On Discipline

Work ethic. A good phrase, right? Everyone wants it, everyone strives for it - well, almost everyone. There isn’t a professional who doesn’t possess it to some degree. How do you acquire it? Slowly and with effort. For some more, for others less. Is it a matter of respect for the craft? Yes, at least for me it always has been. Is it the same for everyone? No, and some would question that view - after all, “why is it needed?”

Because it’s the foundation. The base on which we build everything we call “professionalism.” I won’t reach for grand metaphors about how important a foundation is - it’s unnecessary. We all know the answer.

So what?

Discipline at work isn’t just a concept - it’s like a stone structure (there’s a clumsy metaphor, but still). It’s hard to build, it takes sweat and tears, but once it stands, it shelters your process inside, away from the winds of an ever-more-distracting daily life.

If there’s one thing a young professional should build first, to me it’s discipline. You have to be able to show up day after day, regardless of circumstances, face the hard parts of your craft, and get through them. Of course there are exceptions, this isn’t a fanatical ode to joyless overwork that steals the rest of your life. But, and it’s a big “but”, the sky can’t always be cloudless. When the storm hits, discipline is what a true professional leans on.

A solid foundation is a state of mind

When I started with design, I learned two things very quickly:

1. The work never truly ends.
2. Although it demands creativity, like any other field it requires consistency above all.

The first hit me like a steam hammer because my first job was at a digital agency. The true battlefield that such an environment can be is a topic for another note, but, in short: there’s no such thing as “I’m done.” It depends on the personal quota you set. There’s always more work.

The second lesson was deeper and harder to absorb. My mental model - shaped partly by the internet, partly by university - was that a designer can sit for hours contemplating the approach, looking for inspiration, the “muse,” and if it doesn’t come, try again tomorrow. Reality slapped me with a simpler refrain: “Is it ready? When will it be ready?” Things like “deadline” had been fuzzy to me in the context of a design task. I knew they existed, but they felt largely imaginary.

I learn fast and catch on quickly, so I had to find a way to deal with this new reality. The answer? A state of mind. I told myself: “I want to be a professional. I want to be a good designer.” Those two don’t always go hand in hand, but in my head they did. I decided that, no matter what, I must be a designer you can rely on. The kind of designer about whom people say, “Give it to Kalin - he’ll do it on time and he’ll do it well.” It sounds simple, like something from a self-help book, but it’s true.

That’s how the process of building my inner work discipline began. The complex mechanism kicked in. The wheel had started to turn. Today it’s far more developed, with many components that keep it running. But at its core it still obeys a simple task - to be a foundation. The foundation of what I call professionalism.

If you are able to achieve this state of mind, you will enjoy the boons of the solid foundation I've been rambling about. At least that's how I view it, but personally, it should be a top priority if you want to have the peace of mind that you are a true professional.