It was the twelfth design proposal. Eleven designs have been rejected until now. She was dejected that days and months of hard work were being rejected flatly. Her chief did not offer to provide any guidance or suggest tweaks. He just pushed the design across the table and said, ‘Come up with a new design.’ There is no bigger insult to a designer than blunt rejection of her creativity.
She loved to design, but after the third rejection, she decided not to put sufficient thought into the process. She came up with lesser-quality designs after every rejection. She inherently felt that her chief had ulterior motives while dismissing the designs. All sorts of questions rose in her mind. Is he looking for something fresh, or classic? Did he genuinely not like the design? Did I not meet his expectations? Is he planning to replace me?
The constant chatter in her mind due to these doubts made her feel stressed. Over the weeks, she lost confidence in her ability to deliver a good design. She was morose at the workplace and carried this quality when she returned home. Slowly spreading it to her family, and resulting in small quarrels with her husband.
Today, she entered the chief’s room with the new designs on her tablet. The chief looked into it for a while and placed the tablet aside. ‘I knew it, he wouldn’t like it,’ her mind told her. “Are you facing any problems, whether personal or official?’ the chief asks. She is confused. “No, I’m fine chief,” she responds hesitantly. “I’ll come directly to the point,” he said and continued, “lately, I’ve noticed your designs are not up to the standards that our organization expects. Your first few designs were good. But we are looking for something fresh, something not thought of before. So I rejected them, hoping that you would deliver better designs, but unfortunately, the quality has been deteriorating.”
She nodded, unsure of how to respond. He paused for a moment and asked, “Do you not like the work?” “I do,” she replied, instantly. “Then what’s stopping you from coming up with good designs. Your job is to continue to come up with new designs, as many as you can. I may like some, and the management may like some other. All of us need not like the same design. It is very rare that a design catches the eye of all stakeholders and gets final approval. If you love what you do, just keep doing it. Do it better and better every day. Don’t expect a pat on the back every time you come up with a new design.”
He looked at her intently. As her eyes brightened, he continued, “I had to come up with forty-three new designs before the best-selling car of our company was approved for production. I simply came up with new designs over and over again, because I liked what I did and each rejection made me think differently. I hope that you too realize that an outcome may not always be liked by everyone involved. And continue to make new designs because you love what you do, not because it is required of you.”
She acknowledged his inputs with a gentle smile and returned to her desk. Her heart filled with lightness after more than a month. She switched her computer on and opened the 3D software for designing and clicked on File and then New Design. Her eyes brightened even more. ‘If you love what you do, just keep doing it,’ the words kept repeating in her mind and eventually became her mantra.
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Originally published at gracedbyayogi.wordpress.com on October 18, 2024
