if you're currently not the graphic designer you aspire to be or however hard you try your designs
just look like a five-year-old trying out Ms paint for the first time then it's time to change just
that and make 2023 your year of success the first step step number one is something where
you need to grab a pen and paper for or if you haven't used a pen in about 10 years like myself
and your handwriting has morphed into that of a child make some notes on your computer we need to
establish exactly where we want to be one year from today in 2023 sounds pretty simple right
we'll get this so many designers out there just move from Project to project without having any
goals or plan in mind and they don't get very far without goals how can we ever push ourselves to
reach higher now I said to myself in 2015 that I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get to 100
000 subscribers here on YouTube now I have one of these things that says I've got 1 million
subscribers why because I had a firm goal in mind really just ask yourself what do you want from
life and your design career maybe it's to have your very own work printed in a magazine maybe
you want to earn your first ten thousand dollars freelancing or maybe it's something simple like
having a killer portfolio up and running whatever it is that you really want as a graphic designer
just write it down now it doesn't just have to be one single go you might have a handful of goals
but just make sure they are at least a possible and not impossible great so we have a goal or
some goals in mind but what next we need to write down what it's going to take for us to get to that
end goal this is Step number two and it's really really important let's use the example of someone
wanting to earn their first ten thousand dollars as a freelance graphic designer that person is
going to need a portfolio of some kind if they want to succeed at her freelancing goal they
will need to optimize their accounts on freelance platforms to trigger certain types of clients and
they're also going to need to work on their social media game and do research on the art of mastering
freelance platforms you need to know the path to your goal before you start walking it but it does
go deeper than that this is where step number three comes into play we also need to identify
what is currently stopping you from doing the things to get to your end goal so again let's
look at our budding freelancer as an example now they might not have a full portfolio yet because
they didn't have enough work in place to put into it that would be one major hurdle preventing them
from getting to the end goal so they need to work out ways around that problem in this instance that
could be working for Charities or non-profit organizations entering design competitions
or working for friends and family is simply to get work into their portfolio it seems logical
and actually in fact it totally is but so many designers don't think about their life and their
careers in this way and they're simply just missing out but step number four is something
that's going to elevate this entire plan to the next level somewhere in your notes I want you to
write three to five different things that are hindering you to getting to your goals for the
person trying to become a profitable freelancer they might write down things like I wake up late
and I procrastinate in the morning or I'm not very good at website design so my portfolio
isn't going to look that good if we can identify a few personal weaknesses that are going to cause
US problems in our plans and goals then we have identified our own faults and yeah our weaknesses
this helps us become better people and stronger graphic designers and so highlight your weaknesses
in bold lettering maybe in a different color in your notes we need to work hard until those
weaknesses are completely toast step number five is something you might not expect me to say but
I'm gonna say it anyway because it's just really important you may very well completely and utterly
fail and that's okay it's just part of life but if you do fail you need a plan B ready and waiting
what if that's freelancer did not plan their goals or their route to their goals effectively
well maybe they did but it just didn't work out for whatever reason well that's just a fact of
life to be blunt however if that person has a plan ready and waiting not reaching their
goals isn't going to be too much of a problem that person who wanted to become a successful
freelancer might have set up some passive income revenue streams using his or her design skills
they might have even done something like create 50 different resumes with their portfolio ready
to send to in-house design positions the point here is that you should have plans in place
just in case those goals don't ever materialize into reality and that's not being negative it's
just being realistic so here's a quick recap of exactly what you need to do and how it should look
so first grab yourself a piece of paper or simply use your computer to your smartphone
or your tablet and write it down what you want to achieve as a graphic designer one year away from
today great next you need to write down what it's going to take for you to get to that achievement
and what things you need to do in the coming days the weeks and the months to reach your goals
step number three write down what it is that currently is stopping you from reaching your goals
and we do this so we can quickly identify the things that are likely stopping us from getting
to our goals as a graphic designer and it's really powerful step number four is to identify our
weaknesses as a designer and a person in general this is useful because we can quickly Target the
weak links in our chain which ultimately means we are far more likely to succeed in the long run
and step five is to have a plan b or even a multiple different plan B's ready and waiting
this is just in case our goals are not reached on screen is a very simplified version of what you
can or should create and it's something you can keep coming back to every day and week and it's a
really clever way to keep track of your progress and your goals Anderson if you actually do this
you will be A Cut Above the Rest of most designers in terms of efficiency and planning which will
really show in your career one year from today now I do suggest that you go back and watch this video
again maybe bookmark it or skip to the chapters in the video timeline and just finish making notes
on this content if you really are going to find true success as a designer in 2023 this today is
exactly how you're going to do it but before then if you want to learn some really cool design hacks
and just click the video on screen and until next time guys design your future today peace foreign