Do they really want it ?

I don’t know.

What I know is that Dreaming doing nothing
will soon or later bring deep frustration. : (

Dreaming alone made 2017 the same as 2018…

And today, I wanna help you make the change
for you to be proud of your Super year 2019 ! 

“Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare.”
– Japanese proverb

How you to stop procrastinating and make your designer dream happened!

TIP 1:

“Dreaming is awesome but can be dangerous”
Do not let your dreams paralyse you.

Why so ?

Because dreaming let your brain feel emotionnally
happy in an imaginary world of success – where you are The Hero ! 

You spend hours creating scenarios of glory and feel excited about it !

You dream you can sketch, work for the best industries, open your own design studio, draw whatever you have in mind… be famous and become the next Philippe Starck !

You dream so much that you won’t dare leaving your dream, your imaginary crown.
You won’t dare facing the world of reality, where you could fail.

This is why you do nothing to learn about design or how to sketch… despite of loving it.

For your first tip : You have to stop lying to yourself. You can do it. So start !

You are born with 2 arms, 10 fingers. So don’t waste it remaining paralysed in that “dream loop” that keep you far away from any action and real success.

Do you prefer to see other people succeed, or being one of them ? 🙂

TIP 2

The “Intelligent Procrastination” to avoid.

Do you buy many books ? Spend hours looking at the latest graphic tablet ? Watch infinite number of tutorials ? Look for the perfect pen to start ? Buy huge numbers of art supplies ?

BUT…

Never really take the time on what REALLY MATTER : To Sit, Focus and Draw. 

It is great to feel inspired by what other artist and designer do and the tool they use.

Nowadays information is so huge that it become a distraction. There is no filter.

Within our era of social media,
we don’t have any chance to get bored that our finger
are swapping Instagram pictures as fast as Lucky Luke looking for so called inspiration.

But how many of them did you forgot after less 10 minutes ?

There is time for looking for inspiration in any media of your choice : books, movies, social media, street…

But it is only worth if you also take the first pen you can see and draw.

There is no magic or innate talent.

To succeed you need: Method, practice and dedication.

Without focus or direction, you are just “kicking the wind”.

While in the previous TIP, you did nothing but dreaming.

In this TIP 2, with the “Intelligent procrastination” you are doing too many things blindly with no plan !

It makes you believe you are getting busy.

But are you doing anything really useful ?

When was the last time you made something that show real progress ?

For this TIP 2: Stop consuming endless information.

You won’t be able to absorb all of them anyway.

I recommend you to take a few inspiration you love, and start to sketch with them.

Consume less will allow you to produce more without being overwhealed.

Also, stop buying endless art supplies that your pen case can’t contain anymore. I recommend you to focus on 2 simple things : printing paper and a ballpoint pen.

TIP 3

Believe in your childhood dream.
They are the most precious things you have.

As a child, you loved drawing.

You did without fear of failure and enjoying it so much !

But now when you grew up.

You think as an adult you should only do great stuff.
And you don’t dare showing anything pretending to be shy.

You start procrastinating pushing away your creative pleasure in a cave.

Witthout notice,

many will become Christopher Robbin from Winnie the Pooh.

You shut down your genuine kid behaviour.
Then struggle to enjoy your adult life fully
and spontaneously swapping a “responsible life” for passion.

For this TIP 3: I would like you to remember that if you can’t sketch.
It is simply because no one taught you before.

Precious more your child dreams than your adults.
Take it easy and enjoy self-derision.

You keep wondering how would be your life :

If only you could become the designer you dreamed of before university or even when you were student in your design school.

But you thought you couldn’t make a living from your own sketches. So you decided to specialize in 3D, or study advanced engeneering or any other “safe job”.

With the safe exit, you build someone else’s ideas. Not your dream.

Till today you can’t sketch or express your own ideas visually to any of your colleagues, clients or manager. That’s super frustrating. It feels like being mute. 

For this TIP 5, I would recommend you to believe in yourself. Your self ability to acquire skills. If other people did, you can do it too !

If you are passionante, to me the “safe option” defined by your parents, your friends, the society is the dangerous one.

As a passionnate people you are a different species.
(this is why you may often feel misunderstood)

You do not only need fresh water and food to live. You wanna be happy and you find it in your expression of creativity.

TIP 6: Don’t feel guilty. That’s normal.
(I actually went through it.)

Most of you just didn’t know the map to become a designer
and were never taught to draw even in your design school.

So you had to find a safer map : such as 3D modeling to cover you lack of sketching skills or join the “traditional corporate” society like engineering.

They are safe itinerary, predicatable but can end into a dead end boring routine.

You procrastinated too long. But it is ok. Now is always better than tomorrow.

Plus, remember that procrastinating is not about Lazyness.
It is about putting the focus on the wrong place.

That is exactly the mistake I did that made me waste more than 3 years of university.

Like you, I didn’t knew any one in the design industry. I had no network. I come from a small town named Troyes famous for the wooden houses from middle-age.

I didn’t believe in myself. I couldn’t sketch even though I wanted to become a designer. Why me ? Others are so much better. Who am I to dare applying for a design school ?

I was all wrong.

Fed by by cliché and unverified data
and excuses I used to cover my weakness, my fear.

Instead of focusing all my energy into my design goal, I oriented my way to a business university.

I went to study Business and marketing for 2 years. Boring…

I wanted to get a degree in the corporate life and have a situation like many of my friends and surroundings. I felt I should get a job where we wear a tie, symbol of having a situation.

But after graduated, I still had no confident to work.

So I moved closed to Paris to study an other year of IT near Versailles. Super boring…

It was so far away I had to move into a lost town named Auffargis.

I had to wake up everyday at 5.45am, get dressed in my freezing room then go out and walk in the dark night for 30 mn toward the train station for a 30 min ride and take an other bus that get stuck in the traffic jam for an other half an hour.

All that every single day…

Of course, the same happened again in the inverse way at the end of each day too…

I realized it took me so much effort to entertain myself for 3 years on things I didn’t truly enjoy.

It was boring, but I still could complete them.

And I didn’t sketch much at that time. : /
I did a few in the margin of my boring lessons.

Most important,
I am still amazed on how much effort I could put into schools I didn’t like.

And it made me wondering how much energy
I could produce for something I love !

That late spark finally made me face the reality.

I couldn’t spend any other year of “nonsense” study that didn’t excite me.

So I discussed with my family.

And together decided I would give up my 3-year diploma to restart from zero and enroll in a design school.

My parents actually never really knew what a design school is about.

But they saw how much I loved it.
And they encouraged me despite of our lack of finance.

I could go to work and bring money in.

But my parents prefer I build something meaningful
that would make me happy for life as a living.

I was 22.

Since I never regretted it to follow my dream that bring me to join Adidas in Germany as a footwear designer, Daihatsu in Japan drawing cars , studying fashion design in Los Angeles at FIDM, and plenty of other great experiences around the world !

And I wish you to also give your best. So great stuff will come to you.

Some people call this the law of attraction.
And it workds only if you put yourself in the Action mode. 🙂

To me, becoming adult is not about shutting down your dreams. But having the courage to make them happened.

Even if you don’t have the full map yet, if you got the right focus, the vision that excites you. You will soon or later reach your goal.

I am not saying it is gonna be easy.

But it is for sure worth it.

TIP 7: The first step matter the most.

Remember that the first step is the one that most people avoid.

As soon as you do the first step, you will be “better than” the majority !

Like a Pokemon, give youself a chance for evolution !
You gonna surprise yourself of what you can do with your new skills !