How bad do you want to be a Product designer ?

15th July 2018: France won the World Cup !!!

Last night I discovered 2 players from the French team come from my hometown, Troyes !
I feel so happy that YES people from my small town can rise to become Champion of the Football World cup !

It always reminds me how much Success can come from anywhere, and from anyone. No matter your origins, no matter your past story. 

Anyone starting small even with no skills have the right to dream BIG.

The destination seams impressive. And one of the main obstacle we face as an aspiring designer is to wonder if we are able to make it.

Let me show you how instead of feeling afraid of it, you get excited about getting there !

You can start with no so called “innate talent”, like I did myself when I couldn’t draw anything from imagination at 22yo.

I can tell you that your dream, your ambition are your best friends to succeed.

They cheer you up when you face obstacles.  They get you up when you are crushed. They make you stronger when you get hit. They give you the energy and courage to look for solution when you feel lost. And give you so much happiness and pride when you reach your Goal.

You got to protect and nurish your dream.
As no one else will do it for you.

I like what Mbappe (One of the key French football player whose only 19yo) said during an interview:

“If you want to succeed, you need more than skills. Skills are not enough. You gotta BELIEVE in your SUCCESS even BEFORE you acquire the skills. While you are learning you have to already believe in you.”

Basically, you become what you believe in.

If you want so bad to become a great designer. Don’t worry if you have no skills at start. You will get them soon. It is the same for anyone actually. If you wanna become a lawyer, a doctor, an architect… you gotta put in the work.

Just make sure you become someone you love being, working with passion.

I wanted to become a designer before I knew how to sketch. It was tough at times. But my ambition pushed me doing the EXTRA MILE that makes the difference.

Like for example :

• When you keep sketching after class because you can’t wait to reach home you take out your sketchbook in the subway.
• When you find every single opportunity to draw in the street, the shopping mall, at a museum standing  or, sitting on the floor.
• When you create and add in your portfolio quality personal work to better target your dream companies (while you could publish only school projects)
• When you keep targeting the sketching level not only from your class but your seniors in school you admire.
• When you ask teachers to join their sketching class they give for other design department. (i.e: video games, transport, fashion…)
• When you choose a project you heart for your Master degree.
• When you dare applying for international companies even if you may not speak the local language.

You may feel shy at start, and will need to build confidence. That’s normal. I can tell you that with the “Extra mile Mindset”, you will build a momentum of confidence and humility.

If you put in the work with that high passion,
the logic path is amazing progress. 

You would be surprised how you can progress so much faster with a “blind faith”. You will become good, VERY good. And surprise yourself, friends and family.

You would be suprised how much further you can go. With faith you will activate the law of attraction. More you grow, bigger your dreams become, and bigger the opportunities come.

However, I can tell you for sure that if you do nothing, nothing will happened…

Too many hesitate remaining in inaction, being ok in the confort zone. They actually “kill their dream in the egg”.

Days after days, months after months… Year after year… they stagnate while others progress.

Don’t wait anymore. JUST DO IT ! The best time to draw is today. “Don’t wait to be good to start”. That will never happened. Don’t look for excuses. They don’t help you in anything. Practice and grow one step after an other. You fail, you get up ! As simple as that.

Learn and draw with fun !

You can find plenty of tutorials on the blog by the way. Don’t count the hours. Enjoy the present moment and see how you become stronger than the day before.

Invite your friends to make sketching session together.

Go out, choose a great spot that inspire you, sit, and draw whatever you see ! Feel free to modify them, drawing them from different angles and so on.

To fuel your energy, get some artbooks from the book shop ! 

It’s all about your fantastic journey you are gonna build. Your story you will be proud of telling your kids and even grand kids before they go to sleep. It will be about how fantastic it is to live fully while following your dream.