“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be”
~ Abraham Maslow
I discovered this quotation right about the time when I started my search for a new career. It sounded sooooo refreshing! It was like that moment when I knew within myself that I am not using my God-given talents as best as I could. We spend most of our awake hours at work. Shouldn’t this time be spent optimally doing something we really like to do and simultaneously earning and contributing to the society? In this post, I would like to share with you a formula that may make it easier for you to decide whether you want to pursue graphic design right now or in the near future. This formula could also be used in all areas of your life.
Back in the day when Ben Carson was only known for his work as a neurologist, he wrote a book called Take the Risk. In it, he suggested four questions you are to ask yourself when making crucial decisions. He called it the:
The Best / Worst Assessment
It involves asking yourself these four questions:
- What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
- What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
- What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
- What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
If you are reading this blog out of a concern for whether you want to pursue graphic design, go ahead and ask yourself these for questions right now! Refer to the Worksheet at the end if you want to write your thoughts down.
Ok, so now that you have thought about some answers,we can move ahead. I will give you my situation and answers to help you get an idea how effective this process was for me.
My Situation
Graphic design was a second career for me. I was in my mid-twenties. I had just moved out my parents’ house but still had their support and the support of my friends and church family. I was close to the end of my MBA that I paid a lot of money for. I was an Internal Auditor, a job that I hated and did not desire to grow in that field. After searching through different careers I landed on graphic design! And upon reading Take the Risk,I decided to ask myself these four questions.
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What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
If I decided to switch career and pursue graphic design, I could have found out that I really enjoyed it and could become great and it and have a satisfying career for the rest of my life and not be miserable on a daily basis. I would include my business background into graphic design so that my tuition in business school would not be seen as a waste. My world would become colourful.
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What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
Find out I also was not happy doing graphic design after I quit my job, lost some time and experience (in the job I hated anyway). And would have to re-enter the workforce in a different job. Also, if I invested money in graphic design education that would have been probably wasted. However, because at the place I was in life, I did not have pressing bills and my family and friends had my back and I could eventually bounce back.
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What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
Maybe, just maybe I could grow to love my job? (Not likely) Maybe I could find another job and I was okay with. Accept my status quo and live for my weekends.
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What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
Get cancer and die from the emotional stress I went through as I faced each workday. I really felt as if my job was causing my body to be ill.
This Best/Worst Assessment so quickly put things into perspective for me. I could see clearly that I could take this risk to have a better life or simply just try it and bounce back onto my current path.
How about You?
Everybody’s answers will be different because we are all at different places in life when we realize that we were not following our calling. However, you will know when the time is right to make the first step. Now for the disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
Don’t quit your job just yet! First, it may be wise to:-
- Pray about it. Let God open the doors for you if and when He chooses to.
- Take a cheaper course before taking on a full-time graphic design program. This could be a computer graphics evening course or online class to help solidify your decision to pursue your passion.
- Start saving up for your career change. It will NOT be easy but it will be worth it.
- Transition. See how best you can tie your current career to graphic design.
- Research a lot! The how’s the whys the when’s. Google is your friend. Read graphic design journals and books—keep following this blog.
- Observe typography, signs, labels, etc more than ever before. Analyze what looks good and think how you could make a design better.
- Talk with people in the graphic design field. Ask them what do they think it takes and what steps they recommend.
- Do not publicize your decision until you have worked out your path. There will be persons with words of discouragement. Listen filter what you will act upon. Follow the applicable advice but never sway on the things you have already decided. I love people and generally, they mean good. However, without all information, they are unable to truly give valid advice.
- Do not consider yourself a graphic designer because you know or have the tools (like Photoshop). First, learn the principles of graphic design. You do not want to be known for poor work.
- Start to search job sites to see what is required and determine how you can become qualified to get such a job.
- In summary, take the risk, a calculated risk. Pray and be logical in your approach.
Click here for your worksheet to complete your Best/Worst case analysis