A pep talk to myself

Aaina
1 min readJan 13, 2016

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I know it’s not easy.

All those doubts playing ping pong in your head.

Those fears telling you that you can’t.

Have you ever thought about asking “why not?”

Take the pressure off, forget the insecurities and just start making.

Have a point of view.

Put it out there.

What’s the worst that can happen?

They’ll laugh. They’ll roll their eyes. They’ll hate it. You’ll fail.

Who cares?

In a world of 7.4 Billion people, do you really think anyone gives a shit if you mess up? Nope. No one cares.

Well, maybe your parents but that’s about it.

Quit caring about what “they” think. Let them be nasty.

Fail. Trip. Fall. Fall harder. Fall a hundred times.

Get up. Cry. Scream. Sulk. Lick your wounds. Get back to work.

Make it better. Iterate. Pivot. Scrap the whole thing and start over if that’s what it takes.

Improve. Keep improving. Keep making.

Work tirelessly. Throughout the day, into the night.

Drink buckets of coffee. Or not. Crank those sweet jams. Take 5-minute naps on your keyboard. Invite your buddies over to help out.

Do whatever it takes.

Never take your eyes off of the prize.

Smile back at the skeptics and show ’em how it’s done.

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Aaina

Designer of many things. Currently, leading the Core Products Design team at Grammarly. Helping Designers and Design Leaders navigate their career.