While not specifically a book about design, Paul Arden’s “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be” is a book I’ve found to be really useful for this module, as a relates to how to perform and improve in a career. I’ve decided to analyse some points of the book and see how they are relevant to me as someone beginning a career in UX.

The first point of interest to me is something I think is infinitely applicable in life, however is particularly important for me to make an impression when starting a job. The idea is to aim beyond what you think you are capable of, and in doing so you should achieve something you didn’t think you could. I find it easy to fall into the trap of settling for something achievable in some uni projects, which is something I always try to avoid. This is something I’ve been trying to do in the autonomous vehicle project of IxD301, and have felt a shift in the way I’m working. Once I got over the idea that what I wanted to achieve was impossible and started actually working through the project, I could see that what I wanted to achieve was possible, allowing me to push the project further. I can see how aiming for the impossible can push you to achieve something greater, and this is something I will always keep in mind going forward.

The next point I found relevant to myself was to not seek praise, seek criticism. Reflecting on my approach to critiques last year, I definitely was more defensive of my work than I was open to criticism. It’s something I’ve recognised in myself, and am trying to improve which I feel I am somewhat. What Arden says about this is that I feel I need to improve on actually seek criticism, rather than seeking praise. While I feel I now respond better to criticism than I did previously, I think I need to focus on actively seeking more criticism. While I identify this as a flaw of myself (ironic that I can accept my own criticism of myself I know), I think it’s good I’ve identified this as it will allow me to improve in the future.

The last point from the book I want to touch on is the idea that mistakes are your fault, and there are no excuses. I recognise, that there may be exceptional circumstances, however, excuses like “it wasn’t a good brief” or “It wasn’t understandable” aren’t things you can hide behind in professional environments. With the wealth of knowledge we have access to now, there’s no reason to have to fall back on an excuse to cover poor work. This is something I would say I am quite good at, however, I do get panicked when things go wrong, sometimes leading me to try and make excuses. Going into the professional environment, I need to know to take responsibility for what I do, as admitting mistakes is much better than hiding behind excuses.

This book was a great read and had a lot of valuable lessons for me going into the industry. While not directly linked to design, there are loads I took away which was relevant to the mentality behind the design industry, and it has set me up well will the mentality to succeed in the industry.