Your journey to become interior design is going to be difficult.
It's going to be hard. It's going to take growth with
that. You're going to have all these
feelings of self doubt that are allowed, but that doesn't mean
it's true. A beginner's not an imposter.
Beginner's someone who is in process.
And so you're not behind. You are building that you are
becoming a better designer that you want to be.
I mean every designer. You mean 20 years in for me, I
am endeavoring to become a better designer in my process,
in my designs for my client. And so it should never stop
because we as designers love vision, love to improve, love to
see how interiors can go from looking one way and be improved
and become better. And so we we apply that same
thing, whether it's subconsciously or consciously to
our own lives, to our own businesses, to our own feelings
in the career. You're now listening to design
curious, a place where you creative one, are here to learn
about what it really is like to be an interior designer.
And I'm your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward.
If you're worried about how to succeed in a creative career, if
you're ready to learn your next steps to become an interior
designer, and if you want the satisfaction of doing something
you love every day, you are in the right place.
Grab a coffee, a notebook, and let's dig into today's episode.
Hello and welcome to episode 193 of Design Curious podcast.
Today on the podcast, we are covering once again, impostor
syndrome. I'm especially talking to the
new designers out there, but I know that even well seasoned
designers experience this as well.
And so we can get into that in the episode about what's
happening on the inside when you're facing imposter syndrome.
I've talked a little bit in a couple episodes past about, you
know, your contract can help to give you confidence and that
having systems and other things like that leading the client and
all those things. But there's kind of other parts
that you want to pay attention to when you are experiencing
imposter syndrome. And we're going to talk about
that in the episode. I do want to mention that if you
are experiencing imposter syndrome and you're a new
designer and you're not sure how to move past it even after
listening to this episode, then why don't you join my design
mentor? It is a great time to join right
now because first of all, it's always a great time.
But next we are actually going to be increasing the price of My
Design Mentor. You know, I haven't done that
for a while, but I think it's time and we're going to do that
July 1st in coordination with Launch Your Business Boot Camp.
So if you sign up for My Design Mentor this month or Launch your
Business Boot Camp for the summer session, then you're
going to get the standard rates that are current right now, but
it's going to go up in July. So if you join My Design Mentor
in July or if you do boot camp in winter, you're going to have
the higher rate. So I recommend getting in there
now. You can stay in as long as you
like in mentorship as long as you need it.
And so might be worth your while just to hop on now, even if
you're not sure you have enough time, because it's really an
affordable rate of $47 a month to just have access to me access
to all these learnings. So check it out.
OK, now let's talk about imposter syndrome.
So the first point we're going to talk about is that imposter
syndrome is really often a sign of growth.
And having imposter syndrome is not proof that you don't belong
to whatever you're doing. So in this case, it would be
becoming an interior designer or starting your own business.
It's very common to feel that way. 9 out of 10 designers I
talked to admit to feeling imposter syndromes at some point
or another. So it's so common, and it really
just means that you're stretching into something
bigger. I am a huge advocate for growth,
personal growth, change. Even though it's hard, I
sometimes will resist change as well.
But change is hard. But it's always good for us to
go through change. But that resistance is kind of
what you feel when you you're experiencing imposter syndrome.
An interior design especially feels personal because it's
reflecting some projects and some vision that you have had
that you've created. And so you're putting your work
out there as an artist of applied arts that you are now
vulnerable to the person receiving it.
So that would be your client. Or as your projects get bigger,
you're going to be submitting them for awards and
publications. And so that makes you vulnerable
as well. And you might be looking around
at other designers, what's out there on Instagram, what's in
the magazines. And it's so easy to compare with
someone else and say, Oh, my projects don't look as polished
as that person's. But you can't really compare
your beginning with someone else's middle or even the end of
their career. You're going to be in different
places. You're not looking at their
beginning photos. I'm sure their photos start to
help the same way as yours. Social media makes everyone else
look good, right? It's all polished, established.
They're showing the highlight reels often, even though there's
a movement to show a little more realistic side of things.
It really is curated still, because no one wants to be that
vulnerable and no one wants to be judged.
There's just really very few people out there who don't care
what other people think, right? So we are programmed as humans
to want to be accepted by a tribe to our peers.
And so that is what is happening when you're looking and
comparing. But as they say, comparison is
the thief of joy and we don't want to take the joy out of your
career, out of something that you love.
So we're talking about that. It's a sign of growth, but also
don't compare. So that feeling of self doubt
does not mean that you're in the wrong room that like, oh, I
don't belong here with all of these great designers.
You go to market and you see all the celebrity designers talking
on a panel and you're like, I could never, I'll never be
there. I'll I'll never be like that.
But all those people were where you were when they were starting
out. Some of them took 20 years to
get there, some took 35. You know, so everyone has a
different path and your growth is going to look different than
other people's. It really depends on your
personality, your willingness to grow, and your willingness to
adapt and change and improve. You're not disqualified just
because you feel nervous being around or presenting your
project to a client or being around other designers who might
have a huge portfolio. So you're very capable even
though you might feel insecure. And again, feelings are just,
we've talked about way back. If you want to look back to
episodes where we talked about mindset and that feelings are
really just thoughts, that you can change your feelings by
changing your thoughts. That is why it's important to
understand. And it made me think a book that
I had to read in high school called The Road Less Travelled.
And one of the lines in that book, I think it might be even
the opening line is that life is difficult was one sentence and
the next sentence says, and once you realize that it is no longer
is difficult because your expectation is now that it is
difficult. And so you're willing to accept
that and move on. So you know that your journey to
become interior design is going to be difficult.
It's going to be hard. It's going to take growth.
So with that, you're going to have all these feelings of self
doubt that are allowed, but that doesn't mean it's true.
A beginner's not an imposter, A beginner's someone who is in
process. And so you're not behind, you
are building. So that's kind of where we want
to start with this mindset is that to reposition it from self
doubt to a growth mindset that you are becoming a better
designer that you want to be. I mean every, sorry, you mean 20
years in for me, I am endeavoring to become a better
designer in my process, in my designs for my client.
And so it should never stop because we as designers love
vision, love to improve, love to see how interiors can go from
looking one way and be improved and become better.
And so we we apply that same thing, whether it's
subconsciously or consciously to our own lives, to our own
businesses, to our own feelings in the career.
So that's how we want to position it.
So it's not solved by waiting until one magical day when you
suddenly feel ready. That's never going to happen.
So if that doesn't happen, then how do you actually move through
it? So that confidence comes from
within. You don't, even when there's no
external proof. External validation is never
going to be enough if your internal foundation is weak.
So one compliment, one project, 1 happy client, or one social
media win is not going to permanently fix any of your
insecurities. I've even noticed that as I have
wins along the way, I will quickly move past them.
Like I, I had a project published in a magazine.
Yeah, it's exciting. And then I see the magazine, I
tell the client, post it on social media.
And then the next month I kind of put it on the shelf and now
I've moved past it and I kind of forget.
And honestly, it really serves you well to create a list of
wins that you have ongoing throughout your career that you
can always reference when you're feeling those feelings of self
doubt. Because it really helps to to
hammer home that you have been doing things, you have
accomplished a lot. You do have a lot of wins, even
if it's one here and one there. It's going to help reinforce
that you do things well and that you can design and have
successful projects. Confidence is built through
identity and self-awareness and all of this inner work.
And so you have to pay attention to those beliefs that are
running underneath your fear. So are those beliefs saying I'm
not experienced enough? I mean, these are things that I
hear all the time talking to designers who come through my
mentorship program. Almost all of them have these
questions to me or statements to me that I can see that their
beliefs is that they feel like an imposter.
So they'll say, oh, I don't have enough experience.
I'm worried about making mistakes.
So and so, you know, in my community is, you know, started
last year and they already have like 10 projects and I don't
have any. And then, like, do I need to
take more classes, like do a lot of things in order to be a
designer? Like, you know, and we've talked
about this before, when can I call myself a designer?
And today you're a designer. Today you already have been a
designer because it's innate, it's within you.
So really paying attention to those inner voices, those inner
beliefs and thoughts, and that will affect your feelings.
That inner work matters because it affects how you show up, how
you make decisions, how you lead, and how you recover from
things that go wrong. So some things that you could do
to help you identify these thoughts and beliefs that are
going on inside would be to maybe journal about some
patterns or things that you're frustrated with.
Sometimes you can't see it until you kind of get it out, whether
that's verbally into a voice memo or dictation, or you're
writing it out by hand. Any way that you can process
your thoughts? Well, I would recommend putting
it down on paper or in the computer.
And so you can see patterns that start to arise whenever you're
feeling that way and notice comparison triggers.
Like do you feel worse or you feel like you're more of an
imposter when you've been scrolling on Instagram for an
hour as opposed to just going on there quickly to post something,
you know, like another thing and then hop off.
It's like maybe it's a trigger for you to start comparing
yourself to others. You can challenge those false
beliefs that you have instead of just accepting them.
So anytime something negative thought about yourself comes up
and you just say, hey, is that really true?
Like let's explore that. And then Createspace in your own
home for getting grounded, having this time of reflection.
If it's going to work for you, it will probably also be
something that can work for your clients.
So this is going to be like something you can put in
practice that you can actually apply to your designing for your
clients homes because they might not be getting imposter syndrome
about being a designer, but they might have struggles other
things in their lives and they need a safe space to get
grounded and reflect. And so by going through the
process yourself of seeing what kind of environment you want for
doing this reflection work that everybody really needs to do.
I mean, I really try to promote healthy lifestyles for my
clients with, you know, like all hint at not having TV's in the
bedroom and like let's have a meditation space or like a home
workout area and things that I can suddenly lead them into.
Like they don't already do that. Just be like, have you thought
about this? Like this might improve your
life, right? Like I want to touch all areas,
not just visually of improving their life.
And then if you're really, really struggling, then you can
work with a mindset coach or a therapist.
And if you have this recurring blocking, like I just can't get
past these thoughts. I, I can't think any other way
about myself, then it might be time to turn to a professional
to help you. No judgement there.
People do this all the time. And I've worked with a life
coach in the past before and the mindset issue is just so
revealing. It's so foundational as to like
how you can shift your career to be more successful and more
aligned with something that you want because you've changed the
way you thought. So confidence is not something
that it'll be handed to you when the industry is not.
You don't get it when you get your first award, design award.
It's something that you have to build within yourself.
And so This is why I keep coming back to this topic because it
always comes up with other people, but it's kind of the
hard work you have to do inside. And that like not a lot of
people can hand it to you, right?
So it's something that you have to do within and you have to be
disciplined enough to do it. So confidence is an inside job
and you can't outsource yourself, trust.
And so just think about all that and take some time for yourself,
be kind to yourself and be like, OK, why?
Why am I thinking these imposters thoughts?
I know I'm a good designer. I know I have talent.
So spend some time just noodling that.
And if your inner work does not mean inner work, does not mean
sitting still and just thinking better thoughts, though it's
confident, that also grows when you take action.
So that's kind of the next step in building your confidence is
to take action. And that happens through
repetition. And then the steps that you take
for personal growth. I kind of have a couple
different parts to this section of taking action.
So I am always an advocate for the first part.
I would say part A would be always learning, always be
taking. Like I like having to have to
take continuing education units, even though it's annoying.
Sometimes I have to get a certain amount within a year or
two years to maintain my certification, but really just
forces me to be like, OK, what, what else can I learn that maybe
I need to hone my skills in a certain way.
It really just is going to make you a better designer,
especially if you're new. Be learning, learning, learning,
trying to take courses. I've mentioned before different
courses that you can take like science and design or get your
certified aging in place certificate, or there's a lot of
other programs that even if people have come through the
podcast speakers who have their own courses that you can learn
more things. You can learn how to do AutoCAD
better or Revit or like anything that you think, even if you
don't think it's going to be that useful right now, it might
come become useful later. Take a color course from Ray
Killam. So every week, if you feel,
especially if you're starting out and you're not that busy
with clients yet, like carve out some time every week.
Like one day a week, you're gonna take a class or watch a
YouTube video on how to do something that you don't know
how to do well yet. And it's just so you can become
more aware and more prepared. So carve out that time for
learning. You can learn design principles,
learn process communication, marketing.
I mean, there's so many things that can go into owning a
business as well, like having your own business that you can
learn 'cause that's all things that you know, you like.
I, I can help people with through the mentorship and other
coaches have programs, but you're not going to learn that
in design school. So if you're fresh out of design
school or even if you haven't gone to design school, you might
not know all these business things.
And so there's so many courses you can take to learn how to do
that, or even just interpersonal skills like communicating with
clients, how to read the room, how to know what to say in all
these different difficult situations.
There's always something you can learn.
And so your confidence will grow the more that your knowledge
base grows. So remember that you might be
new, but you don't have to stay new.
You don't have to stay inexperienced.
So every week you can be becoming a better designer and
then share what you've learned. It shows that you're busy,
you're active, you're learning. People love that.
OK, so I'd say Part B then would be practicing in your own home,
kind of like I mentioned earlier, like you can practice
by creating a space for all of this reflection or learning, but
then also practicing on your home.
Like I tell people who are just starting out that the best way
to build your portfolio is to use your own space or maybe your
family members space and just get some vignettes.
Your home is like a laboratory, so it's like a great place to
try out contractors that you might want to use with your
clients. You can try out paint colors
that you want to find your tried and true whites and neutrals and
maybe try it out in your own home.
I'm always telling my clients like, Oh yeah, I have this color
in my house. Like I love living with it.
Or I have this appliance, I have this rug, I have this light
fixture. Like I have all these things and
by me verifying that I live with it, I love it.
You're going to love it too. That word of mouth referral.
It goes so far with the client and practicing making choices.
And living with them is great for getting confidence.
And then oftentimes you just learn by doing, not by watching
someone. Like, even if you're watching a
lot of YouTube videos, you kind of need to put that into action.
And for me, I know that's the case on a lot of things.
Like I can learn, learn, learn. And then it's like, OK, it's not
really going to sink in unless I'm practicing and trying it out
for myself. So practice is still practice,
even if there's no one paying you for it yet.
So you're still designing, you're still working on a
project, even if it's your own home, you, you know, it doesn't
matter. You're still getting that
experience and your talent is increasing each time that you do
a new project. OK, then moving on Part C of
this section on learning, growing through taking action.
So part C is don't be afraid of mistakes.
Mistakes happen every level of business and design, whether
you're in your first year or your 20th year, you're still
going to make a mistake. Sorry to say, We're not perfect,
right? So new designers often become
timid because they're so afraid of getting something wrong.
You're going to get a lot wrong at the beginning.
And of course, like working with a mentor or coach or someone
like that, working for another designer can kind of help shield
you from some of the repercussions of mistakes.
So you can learn it the easy way, but sometimes you'll have
to learn the hard way. That's just the way that it goes
in life. But being timid because you're
afraid to make that mistakes, it can really kill your creativity
and your leadership in your project with your client.
The goal is not perfection. The goal is learning how to
respond well to each situation that happens.
So if you do make a mistake, like for example, you selected a
paint color, but then you wrote the number down wrong for the
painter, and so he picks up the wrong paint, he starts painting
the wall. It's a completely different
color than what you put down. Well, what do you do?
You're going to own that mistake quickly and say stop painting.
You need to figure out what happened somehow I wrote that
down wrong. And then you communicate with
your client and say, this was my fault.
I put the wrong paint color down here and he started painting and
now he has to paint over it again.
But don't worry, this is my fault.
So I'm going to cover the cost of him repainting that.
So you need to solve that problem calmly and not just have
a a meltdown because he made a mistake.
Clients will get it as long as you're taking care of the
problem. You know, it might be a little
annoying, but they're going to move past.
Now if you if you're not paying attention to the details and
you're making mistakes just because you're lazy about
checking things, then that's a whole different story.
Usually, especially new designers are so on top of
everything, they're checking things three times.
And then if something goes still goes wrong, that's amazing,
right? How could it slip through the
cracks? But it, it might.
And then you're going to learn from this lesson.
I keep a running list. I've said before about lessons
learned from each project. It's great to go back and be
like, oh, yeah, I forgot that that happened.
Like, that was a really, you know, pivotal point in like how
we changed our process here because I learned from that
mistake. And then we keep moving on.
So yeah, you're going to make those mistakes, react calmly,
own up to it, communicate clearly.
Mistakes happen. I've had some situations where
the client was not very understanding about a small
little detail mistake that happened, even though I did
communicate clearly and solve the problem calmly.
She, I had other things going on in her life and so she did not
react very well. I can't control how she reacted,
but I still learned from that. Sometimes people are just not
going to be understanding. And then that probably means
that they weren't the ideal client to start with.
Because you really just want to be working with people who are
kind to you. And I'm not going to cheer your
head off just because you made one little mistake.
Have they been perfect their whole lives?
I doubt it. So let's have a little
compassion for each other that we will make a mistake, OK?
So don't aim to be a designer who never makes mistakes.
Aim to be one who knows how to handle them.
That would be a great reputation to know how to handle sticks or
how to handle surprises that come up on the job site.
To have that reputation, I think would be amazing.
And so mistakes don't mean that you are not cut out to be a
designer. Just because make one mistake
doesn't mean you have to throw in the towel.
They're part of how you become an excellent designer.
So just remember that. I know it's hard when you're in
the moment and you're feeling a little emotional and vulnerable
about the mistake that you made, but come back to this episode
and remember that everyone makes mistakes.
You're going to move past this. This too shall pass, right?
And then learning from it and making it right.
It's really just the best response.
And then the last part of this taking action is to adjust your
mentality to adopt kind of more adventurous or a pioneer
mentality to be a leader. New designers need a little
courage as much as they need talent 'cause they're starting
out like you're taking risks. Other people are taking risks on
you 'cause you aren't as experienced.
You need to kind of bolster yourself back up and get that
courage to get out there, right. And so you have to be willing to
go first to try things, trust your perspective and keep
growing even though it you might be wrong and leadership's not
reserved for the most experienced person in the room.
You can still lead your client even if you're a new designer
because you have talent, you have vision.
And if you've been working with me or another coach, you'll have
process that the client will trust you and that you can
always go back and lean on, especially if you have it in
your contract, right. Go listen back to episodes about
how your contracts, your besties, that will give you
confidence as well. Sometimes leadership looks like
taking one brave step before you're really fully proven.
So it's like opening your business, telling people you're
taking on projects even though you haven't really been fully
proven as a designer yet, someone will take a chance on
you. So an interior design kind of
requires a pioneer spirit. Sometimes you're going to be
designing things that are really out-of-the-box and you kind of
have to be willing to try it out.
Sometimes I'll design something, I'll take it to my contractor
and be like, can we build this? Like, is this possible?
Can we make it work? Can you figure this out?
I would like to do see something that looks like this, but I have
no idea how to do that because I've never done it before.
So you kind of need to pioneer like to be the first one there
to figure that out. And those are usually the things
that really make the project or really help a designer to stand
out in their community is because they kind of went out on
a limb and did something that nobody else has done before.
Not saying that every project has to be like that, but you do
need that kind of a spirit, especially when you're starting
out and you haven't done anything before.
So don't build a body of work by waiting until you feel certain
you start to build it by growing, moving, doing, taking
action. Designers who keep going and
have that growth mindset and mentality and pioneer spirit
will kind of surpass others who are just hesitating or standing
still in their career or just like not pursuing that.
So you can get ahead of other designers around you if they
don't have that kind of mentality.
So I hope that speaks to you a little bit and keep bringing up
this topic because it does keep coming up.
Whenever I'm entering someone, talking with even other
designers in my local community, we all struggle with imposter
syndrome. So I kind of wanted to talk more
about the inner workings of that and how to adjust it and kind of
squash it down so that we're taking action, that we're just
going out there taking some risk, being designers that
embrace the future and really build something that we love to
do. So I hope you're feeling
encouraged to do some reflection to stop comparing yourself with
other designers, even though it's super easy to do that.
You are a fabulous designer and I want you to feel that way
about yourself too. So looking forward and I like I
mentioned in the intro that we've got boot camp coming up as
of today, the doors are open to sign up for launch your business
boot Camp. So if you are new designer and
you haven't started your business yet, but you're
thinking about it, Boot Camp is going to be where you want to be
because first of all, you're going to get the great rate that
it's at right now before increases for the winter.
But then also after 8 weeks, you are pretty much launched and
ready to go, taking on your first client.
I'm there holding your hand through the whole process.
You've got other boot camp designers in there with you
going through the whole process. You're all on the same page,
you're all experiencing it together.
You can compare notes. It's really fun.
So I suggest you get in there now.
And then also I have some webinar.
I have a webinar coming up this month.
You can get the link to join the webinar on June 10th.
And then I will do it again live June 24th.
So it'll be the same webinar, but you had the option to attend
June 10th or 24th or if you liked it on the 10th, you want
to revisit, hear it again. You can come on the 24th.
That's fine. That webinar is called Are you
ready to Start Your Interior Design Business?
How to know for sure and what it really costs.
So if that interests you, I encourage you sign up for the
webinar and attend this month, June 10th, June 24th.
I'd love to have you there. All right, that's it for this
week. Next week we'll have another
great episode. And until then, stay creative.
Thanks for listening. If you love this episode, please
leave a rating and a review. This helps me reach other
curious creatives like you. If you have a topic request or
would like to contact me, simply head over to my website
awardesigncom or e-mail me at podcast at awardesign com.