draw more by hand." This is sometimes paired with, "go build something yourself." Ah, those were the days when one could spend all their time drawing and building things by hand. Personally, I don't have that kind of time anymore. The digital age is in full swing, and to deny it is death. As a young designer sometimes the only advantage I have is being able to learn and use advanced softwares in an impressively short amount of time.
There are other pieces of advice which are more readily adaptable to the current situation such as "follow through," and "be true to your word." Collectively I believe these kinds of lessons to be very valuable in life. Perhaps business is different. In business I have rarely been rewarded for being truthful, and it seems follow-through has gotten me bupkis as well.
Nevertheless, I think it is important to do what you say you will do, and do it when you say you will do it. It seems to me to be fairly common sense. The timing aspect of it requires more practice than I have had, unfortunately, and then it always behooves me to be honest and let whomever is depending on me know that I miscalculated when I would be done. Actually I'm usually done well before expected. That is probably why such honesty has been beneficial. I could just sit on my hands until the expected hour arrives, and get paid more for lying. Hardly admirable, such behavior never sat well with me.
Ultimately, the best advice I have ever gotten was from dear ol' ma. Among her many tips was this gem: "follow your heart." Or it was something like that anyway. She may have said "gut" a few times too. At the end of the day, if I have followed my heart then things usually work out for the best, and I am happy. A few times I have been forced by teammates to complete things in a way I would not otherwise do, and those projects always left a bad taste. My memory for such mistakes is incredible, and when those memories pop up it hurts me. So in all things I try to follow my heart and do what's right for me.
This advice works great on all kinds of things. Ever take a test where you second-guessed yourself and changed an answer only to find out you were right the first time? It used to happen to me all the time, and then I decided to just go with my gut. Ever get sorta lost in an area you should know better, and over-think what to do about it? Going with my gut always gets me to the right place, whereas being distracted or overly logical always gets me more lost. Ever want to go somewhere that your head said was too risky? Following my heart always lead to wonderful discoveries.
I wasn't going to post a blogoff today because I was busy earlier and hadn't prepared the post in the morning like usual. But who knows. I'm hoping that going with my gut this time will turn out to once again be a good thing.
Go mom!
Older architects all say "draw more by hand." This is sometimes paired with, "go build something yourself." Ah, those were the days when one could spend all their time drawing and building things by hand. Personally, I don't have that kind of time anymore. The digital age is in full swing, and to deny it is death. As a young designer sometimes the only advantage I have is being able to learn and use advanced softwares in an impressively short amount of time.
There are other pieces of advice which are more readily adaptable to the current situation such as "follow through," and "be true to your word." Collectively I believe these kinds of lessons to be very valuable in life. Perhaps business is different. In business I have rarely been rewarded for being truthful, and it seems follow-through has gotten me bupkis as well.
Nevertheless, I think it is important to do what you say you will do, and do it when you say you will do it. It seems to me to be fairly common sense. The timing aspect of it requires more practice than I have had, unfortunately, and then it always behooves me to be honest and let whomever is depending on me know that I miscalculated when I would be done. Actually I'm usually done well before expected. That is probably why such honesty has been beneficial. I could just sit on my hands until the expected hour arrives, and get paid more for lying. Hardly admirable, such behavior never sat well with me.
Ultimately, the best advice I have ever gotten was from dear ol' ma. Among her many tips was this gem: "follow your heart." Or it was something like that anyway. She may have said "gut" a few times too. At the end of the day, if I have followed my heart then things usually work out for the best, and I am happy. A few times I have been forced by teammates to complete things in a way I would not otherwise do, and those projects always left a bad taste. My memory for such mistakes is incredible, and when those memories pop up it hurts me. So in all things I try to follow my heart and do what's right for me.
This advice works great on all kinds of things. Ever take a test where you second-guessed yourself and changed an answer only to find out you were right the first time? It used to happen to me all the time, and then I decided to just go with my gut. Ever get sorta lost in an area you should know better, and over-think what to do about it? Going with my gut always gets me to the right place, whereas being distracted or overly logical always gets me more lost. Ever want to go somewhere that your head said was too risky? Following my heart always lead to wonderful discoveries.
I wasn't going to post a blogoff today because I was busy earlier and hadn't prepared the post in the morning like usual. But who knows. I'm hoping that going with my gut this time will turn out to once again be a good thing.
Go mom!
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