Copying the Mindset of Design Professional being student - 10 Hacks

My mentor always says, if you wanted to be a person or if you wanted to earn that position, or if you wanted to earn that salary or you wanted to become a great designer, it's not about what you do to become. It's about how you enjoy the process of becoming that person. Right. Because outcome will come only if you enjoy and love the process. People wanted to get into a design professional, they wanted to earn so much of salaries. They wanted to become a big designers, but nobody really understands what does it really take into a mindset of being a design professional? Currently you might be a student, but what are all the things to take care why it is first important in first place? A lot of people are not aware of these things. I'm going to give you 10 different hacks of how you can tune into a mindset of a design professional. Even though if you are a fresher or a student or if you wanted to start learning design. Okay, so this is a very important podcast to you. Take a lot of notes. Let's jump into this topic. Let me start with a story. Okay. I used to take a lot of classes for my students and people wanted to really get into a good design job. They wanted to start earning some money. There could be a lot of reasons why somebody is becoming a designer. There could be a passion as a reason, there could be a financial burden as a reason. There could be something like they wanted to really drive a change or they wanted to impact through their design. They wanted to showcase their skills, curiosity. Lot more reasons are there. Right? But that's outcome. Right? That's like a final outcome. But what does it really take to become a designer? Oh, I wanted to join a class, I wanted to join some design school. I wanted to join a mentorship program. It's all fine, guys, let me tell you. These are all just 20 percentage or even less than that. The actual reason for being a designer is more than 80 percentage is because of your mindset. People don't understand it. People don't know why it is important. They are completely unaware of that. Okay. The moment when I say that, it really means you know what a design industry insight made. A survey like design professionals with A growth mindset reported 20 percentage higher job satisfaction rate because they have exactly tuned into the mindset while they have started learning as a designer. It's not like they are born like that. Right? It's an in developed activity. It's a developed mindset which they inculcated. A study conducted by Design Career Trends found that designer are actively embraced in a growth mindset are 15 percentage more likely to receive more job opportunities, internship opportunities, promotions, everything, even if you go into a proper design field. So it is very, very important. Guys, you know what? A journal of applied psychology published a groundbreaking study. There is a huge correlation between mindset and creativity. People don't get this understanding they wanted to earn that much salary, they wanted to become a designer. But you have to become that person first, right? See guys, I'll tell you a very basic example. If you wanted to light a fire, okay, you need air, you need fuel, you need an igniter. Without that, if you start yelling like oh, I wanted a fire, I'll be waiting for my lifetime to get the fire light up. No, you can only expect fire only if you give all these three ingredients. It is the same example I'm giving you. If you really wanted to become a designer, you have to first light up these three things first right here. There are a lot, many things. Let me tell you your growth, mindset, your ability, your curiosity, your skill set, the way in which I'm going to be talking that in the second half of this podcast. First you need to understand before giving you cannot expect the results. So you need to enjoy that process and you need to really embrace that. You need to know that there is a process towards becoming a mindset of a designer. Then guys, automatically you will find opportunities coming to you. You will find a lot of job vacancies hitting to you. You'll be finding some interviews, you will be getting a job offer for a surprise. Yesterday one of my student get into an internship role and he has started his career. He's earning a very good salary. What industry norms have as an internship gives to him because it's not joke. It takes typically three years for someone to really go into a design industry to start earning that much of salary as internship guy itself. But after joining a program, he got it. The only thing is I'm not telling I'm the only reason or this program is the only reason. No, his mindset is the major, major reason for it. I'm a catalyst, I'm a guy who can help him. I can able to tell him hey, this is what you have to tune your mindset. I can give activities, I can give projects. He did four live projects in front of me. With me, I would say okay, I corrected him, I helped him. But majorly his mindset is a major reason. So the live case study and story I'm giving you. But lot of people have really put efforts like him. But lot of people have missed the mindset. What he has shown, that's the necessity I'm recording this podcast. People don't think, hey, I wanted to learn some Figma, I wanted to learn some Adobe xt, I wanted to learn some Photoshop. Those are all tools. Guys, that's, that's, let's, that's a, that's like as simple as using a pen or pencil. That's a tool. But primarily why you wanted to become a designer. Primarily your intents, your interest, your curiosity, it's all very, very, very important. In a longitudinal study conducted by Design Psychology Research, it was found that designers who maintained a growth mindset when they're starting up as a career were more likely to adapt to industry and the technological changes leading to a very sustained success. Even if AI takeovers, even if lot of changes happening, even if design professionals are transformed into AI professionals, they will be able to create lot more impact than any other people. You know what? That is the great, great advantage of having the mindset. Okay, Jagdish, you are telling mindset is very important. You're saying it's first important to improve your mindset and then automatically you will become a designer. Okay, so we don't have to focus on portfolio, we don't have to focus on resume. Absolutely true. Guys, you don't have to focus on resume portfolio at all. Right now. Focus on the 10 aspect which I'm going to be telling you now. Okay? Because that's more important rather than starting up with this. If you start with these 10 points, automatically you will make a wonderful resume. Automatically you will make a wonderful portfolio. Automatically you will know what industry to tap, what questions to ask in the interview, what answers to be given at the time of the interview and you will see the magic happening in your career. People don't understand this subtle thing because when it comes to Pareto, you know Pareto rule is very much applicable for all the aspects of life, all the aspects of details in the universe, which is 80, 20. Your success is determined largely by a one big reason which is contributing to the 80 percentage. Remaining reasons will be like only 20 percentage. That one important factor is mindset. Because 80 percentage is mindset. 20 percentage is skill set. You need to understand this category. Okay? Okay guys, so having said all these things, now let me tell you how to become that person. Right? So Jagdish are saying again and again how to become that person. How to. So let me tell you how exactly you can become that person as a excellent mindset of a creative design professional. No problem. You and if you are a student or working professional or maybe if you are already a designer, or maybe if you're starting up as a like let's say student, you just starting up as a designer or maybe you are going to start tomorrow or maybe next month or something. No problem guys. Just have this 10 attributes. You will definitely find a huge impact and a quicker impact in your career. The very first thing is asking quality questions and being a very curious guy. Very, very important trait. Whenever you are seeing something, please don't just settle for it. Just ask questions, be very curious. You have to become that person first, right? That's the very first step. You need to be very curious in just knowing, hey, how does it really thing works? How does thing was before? How does this particular thing happen 100 years before? Hundred years before also people were living, right? So how did they solve the problem? How did they live? How did they survive? I'll tell you one example guys. Okay, so my baby was actually two months old and baby used to frequently urinate, right? So they nowadays there is something called pampers and we call it as. And then we dry using the pampers, right? So it absorbs the moisture so that the kid sleeps for a longer time. So I was against all this pampers. But it was quite evident that when you are putting a cotton cloth, it cannot absorb all the moisture. So what happens when a moisture comes? The kid wakes up. Normally a kid used to sleep for 16 to 18 hours, particularly in the first six months of period. Then only the growth and development will happen. So the baby was not sleeping properly because of this reason. I was like wondering how come hundred years before people were surviving this reason? No pampas was there, right? Absolutely. Even before 30 years, no Pampas was there. I mean it was not predominantly used in India, I would say for that reason. So how does it really happen? I was asking my grandmother, I was asking my mother in law, I was asking all of the people. Nobody is giving a proper answer. But I'm still in the quest. I got a little convincing answer. They said the patience and the kind of quality which child exhibited before 30 to 40 years was very different. They said like the child used to be very patient. The child will not wake up very fastly. Even if the child wakes up, the mother immediately changes the cotton cloth and then it goes back to the sleep. But nowadays the children are not like that. That's what they're saying. Because that's their observation. They're saying so you need to be curious. See, I'm still not Convinced with this answer. I need to find the real scientific reason behind it, okay? So you need to be curious, guys. That's the very first thing. The second important thing is you should not accept what people are saying. The previous example, what I told you, right? I'm still not accepting that. You need to have that habit of just keeping open mindset unless until you have a convincing fact or a data or statistics which can help you prove it, do not accept that. At the same time, respect everyone. Don't tell like, hey, I'll not accept you go. I mean, people are very rude when answering this kind of questions. Being a designer, it's very crucial to balance this, okay? You have to respect that person and you should not accept that point also until unless they are proving up with a proper strategy. The third important thing is leave the fear of judgment, okay? It's a very important trait being a designer. You need to leave that fear of judgment. Don't think like what people will say, what people will value my concept if I choose design, how people will think if I choose design, how my relatives will feel if I choose design, how my friends will feel if I choose as a designer, how my lifestyle will be. Don't have that fear of judgment at all. If you have that, you are blocking yourself. 80 percentage. Leave that, okay? The fourth important thing is accepting the normal thing, okay? Do not have a biasedness in you, okay? Let me tell you guys, when you are becoming a designer, this is a very, very, very important trait. Even some of the designers don't have it, okay? So if you are starting up as a designer, if you put this mindset in you, you will become extraordinary person. Don't get biased with any colors, don't get biased with any designs, don't get biased with any religions, don't get biased with any politician or don't get biased with any person's point of view. See, you might be attracted to some political parties, you might be inclined towards certain motivational gurus or you might be inclined towards certain ideology. You might be inclined towards certain religious traits. It's okay, guys, that's your belief system. You have to take it as your own. You should never imbibe that in your designs or concept. At the same time, you have to understand and accept the other people. You should not disrespect anybody. Like let's say if you are having a client of a Christian or if you're having a client like a Muslim or if you're having a client like a Jews. So it's not like, hey, I'll not do design for this guy. You will not say this, but you will show that in your attitude or your work, right? That should not show up at all. You have to install a mindset that if I am a designer, I have to really draw a neutral perspective. Yeah, you might be excited to talk to certain opposite sex. You might be attracted to go and put these colors in your design. You might be attracted to talk like this to your clients. But you have to maintain that neutrality irrespective of any project, any client, any color, any creed, any culture, any design variants, or any particular concepts. If you're talking then and only guys, you will be able to really find a sweet spot of your design. Or I'll tell you what will happen. You will become the most biased person. You will never be able to improve in your design career. I've seen that I was also initially exhibiting that particular thing. Unless, until my professor really wakes me up, beating me, not in the sense literally beating, but beating the ego, right? He gave me some examples which I have to really get rid of it. So I've been using lot of colors and composition in my forms, okay? Particularly the one style of forms. He really literally abused me. Not abused in the sense, very bad way. In a very positive, constructive system. He asked me, why are you making again and again same form over and over? Are you really inclined and lovable towards these curves and forms? He really asked me this question that really shook me. I was just. Just unshakening my. And then I. Okay, deliberately try to make another curves of forms, more colors, more patterns, more composition, more design. Because then and only you will be able to see the larger perspective. Or else you'll be carried away with your ideologies. Even people who are 60, 70 aged, they still don't understand this basic point. They wanted to carry their ideology. Like, let's say, if you are a communist, if you're a capitalist, if you are a. If you are a. Like a guy who wanted to carry an ideology or something, just. Okay, guys, but don't put that in design. When you are designing for a communist guy, also when you are designing for a capitalist guy, also you should have the neutral perspective and understand the reality and facts before wearing that hat, okay? Very, very important trait. The fifth important thing is go beyond all this hard work, smart work, this, that and all. See, I don't believe in the hard work or smart work and all. I'll tell you guys, we are operated by two different portions of our brain. One is our forebrain, which really Activates when you are very creative, when you're very active and you really wanted to engage in a particular discussion, there is something called amygdala, okay. Which normally happens when you wanted to go into a survival mode. Like let's say that's an evolutionary trait which we have. Okay. There are two portions of our brain which is active. When you're really having your maximum potential to work, engaged, if you're really finding out your biggest value in your life and then if you wanted to really serve for that value, you will be definitely active, more engaged, you'll be using your forebrain. But when you're not, if you just wanted to survive, like let's say an animal behavior or the our ancestors behavior, our amygdala really comes in picture, you will do a substandard work, you will find some breaks, you will find some rest. Hey, I am exhausted. Hey, I wanted to take a break, I wanted to go for a vacation. Hey, I wanted to really take a break and then I start to work. All these things will happen only when you are using your amygdala. That's why you need to find your biggest value in your design, why you wanted to become a designer. I always tell in my podcast majority of the reason I tell you find a good reason why you wanted to become a designer. Because if you are finding that design reason, you will value your work to a greater extent. If you value your work, your forebrain gets into active. If you value your work and your fore brain gets into activeness, you will work like a huge potential guy. You will never take a break because you are loving what you're doing, right? You will never take a tea break. I'm not saying you, you don't have to take a break. That's different. If you're completely exhausted, you'll automatically go and have a coffee, tea, take a break and then you'll get back. It's not like I'll go for 12:30, this, that and all, I'll come back at 1:30. That is like a four amygdala activated thing. So you need to be very, very conscious about it. See, a lot of people will put an against thing for this. Okay, hey, everybody has to take a work break or else they'll get exhausted. If you're really loving your work to that great extent, automatically your fore brain will come into a picture and you will never find a brick. Have you ever absorbed in your life so far? If you do something which is very, very exciting for you, you will never take a break. Guys, think about it. Pass this podcast and think about it. When you are working night and day, not because of some submission, is there because that you loved it. Or maybe if you're preparing a gift for your loved ones, how much time and effort you put to surprise that person, right? You will not feel any gap or break or exhaustedness in that. Because you love that. If you apply that same in your design career, you will explode your career in a different way. Think about it. Okay, so I'm not against break guys, again. Okay, so the sixth important thing is have a continuous learning mindset. Okay? Be always experimental, learn continuously, experiment it. Don't afraid, don't get afraid to take some risk. Design is all about taking that risk factor. Okay? So be a person who wanted to continuously learn lifelong learning Triple L. I used to always tell my students, the seventh important thing is get a feedback from others. Don't think that you are the only center of this world. Have a good community, have a good mentors. Have a good people who are really you are getting accountable for them and get the feedback from them. Okay? The eighth important thing is have a good resilience and adaptability towards your career. Always think that you are going to become a great professional, right? Tune in to that mindset. If a design industry is changing into a rapid way, how do I really adopt stay in trend? How do I really get into the design trend? How do I become resilient in order to change my design process to solve this problem? See, if you install this mindset now, you will become a great person when you are becoming a designer. See, you will not become a magical designer tomorrow. You have to become that person as a mindset. Then automatically you will see opportunities knocking. I'll tell you guys, trust me, magic will happen when you start imbibing these activities in your mindset. People will come to you with an opportunity. People will give you internship. People will give you full time job. People will hire you for a great Design works paying 50, 60,000 per month very easily to start making you as a designer. Because nobody really understand. Hey Jagdish, I mean I'll not do anything but somebody else will give me a job opportunity. No guys, hey, I have an excellent portfolio. Somebody will give me job. That's not the point guys. You will not get that kind of a magic things happening. You have to become that person. And then you will start seeing results in you. You'll start seeing your portfolio getting iterated. You'll start seeing your resume getting iterated. You'll start seeing your way of communication towards others will get changed. So people will like you, people will understand you, people will see your outcome and they'll pour your activity and then they'll pour your opportunity and all. Okay, the ninth important thing is you need to be very disciplined, time punctual, having a proper dressing sense. From now, don't think that, hey, once I get a job offer, I'll become disciplined. We are not doing any magic, guys. Nobody will become like that, like you are acting. Then that's not your normal, that's not your natural. Okay, so have a time consciousness. If somebody is scheduling a meeting, go five to 10 minutes before. If somebody is asking you to do something, do it priority with a discipline, disciplined, have a good dressing sense. Have a good properly shaved, nail cut, hair combed. Or if you're fellow ladies, have your dresses properly dressed. So all these things needs to be taken care guys. Because if you're imbibing that quality once, if you're getting that opportunity, you will sustain that for a longer time. Okay, it's the ninth important thing. The tenth important thing is find a niche in design. Okay? See, design is very vast. If you wanted to become a UI designer, again, it's a very vast subject. If you wanted to really become a great master in colors, if you wanted to become a great master in research, if you wanted to become a great master in system design, if you wanted to become a great master in behavioral design, no matter guys, no problem. Choose one good area in design and start working on it. If you follow these traits, guys, you will become a great designer eventually. Very fast. See, it takes a second for you to change your mindset, to tune into this podcast and start taking action. But for some people, it takes years. They'll be doing hundreds of portfolios and resumes. But if you're not tuning that mindset, no matter what hard work you do, it will all go in vain. So understand this subtle important thing, guys. It's. It's very, very, very, very important. People don't get this clarity. People really don't understand this. See guys, a 2020 Harvard Business Review found that growth mindset can lead to 37% greater persistence and 17% higher grades and design students. It's a study by Harvard Business Review. So mindset and innovation. A 2000 study in a creativity research journal linked with the design team showed that diversity in thought is very important as a designer to get into a higher level of innovation. You can go and research this mindset and innovation. I'll put these two links for you. You can read about these two articles. So you need to get this understanding, guys. See, it's not just joke. I'm telling. Okay? The Mindset. The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. This classical book explores that particular power of growth mindset in various domains, including design. It's very vital for you to go and read that book thing, guys, because if you follow the steps, you will become a great designer eventually. Very fast. Let me recap you shortly, guys. Okay? So asking quality and curious questions and being always very curious, okay? Asking quality questions because your, your life changes when you ask quality questions, okay? Second is not accepting everybody what they are saying, just respecting them, but also keeping an openness until unless you prove it with data and stat. Third is leaving your fear of judgment. Fourth is accepting everybody assesses okay as it is, whether it is irrespective of religion, caste, creed, color, any particular ideology. Be sure you accept everybody and understand the reality of it, okay? The fifth important thing is go beyond all this hard work, smart work and all. Activate your forebrain and just be very, very, very focused on high valued activity in your design so that you will never find a Saturday, Sunday holiday break or something else. Because if you're longing for a Saturday, Sunday, probably you're choosing a wrong career. Probably design is not for you. You should feel like I'll wake up in the midnight and I'll start working for my design concept. Because this is going to impact millions and millions of people. Let me do it. That's the kind of motivation you need to have, guys. If you're not finding it, just leave it. This is not for you. But I'm not saying it's, it's a big blunder. No, guys, let's just, let's chill. Maybe this is not for you. Maybe your interest lies in something else. Maybe your forebrain works in something else. Maybe music or something, sports, I don't know. Like you have to find that out. Okay? So the sixth important thing is have a continuous learning mindset. Seventh is feedback from others. Eighth is resilience and adaptability. Ninth is time discipline, time oriented discipline and staying what you call focused towards what you're doing, having a good dressing sense. And finally, 10th is finding out a good niche in your design. Okay? So this is very important, guys. I've taken a certain longer time, but it's very important because people don't get this understanding. They are going and banging their walls, banging their heads in the walls. By making lot of portfolios, lot of resumes, not correcting just basics. If you are someone who is really banging a lot, you can definitely hit that email guys. DFCdesignforchangemail.com I'll make sure in next 90 days you will get a salary of minimum 50,000. I've told you a case study of one of my student recently another student of me also got a job. Lot of students are still in the process of getting a job. I'll be giving you a lot more case studies as well. So results will come only if you become that person and if you're stuck, if you need a support, definitely I'll be helping you and making you join in my mentorship program and help you out to get results. Okay? Because many of my students have really transformed after joining this program. If you wanted to know how if you wanted to know how to exactly get started, send an email. Hi, send your resume or portfolio or if you don't have anything, no problem, just send a hi saying that I'm really interested. Jagdish, I wanted to take part in your mentorship program. My team on me will help you out to join this. Okay? So thank you so much guys. I'm really happy to talk to you again in another podcast. And if you find this podcast useful, give me a best star rating in Spotify and Apple. And if you find this valuable, subscribe me for further episodes to get notified. Okay? Thank you so much guys. Take care. All the best. Bye Bye.