When you first start out with UX design, it may be daunting. 😰 There’s so much to learn and a lot of relevant stuff to keep track of. Things move quickly, and new information and technologies are always being introduced. You’re both excited and perplexed by the possibilities and opportunities available in this field as you want to try your hand at everything. 😶

I have approximately a year of college left, and I often feel like I’m not cut out for this world, especially cause I come from a different background to design, so I push myself to do even more, to the point where I’m frequently overburdened. 🤯 I see my peers progressing with their lives, thinking beyond, knowing exactly what they need to do and how to achieve their goals. I attempted for a while to wrap my brain around everything, but it was too much for me. The harder I tried, the more I struggled, and my thoughts got hazy. I neglected to appreciate all I’ve done and doubted or questioned my value since counting your blessings isn’t as easy as counting your failures? When I say “failure,” what precisely do I mean? Is it something I failed to do or something I’m incapable of accomplishing? 😵

But this is where I made a mistake. Everyone has strived to get to where they are and are striving to get ahead. It’s supposedly a constant battle between work and life, by finding ways to stay on top of things. But if you have the right tools and mentality, you won’t have to fight your way through this phase or thought process. And it can all be managed by just following a strategy you’ve probably heard about or seen before: Work-life balance. 🤗

Ahh, here we go again! Work-life balance!!! 😕

Easier said than done. I know.

Who wouldn’t want it? You picture the ideal 50/50 balancing point, where you accomplish all you need to do for school and/or work while still finding time to workout, grab a snack with your pals, or get a good night’s sleep without feeling like you’ve squandered another day.

I know firsthand that this isn’t something you can decide one night and then start doing the next day, like establishing a new workout routine or a productivity cycle (Oof, summer body where you at? 😢). Some of you have may tried this for a while, but failed as you’ve let your fear, denial or ‘comfort in your own way’ to get the best of you, leading you to believe that this will be forcing you to uproot your life or make adjustments to which you won’t be accustomed to for a long time, or ever. So here’s me sharing what I’ve tried in the hopes of persuading even one person to give this another shot for their own good! 🤗

1. Pause, ponder, and de-normalize for a time.

Take a step back and consider what is causing you stress, imbalance, or discomfort right now.

What impact do these conditions have on your ability to perform and engage in your work? What effect do they have on your personal life? What are you putting first? What are I giving up? What is being misplaced? You can only begin to address these issues when you take a mental halt and acknowledge them.

There isn’t a simple way out of this bind. To be able to deal with whatever is hurting you, beneath you, you must first confront it. For example, as of this morning, the amount of skills I still need to learn to become a competent designer within the time frame worries me out the most. “Acceptance” is the first step in the healing process. I’ll be able to do what I need to do to feel better now that I know what’s troubling me by maybe talking to my family or friends about it, or seeking advice from a mentor!

Take a break, reflect, vocalise and accept what’s on your mind to yourself or to your closed ones.

2. Make an effort to be aware of your feelings

Examine how you feel about your current circumstance once you’ve raised your awareness of it.

Do you feel invigorated, fulfilled, and satisfied? Or am I enraged, resentful, or depressed?

It’s essential to address your underlying feelings in order to better regulate your moods and feel better sooner. If you are more aware of your emotions, you may be able to better manage your lifestyle choices, make intelligent decisions, prevent or avoid negative mood triggers, and work toward a greater quality of life. In my situation, I may ascribe my feelings to a sense of uncertainty, fear, and anxiousness with regard to all the things my peers may be doing to progress. And it’s fine to feel that way! That is what distinguishes us as human beings. You’re not helping anyone by keeping your emotions bottled up because they’ll eventually burst. This will take some time to master, but one thing I do whenever I’m anxious is write down exactly what difficulty I’m dealing with. Journaling allows me to address any situation sensibly rather than allowing my heightened emotions to guide the path.

Journaling and capturing/noting down thoughts, feelings or tasks of the day.

3. Reprioritise

Enhancing your emotional and cognitive understanding will provide you the instruments you need to put things into perspective and reorganise your priorities.

What are you prepared to give up and how long are you willing to do so? Is it actually necessary? Is it true that avoiding it is impossible? What regrets have you already had, and what regrets will you have if you continue down this road?

Prioritisation gives you more clarity in terms of what your next steps should be and how effective that would be. My primary learning objective of the day would take precedence to anything I find on the internet that could be amusing. This isn’t me backing of; it’s a recognition of what I need to clear off my plate today in order to venture into the new without feeling bad later for not doing the necessary.

You could also use the strategy of chunking here to organise all of your focus areas into manageable chunks. Your mind will relax as a result of this, and you will be in a good position to achieve your objectives.

For a while, I concentrated on the design thinking process. I studied user interface design and became familiar with the tools and applications of its features to learn and improve in this particular area. Currently, I’m focusing on UX/content writing (as seen by my blog), as I just want to learn more and more, as the clichéd adage goes, “learning never ends.”

Make to-do-lists by using the chunking strategy to get ahead of your schedule.

4. Think about your options.

Prior to focusing on solutions, consider what parts of your job and life may be improved to better line with your priorities.

Is there anything about your work that you’d like to change? How much time do you want to devote to your family or to your hobbies?

A better way to solve an issue is to weigh all of your alternatives. You might want to talk to someone you trust about it to obtain a different and more distinct perspective.

Make a pros and cons list of all possible solutions to an issue and choose the one that feels most appropriate to you.

5. Create a habit!

It’s finally time to do something about it. If you want to grasp design without being overwhelmed, you should break things down. You should be more eager to work now that you have a prioritised list of things to complete. The next step is to make it a habit, at which point things will begin to change.

You’ll get a long way if you take small steps that are easily absorbed by you on a daily basis.

If you take small steps that are easily assimilated on a regular basis, you will be able to go a long way in an effective, sustainable manner.

Take baby steps to change or make a new habit.