69: Self-Promo: Journaling

Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the UX Hustle podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Worthington. The goal of UX Hustle is to help UX designers design the career they love, maximizing the benefit of this multifaceted industry and strong community. We talk about what's really going on in UX and what it's like working in it, and interview people that are actively navigating their careers and UX market. We don't expect to have all the answers, but we do keep searching, keep listening and learning, because at the end of the day, you are the user of your career. Today we're talking about self promotion, and I know that a lot of people have different feelings about promoting yourself, whether that's in general or at work specifically. So today I wanted to share a few journal prompts that you can journal, you can write down separately. You can take some time to respond to these questions and these prompts and really explore how you feel about self promotion. I think that there are a lot of ways to explore your feelings, and journaling is one of my favorites. I always learn a lot more about myself when I take the time to journal and to intentionally sit with how I'm feeling and explore that with curiosity and without judgment. So the first prompt is, how do I feel about promoting myself right now? And I want to encourage you to be honest with yourself and to approach that without any judgment. Maybe you feel amazing about self promoting, about promoting yourself at work, or maybe you feel great in general, but at work specifically, you don't. Maybe you're afraid or jealous of other people being able to. So be honest with how you're feeling. There's no right or wrong answers. This is really just giving you the space to acknowledge how you're feeling and to write it down. Not so that it's something you can ruminate on forever, but just so that you can get it out of your body and out into the world so that you can see it. And when we're able to acknowledge something, then we're able to continue to move through that and ask more questions. The next prompt is, what am I afraid will happen if I promote myself at work? I know for me, I was afraid that I would be viewed differently, that I would be seen as braggy, that I would be taking up too much space, and that others would talk about me. Yeah, um, the fear of others talking about me has been a big one, not just in my personal but also in my professional life. So that would be what I would be afraid of. The next question is, what would I do. If that happened, how would you respond? So for me, when I think of if someone, if people are talking about me after I brag about myself, I would either ignore it or confront them. And not confront like confront, but just like, oh, let me ask more questions of why I'm getting that kind of response and approaching it with curiosity rather than blame or guilt or shame. That's how I would want to approach it. I would probably feel hurt and self conscious. And if I can approach it with the way that I would want to, which would be having a conversation or ignoring it and choosing not to care about it, that would be a good thing for me. The next question is what's the best thing that could happen if I promote myself at work? Mhm. So for me it's. I would get projects that I really want. I would get more acknowledgement, I would get more recognition for the things that I'm doing anyway. It's just that I'm sharing about it. And by sharing about it then I would get more of what I already want to be doing. That seems like a really good best case scenario to me. But what's the best thing that could happen for you if you start promoting yourself at work? And then the next question is, what would I do if that happened? What would I do if I got the acknowledgment and recognition for my accomplishments? What would I do if I got more projects that I was really excited about? Mhm. What immediately comes up for me is, oh, I'd be kind of scared. I'd be worried I'd screw it up. I'd be worried that, yeah, I'd be worried about that. But then the second thought that comes through is oh, that's imposter syndrome. That's so interesting. I would say thank you. I would feel really good about receiving that acknowledgment and that next step. Next knowing that the acknowled the accomplishments that I shared and the, the next question is, when talking about myself, how do I want other people to feel? I m want other people to feel active when I'm sharing, like they're actually listening. I want other people to feel happy and excited for me. I want other people to see me sharing my accomplishments as a deeper connection with them, that it allows them to know me better and gives them permission to share their wins with me as well. I want people to feel that I'm not taking up space. I mean, I am, I'm taking up space, but it's not taking away from their space that I want them to feel welcome and excited to share their wins too. So what is that for you? How do you want other people to feel when you're talking about yourself? And then the next question is, how do I already make people feel that way? I love that because one of my top values is creating safe space for other people. So I already know I'm very cognizant of having that equal space with somebody where I want to give other people the opportunity and the space to share their wins, their accomplishments, to ask for help and support, and, uh, give myself permission to do the same. Mhm. And I like these questions because a lot of the time we get in our head of, ooh, I want people to feel, to not feel this way. And so how do I make sure they don't feel, you know, encroached upon or less than or whatever it might be? And the problem with that is we start thinking of all the times that we've made people feel that way instead of the opposite of, uh, oh, I want people to feel this way. Oh, and now I can think of all the times that I've made someone feel that way. And that reinforces my ability to do that and that that's accessible to me. Because we're talking about all things career change. Today I wanted to share one of my favorite resources during my career change into ux. Affirmations were my favorite way to instill confidence and keep imposter syndrome at bay. During my coursework, job search, and even once starting my first UX role, affirmations were an important part of my daily practice. And so I went through all my past notebooks and compiled the 50 must have affirmations to to help you land your first UX role and supercharge your job search, you can get them by going to uxhustle.org affirmations Again, that's uxhustle.org Affirmations for the 50 must have affirmations to help you land your first UX role and supercharge your job search. Hope you enjoy the rest of this episode. So then the next question is, what's a big career goal that I have for the next year, quarter or season? Mhm. So think of a big goal that you have. A big goal, A big goal. It can be a promotion, a raise, speaking on stages, getting on a podcast. And then the next question is, how much harder would my goal be if I didn't tell anyone. And why? So when I think of big goals that I've had, whether that's revenue goals in My business. Number of client goals in my business, Number of signups for a webinar, that's a big one I have right now. So go to ux hustle.org and see what webinars that I have right now so that you can be included in them. See self promoting. Because I know that, uh, any of those goals would be impossible if I didn't tell other people. It would be really hard for me to get anywhere close to those goals if I didn't tell anyone. Because other people can help me and you know, with my goals, it might seem more obvious. Well, yeah, Amanda, if you need clients and humans to sign up for things, you need to tell humans. My career goal is about me. It's about a promotion. It's about my work. Well, what would happen if you never told anybody that you wanted that promotion? How is someone going to know? How is anyone going to know? How is anyone going to be able to advocate for you or champion you in the rooms that you're not in if you're not in it? And even so, if you're not promoting yourself in those rooms, then still who's going to know? And then the next question is, how much easier would it be if I shared my goals and progress with others? Why? Uh, I like this question because I added goals and progress. Because I think that sharing your wins and accomplishments and promoting yourself isn't just about bragging all the time. It isn't just about sharing your big goals and the wins that you have. It's about the progress along the way. And sometimes it's about our shortcomings. It's about oof. Hey, I have this really big goal. I want to get 600 people to sign up for this webinar and I've never done it before. And I would really love your help to help make that happen. Because I'm talking about stuff that people need to hear, things that people that will help people in their careers. And so if you know anyone that is a UX designer, researcher, writer, aspiring UX or UX curious, someone wanting to break into tech that needs help in their careers, would you mind sending them to my website so that they can sign up for that webinar, would you mind putting them in a three way email introduction with me so that I can learn more about where they're at and how I might be able to help? Because when I ask people to help, not everyone will be able to help. And uh, not, uh, everybody has the bandwidth to help, but the ones that do help me reach my goal and help me help other people through what it is that I'm doing. And if I'm able to share and say what my goal is out loud so that people understand how big it is or, and share my progress, that people can see how I'm doing, that makes a big difference. And all it takes is a few people that have a, uh, big enough network or that know the right person, that can have the right conversation or is in the right room at the right time to bring you up to make that goal that much closer to happening. If you want to be put on a, uh, major project, how much easier is it to get put on that major project if you're having that conversation with people, if you're letting people know that you want to be on that project. Because they'll know that that's what you want. And so it makes it that much easier to make that happen. Oh, Greg really wants to be on this project. And, you know, he was telling me the other day about all these different accomplishments that he had that really tie, uh, to a lot of the challenges that we're seeing in this project already. I actually think that you would be a great asset. It makes it so much easier for people to advocate and champion for you when you promote yourself, when you talk about the things that you're working on, when you talk about the goals and accomplishments that you've had so far. So those are the journal prompts for all about self promotion. You'll see them in the description and the show notes below so that you can copy and paste those. You can take out your journal and start journaling your thoughts around those and I'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to this episode of the UX Hustle podcast. If you'd like to stay connected and up to date with future episodes, make sure to hit the follow button or the plus on our page. If you loved this episode, then leave us a review on itunes to let us know. And I'd love to stay connected with you. Yes, you. So take a moment to add me Amanda Worthington on LinkedIn and on Instagram mandamworthington M&HE UX hustle. Message me and say hey, connecting from the UX hustle podcast and let me know what you loved about this episode. You can also head over to uxhustle.org to hear about any free events or programs we have available to help you up level your UX career, no matter where you are on your career journey. So until next time, keep hustling.