10 Things for Next level Designers - Learnings after recording 100 Podcast Episodes

Welcome to this Design for Change and thank you so much for staying tuning in with me. And this is a very, very special episode guys, because this is 100th episodes which I 100th episode which I'm recording. Thank you so much for the overwhelming support and Design for Change has touched more than 18 countries and consistently 5,000 plus impressions are happening in Spotify. And you know what, people are really engaging in the content a lot. There is an insight from Spotify for my account and they have really listened to my podcast and they have really commented on how I can able to improve to the next level. And also there has been a engagement more than my more than any average fresher who starts a creator in Spotify. And this is really happy news for me and I really wanted to thank you and have a deep gratitude because without you listeners I won't be able to do it in this way. Thank you so much guys. And you know what, I have a very, very interesting information and very surprise news to share with you because Design for Change is going to have a second season from the coming week. We're going to be recording a very special episodes every single week. Sometimes we'll be inviting some industry experts and sometimes we'll be inviting some special national and international designers. Because Design for Change is not only to address your pain point and improve your design career, it's also for making a societal change, right, the name itself such as Design for Change. So we'll be addressing how design can really impact systems, how design can impact poverty, how design can impact hospitality, how design can impact healthcare industry, how design can impact policy level changes, how design can impact bringing down crime, and how Design for Change can really impact women empowerment and how Design for Change can impact startups which is growing in India. So lot of special episodes are coming for you guys and I'm going to be recording very, very interesting impactful episodes I would say in the coming days. So this is the very first news what I've got and the second interesting thing what I've got you is I'm going to be giving you 10 things which is going to be a massive learnings what I've got from this Design for Change and having talked to more than 12,500 students and having experience of 8.5 years doing 64 plus projects, I've really gotten interesting things and I haven't recorded 100 podcast. Let me tell you guys, I've got a 10 interesting things for you if you do this exactly what I'm saying, your design career will flip in Just six months to a next level. I would say max to max, one year. You will never be the same person. And you will see your salary going at least 3 to 5x and you will see your mindset going to a rich level of designer. And you will become an international, what you call celebrated designer in your community or in your industry, wherever you're working. Okay, so Jagdish, without any delay, give me that 10 points. Take a lot of notes. We'll be jumping into this 10 points, guys. Welcome, guys, welcome, welcome. So now there is a very good learning, which I told you I'm going to be sharing for the 10 interesting things, right? You have to get the background behind it. See, design is not about learning some textbook way or going into an institute and learning or you learn from some online programs, it's all fine. But let me tell you, it's all coming from your own personality. Whatever you design, whatever you really create that impact or whatever you make, that what you call the graphics or ui, UX or whatever it is, it all comes from your own personality of who you are as a person. That's the most most important thing, what I've learned from all of my experience, guys. So the 10 points, whatever you are going to learn is not just some kind of a technique which you can do. No, it's about imbibing that 10 points and then you have to implement it and make it as a plan to take action for it. Then and only, guys, this is going to really impact you in a lot more different way if you're just listening to it and then you're leaving. I would say you can leave this podcast now because it's not going to have any impact for you if you're not able to take action. It's not going to have any change in you. Design for change is all about taking action and making the change. I used to tell my students every single day. So if you are doing that, then it's going to have an impact, guys. Because the action and the implementation part is very important of this whole news. And if you are taking the notes and I will be suggesting you how we can take it forward from this day, particularly today, is what you call we are in the 2024 Jan. Right? So you need to get this clarity as well how you can really change it into a different way. The very first important thing, what I'll be telling you is set clear goals, a well defined goal is a very good roadmap for success. Guys. Wherever you wanted to go, have a very clear written Goal. How much you wanted to earn per month, how much you wanted to really take care of your family. And what is the position you wanted to become a designer in next two months or three months or six months. And what are the industry which wanted to really work? Write it down. If you wanted to work in Apple industry as a designer, write it down. You wanted to work as a designer in Google, write it down. Set clear intention goals. Use smart format guys. Smart, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound goals. If you're not able to write it in a time bound way, that's not a call goal. You have to write like let's say, hey, I wanted to become a designer. That's not called a goal. I wanted to become a UI UX senior level designer before May 2024 and I wanted to earn 1 lakh per month salary. That's called goal. This is what is exactly guys. See very specific. It has a measure, it's achievable, it's relevant and it has a timeline, right? So if you're able to do it, yes, your first thing is ready. The second is you need to have a very good accountability partner. I'll tell you why it is. If you're not having accountability partner, you will not stay motivated to do. You will not find your mistakes very carefully. You will not improve in your career. Who you are before and how you want to really impact you. If you have that accountability partner for any activity you do, if you start a new habit or if you want to really set your what you call design goal to be reached, you need to definitely have an accountability partner and you should be accountable for them also for their goals. You need to give back, right? Definitely. It's not like you only getting a benefit from others. So choose a very good accountability partner and you should have very good. What do you call? You need to be little respectful of them and you need to get little, what do you call fearful of them? I'll tell you why it is important because the moment you respect and get fearful, you will do things better. I'll tell you guys, we are not gods, we are humans. We need definitely some accountability and system or seniors to really respect. Because on that only you will be able to improve. See a lot of times design community, I really, I've really understood this. People do have a lot of ego and 90% of the designers they know, they think that they know everything and nobody is needed for them to improve. I'll tell you guys, you will never become a successful designer. That is why only 1 to 2% of the designers are becoming so successful. Remaining people are only mediocre. And some people really leave this field is because of this one single factor. Don't do that mistake. After 100 podcasts, after guiding so much of thousands and thousands of students, I'm telling you this because I've helped students get job in just three days. I've helped students get job in 15 days, 45 days, 30 days, one single month, two months, three months. People do not even know anything in design. I've helped them get job in just less than three months to become a designer. So you don't have to become a design student in any big institute to become a designer. All you need is a right mindset and an accountability partner and a good mentor to guide you. That's it. With that, I'm telling you the third point and the importance of choosing a right mentor. Because if you have a mentor, you will know what to do, where to do, how to do, when to do this is very important. Guys, today in the day and age, information is very, very, very huge. You get thousands and thousands of videos and lacks of videos is there in ui, UX and product design. But why are you not becoming success? It's because you don't have the right accountability and a mentor. Choose the right mentor. I'm not telling you, you join this, that it's up to you, but choose a right mentor. In fact, this Design for Change has a very good mentorship program. But it's not for everybody. It's for only serious people. If you are really interested, you can go to that email which I pasted in the podcast description dfcdesignforchangemail.com I'll be more than happy to help you. And there'll be a contact number also which you can get help from. And if you're able to do it, guys, this program is going to help you get job in less than three months without any problem. Even if you don't know anything in design, you don't have to worry about anything. You can do it, okay? It's an invite. It's up to you, your choice, whatever you want to do. The fourth important thing is develop your design process. See, you don't have to follow a double diamond process, you don't have to follow any design book, you don't have to follow any ideal design process. I'm telling you guys, from my experience, if you develop your own design process, when a problem is given, how do you approach? How do you systemize? How do you talk with people to get the information. How do you research, ideate, prototype, test it? I'm telling you guys, then and only you will develop your unique way of solving the problem. If you're not having this, I'm telling you, you will be failure. Even though you have a good goal, good mentor, good accountability, if you don't have your own design process established, it will become a backfire for you. Okay, the fifth important thing is communication. Whatever you're doing, guys, if you're not able to talk to your stakeholders or your clients or your customers or your own subordinate, how to get the information, how to get the research done, how to even do a survey, how to even interview people to get information, how to present your ideas to your team, how to even brainstorm. You know what, your design will become very ineffective. Design is all about communication. If you are not mastering communication of talking to your stakeholders or your teammates, you will not have a very big difference in your designs. Whatever you are making. I've seen lot of people who do lot of good sketching, lot of good concept making, lot of good rendering abilities and all these things. Their concept will not get implemented because of one single idea. They don't know how to communicate effectively to their team. See guys, this is a big rope which ties everything as a one single knot. With that knot only you will be able to pull the entire vehicle. Guys, if you're not able to pull that entire vehicle and then your knot is very loose, and then your thread is very loose, what happens is it will get what you call it will get easily loosened and you will leave the feedback of different designers, different inputs from a different team, different. Your management will not agree, your client will not agree, your customer will not agree. Even your own subordinates will not agree for the concept so that it will lie only as a concept. Communication is very, very important. I'm not talking about English. I'm talking about telling what you really intended to tell from your mind. That's called communication, guys. English, Hindi, Tamil, language is different. I'm not talking about language. Telling what you wanted to tell through your sketches or your 3D models or your concepts or prototype is very vital. To tie that knot and pull that string, to pull your whole product design idea into a next level. Because people don't know how to communicate what they really think. That's where the real problem starts. And that's why they are not able to improve in their career. This is a fifth important golden nugget, guys. Okay, please take it down and please make a plan. Tell your accountability Partners and your mentor. How I can become more effective in design. That's where if you ask right questions, you will start improving in your career like anything. Okay. The sixth important part which we will be discussing is early rising and physical activity. See guys, if you wanted to really become successful in your career, the very first thing which I tell for my students is wake up at 4:30 every single day. What are the benefits of waking up at that time? You know what, if you do this for continuously 365 days, you will have extra 45 days. In a year, everybody will have 365 days. Right? But you will have 410 days. Because every single day, three hours you are giving extra to yourself. Hey Jagdish, I'm spoiling my sleep. No, it's not like that. Once you start waking up at 4:30, automatically you will go to bed at 10:10 30 and then the routine sets and you will become so productive, so creative. Amazing. Guys, can I tell you some real stat? My program starts at 5:30 in the morning to 7:00 in the morning. Because I wanted to cater for the people who are working who wanted to really improve in their design career. They don't have a weekend times and daytime. I really help them with this time. And you know what? People really learn faster if they go. They are learning in the particular morning session. Lot of people don't understand this. They think it's a waste of time. This, that it's why you unnecessarily strain your body. No. You feel so energetic. Your health will go up like anything. Your digestion system will be proper. If you sleep early and wake up early, your hunger will be properly set at that time. And if you spend another 45 minutes to even exercise properly. That's my next seventh point. If you do a physical exercise in the morning and start your day with a very good learning activity for your brain, your entire day will be super productive. So happy. Guys, you know what? A healthy mind and a body foundational for a successful creative designer. In fact, the sixth and seventh point is very important. Waking up early and doing 30 to 45 minutes exercise. Anything like meditation, yoga, gym or even walking, cycling up to you. But do something. The eighth important thing is get comfortable with systems, processes and tools. Let me tell you why it is very important. See a lot of people. I will give you an example to understand it. A lot of people know a lot of design things. They know the process, they know the. They know how to solve the problem. They know how to work on a Real time project, solution, that's all fine. But until. Unless you don't know how to leverage the power of tools, systems and process. It's like having an entire fruit with you. You know how to take that fruit and eat it, you know how to cut it, you know how to pierce it with your nail and eat it. But what if your nails are not sharp? What if your knife is not sharp? What if you don't know how to cut that and eat it? You know what happens. This is a big problem with a lot of designers. They don't know how to leverage the usage of tools. That is why you need to learn softwares like Adobe xd, Figma, and there is a very good collaborative tool called Miro. You have to be comfortable with video conferencing calls, apps like Zoom Teams, Photoshop, Illustrator. These are all some of the very good tools which can help you really leverage your power better. Because the more you learn about the tools and when you have a very good system, like let's say you need to know what happens to your concept when you submit to your customer. What happens to your concept when you, when your customer uses it? How does the feedback comes and how does the customer gives you next project and how does the, how is the system that you submit each and every concept to your customer and what is the system you have in place to record their feedbacks, to reiterate it, to prototype it, to test it, to research. So systems, tools and the process in which you work should be very well digested by you guys. Lot of people take it very granted, they know a lot of design stuff, but they don't know how to really leverage the power of a tool, system and a process. If you're able to do it, guys, let me tell you, you will definitely deliver a better product or a service than any other designers who we are working with. The very important point, a lot of people I have seen, I really found them that they don't have a systemized work nature, they don't have a proper process, they don't have a exact tool, good knowledge. That is why they were able to not successfully improve their career. Lot of years they work as a designer, but they are not growing, they just are at the same phase where they are five years before, three years before, two years before. Because they don't see any surge in their growth. Because having talked to thousands and thousands of students, I can exactly see the pattern, right? So you need to understand from the mistakes of others. That's why it's a very important point. The ninth important thing is networking. This is a very, very important thing, guys. Join in some online communities, go to some seminars, webinars, go to some design fairs, talk to national designers, international designers, create a very good LinkedIn account, Facebook, Instagram, have your podcast channel also. And talk to lot of designers and peers in design community. Because if you really have a very good global network, you will start seeing lot many things what's really happening in design currently. Because building that network is a very, very powerful essential. Out of 10 points I'm telling this is the best point, second best point, I would say the last best point is the next which I'm going to be telling you, but the second best. Because if you leverage the power of networking, you will be in a far more different way. You will learn things even thousands and thousands of book is not able to give you. Because that kind of a power you will get by talking to the right people and talking to a globally varied population in design. So that your perspective will also grow high. You will not stay in your own cocoon for that matter, right? Why do these designers want perspective is because they wanted to really bring a lot of creativity in it. And this is a way to do it. And the tenth important last technique, I would say. You know what, it's a little different guys. People will not expect this kind of. What do you call a topic from me that is called mirror practice. Hey Jagdish, what is this here? What is mean by mirror? Let me tell you guys, if you are really wanted to improve in your design career and if you really wanted to add your perspective as a, as a great designer, you know what, you need to follow this particular mirror technique. Okay Jagdish, why it is very important, can you tell me that? Let me tell you guys, mirror technique is something which people really underestimate. A lot of people don't know this. Also you know what? Having spent thousands and thousands of rupees and hours of training with my mentors, I have learned this technique. Having seeing your face in mirror for 10 to 25 times every single day will improve your self esteem like anything. Hey Jagdish, why it is important to see 10 to 25 times? Let me tell you guys, just be a little patient, okay? The more you see yourself in mirror, the conscious you will become the aware you will become like. Let's say if you're delivering a work output or let's say if you are doing a concept or if you're participating in ideation session or if you're doing a discussion Even if you just do something like let's say if you move your laptop from here to there, or if you drink water, or if you talk to someone, or if you, if you move anything from one place or if you do any single activity, guys, if you do it with more awareness, more consciousness, you will do a hundred percent effective job. Oh Jagdish, how it is? Let me tell you guys because when you see a mirror, you see yourself in a very what you call in a more self loving way, in a more self confident way, the self confidence will definitely improve because you like yourself better. I'll tell you guys there is a book called Maximum Achievement which I've read this book like you know, it took a lot of time for me to understand this particular concept. So if you really wanted to become successful, that particular author says okay, he's a brain Tracy, he's one of my mentor. So he says you need to love yourself more to become more successful. He's not telling you do this, you do that. You go and get PhD, you do that. This research, if you really want to become successful in any career, first start loving yourself. I was like clueless, what are the basis? He's saying that because lot of times people try to love others but they don't really love themselves. What is this intangible thing, Jagdish? I know guys, this is a little offbeat point but I'm telling you this is a golden nugget 10th point. Guys, out of my whole hundred podcast and out of my experience and projects and handling thousands of students working with them, this is the one important feedback. This is the one important first priority point. I'm telling you guys, if you understand this, try to understand this and practice it. You will become a 10x productive guy. And you know what people do, take 5 to 7 years or 10 years, 15 years to become a successful designer. You will do it in just a span of one year. If you understand the power of mirror Practice daily watching 10 to 25 times will improve your consciousness and awareness. Having improved your consciousness and awareness, it will improve your self love. If you improve your self love, your self esteem will build. If you build your self esteem, definitely your confidence will go up. Like anything. No matter what you do, you will do 100% super. No matter what you present, it will become a master blast presentation. No matter what you talk to people, it will become the worst. It will be the best, best speech. Your entire full, what you call your brain activity is completely in full synchronous to give that maximum output hey, Jagdish. So much of good things will happen now just by looking at mirror. Yes, guys, initially when I read this, I was also so much skeptical. I'll tell you an activity to get started with this. Okay? First, you can lock yourself in a room, maybe in a bathroom or your bedroom. Have a big mirror in front of you. Continuously watch this for 10 to 15 minutes without any break. Switch off your phones, everything, 10 to 15 minutes. Just watch yourself. Let me tell you guys, after this 15 minutes, you will not be the same person. Trust me. I have tried this. I have tried this multiple times and I've guided students to tell this and they have seen huge results. You know what? Okay, I don't want to tell you what will happen, but definitely it will change you guys. It will change you in a whole new different level. See, the very first time when I started seeing, I cried. I'm telling my experience. Do not get carried away. Some people laugh a lot. Some people get neutral, Some people become emotional. Some people really get into a small depression for that particular time. So every people different experiences, different, different things. Please do comment on this podcast, guys. I definitely maintain your privacy. I won't. I mean it's a private chat, whatever you're making in Spotify to me, so you don't have to worry about this. Your privacy will be secure with me. No issues. But you have to honestly write what you felt because that is what is a real change in what you're trying to do. You know what, guys? Lot of people are very scared to do this kind of things because they don't want to expose themselves. Why they don't want to expose to themselves. They don't want to know the reality. They want to be in that comfort zone cocoon. And that's not the real case, guys. See guys, if you do this mirror activity 15 minutes and second, third day, you can do this 10 to 25 times a day. Guys, you can have a pocket mirror. You can just open it and see it. See, ladies normally do this things for correcting their lipstick or dressing their hair and checking their color tone. How does it react with this cream? So that's fine, that's different. But I'm saying every people can have a small mirror in your pocket or something which you can look at 10 to 25 times a day to just improve this awareness and consciousness. And when you do this, guys, you will start seeing internally. You will flip a lot. You will become more interesting person to yourself first. You will become more lovable person for yourself first. Because I Already told you the more you love yourself, the better you will bring yourself. The more, the better you bring yourself, the better output and productivity and creative and best person you will be. And let me tell you, a lot of people just wake up in the morning, just come to the office, eat, sleep, weekend comes, that's it, they go right. But imagine if you wake up at 4:30, if you do a physical activity for 30 to 45 minutes. If you have a proper food habits and nutrition and diet. And if, if you see 10 to 25 times in a mirror, your day will be like the super productive day of your life. And imagine if you do this continuously for one year. I'm telling you guys, you will be a next gen designer in your whole community wherever you're working. I'm 100% sure of these results. Whatever you are getting. Because I've seen that, I've got that, I've seen people who are getting that. If you're not getting it, probably you might do some mistakes. That's it. You are not able to follow this. So listen to this podcast again particularly the 10th point and practice it. This is a golden nugget I'm giving you to close this hundred episode podcast case, okay? And also there has been a big announcement which I gave you. Like Design for Change is going to have a new whole new level season. But you can wait for it. We'll be releasing you in the coming weeks. But this is a 10 important point guys. Let me recollect you having a clear written goals is a first important thing. Second is accountability. Third is having a good mentor. Fourth is having your own design process apart from a textbook design process. Fifth is effective communication, talking to different designers and your community. Sixth is waking up at 4:30am in the morning. Seventh is physical activity for 30 to 45 minutes. Eighth is having your systems, process and tools well versed with you. Ninth is power of networking. And tenth important golden nugget is mirror practice. If you are able to to do it guys, all these things will cumulatively improve your self love, it will improve your self esteem, it will improve your self confidence and you will deliver a better creative output in your whole career which will make you grow success. Okay, thank you so much guys. Thank you for listening to me in this hundred episodes of my podcast. And we'll be releasing a special episodes in the coming week guys. Okay, thank you so much. Bye bye. All the best.