Why Every Graphic Designer Feels Like They Can’t Keep Up
Something brutal is happening to graphic designers right now.
Not just beginners. Not just freelancers. Everybody.
The pace of design, AI, content, tools, trends, and expectations has become so overwhelming that a lot of creatives are quietly starting to question themselves… their skills, their relevance, and whether they can even keep up anymore.
And honestly? This episode came from a real spiral.
In this episode of The Angry Designer Podcast, we talk about the pressure graphic designers are carrying right now, why social media and AI are making it worse, and the realization that completely changed how we think about creativity, success, competition, and the future of design.
Because maybe the problem isn’t that designers are falling behind.
Maybe they’re measuring themselves against the wrong things.
Don't forget about our 2026 Angry Designer Survey. Win an IPOD or Swag!https://forms.gle/7rnzjmHJS7xmApbv9
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1 SPEAKER_00: Did you ever have one of those weeks where you
start questioning if you even belong in the design industry
anymore?
Not because you suck or because the client's pissed, but because
everywhere you look, somebody seems faster, smarter, more
talented, more capable, more relevant than you are.
You open up Instagram and every 30 seconds someone's dropping
another flawless brand identity, and you open up YouTube, and
there's another AI tool and another future of design expert,
another shortcut, and another designer explaining why that
thing that you spent 10 years mastering apparently is not
going to matter in six months.
All this, while you're still trying to survive deadlines and
revisions and client bills, all that pressure, it starts messing
with your head.
In this episode of the Angry Designer Podcast, powered by Wix
Studio, I want to share something that recently spiraled
me out harder than I'd like to admit.
And honestly, I think way more designers are quietly breaking
under this same pressure and nobody wants to talk about it.
But before we jump in, it's time for our annual Angry Designer
Survey giveaway.
This is that time of year where you tell us what you want more
of podcast topics, videos, newsletter, products, workshops,
all of it.
And not only can you win a pair of AirPods, but you can also win
one of 10 pieces of swag, your choice.
The link's in our post and in our profile and it's on our
website.
So please help a designer out and go fill that out for us.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_02: Welcome back.
Thank you, sir.
Mr.
Mr.
Illen.
SPEAKER_00: I know I almost feel like it was a week vacation if I
didn't have the world's worst man cold.
For the record, a man cold is worse than childbirth.
I'm sorry, ladies.
You don't know pain until you've had a man cold.
I'm on the couch, complaining, complaining.
Paying attention to me in my house.
Holy jeez.
That's the worst.
But you know, it's probably too soon to do this, but I was just
gonna say.
Because I can't not do this for or anger design.
So cheers, my friend.
Cheers, salute.
Cheers.
Salute.
Mm-mm.
So meme being sick this week.
Yep.
Okay.
I I went through this crazy cycle of feelings, okay?
Because again, I'm sick.
Yeah.
So what do you do?
SPEAKER_02: Fever's running high, you're a little hot.
No, you're feeling sorry.
Yeah, you're not at work.
Not at work.
You're kind of like, oh, I should be feeling guilty.
Doom scrolling.
Doom scrolling.
Doom scrolling, right?
SPEAKER_00: Looking through this.
And and you know, and then you know, you start, then you're
like go deeper on like, you know, oh, Alan's got a post, and
I go in, I was like, oh fuck, Alan's really good.
You know, and then you go and you hit somebody else, CJ's
post.
I'm like, wow, I really like that logo, right?
I got poster designers.
I dude, I started doing this and I started feeling horrible about
myself.
And then I'm like, okay, I'm gonna stop Doom Schooling, and I
go put YouTube, right?
Well, now all of a sudden it's AI software all over my YouTube.
Oh okay, and it's like, holy shit, I have to now learn this,
I have to catch up on this.
I I'm and honestly, it feels like the world is going so damn
fast.
And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, okay, well, I can't be
like Alan.
Let's try this poster designer.
I can't be like them.
Yeah, you know, let me follow this guy from Integrate.
Holy shit.
I feel like I'm constantly behind.
Yes.
And it was, it ended up being a horrible experience for me.
So not only am I sick and and with the world's worst man cold
and feeling sorry for myself, but then I'm doubly feeling
sorry for myself.
Yeah, because I'm like, I suck compared to all these people.
I'm fucking I know that's the worst.
You know, the pace of everything is happening at this crazy, and
I just can't keep up.
And this is what I was feeling.
I was overwhelmed.
It was it, and and I could see like it, I could feel it quickly
almost taking over my my my mental state, my motivation.
Okay, I'm sure you know, being sick didn't help either.
No, uh, you know, but it it was it was it was just all
encompassing.
It was it was overwhelming, it was nuts, and um I that's what I
thought this would be a great episode to talk about because
not only did I go through all this shit, you know, and let me
tell you, I really, I mean, I was ruminating at nighttime.
I'm like, what am I even fucking doing?
Were you losing sleep over this?
I was.
Oh, geez.
And again, and it that's why these these past three days,
four days being sick, oh long time, summed up my whole damn
career.
I got out of it, which was interesting.
Oh, good.
I know, and I got out of it, and that's why I thought this was
this was an incredible thing to talk about today, because I know
I'm not the only one who's going through this.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is true, for sure.
I think there's a lot of designers out there that that
are kind of well looking at this kind of stuff and going, oh my
god, how do I even how do I even compete?
SPEAKER_00: Right, you know, and and that's exactly it.
And it's like you feel like you can't compete, right?
Because you're comparing yourselves to to all these
people out there, and it's making, you know, like uh it's
making us all feel inadequate and incapable, not good enough.
It's messing with our minds, and then everything goes back to
these things.
I broke it down to basically three main reasons, okay, that
why I was feeling the way I was.
Okay.
Right.
So, first off, you know, the thing that was killing me, you
know, initially, right, was when I'm scrolling through, you know,
doom scrolling and then jumping on YouTube and this and that,
right?
I'm, you know, comparing myself to all these people, okay, but
from all over the fucking world, okay?
Which is nuts.
And the thing is, I think, you know, what's happened, and we
we've seen this happen in our in our lifespan, is social media
has completely distorted, you know, it it broke the creative
reality that we grew up with.
Yes, okay.
Because again, people were never designed to compete against
people all over the world.
And that's a thing, right?
Like now it's like you you scroll through this, you got
thousands of portfolios you're looking at.
You got logos every minute.
There's a new logo project being popped up there.
Everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, look, I just made my 10 grand
month, 20 grand.
And it's just like it's overfucking whelming.
Yes.
Okay.
And all of a sudden, it's like you feel like you're competing
not against everybody in your area, but everybody in the
world.
Yes.
And that's not reality.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Creative.
There were the like it I remember the applied arts books
and stuff like that.
That was, I thought, was that North American or was that all
all over the world?
I can't remember.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, there's communication arts.
SPEAKER_02: Communication arts was a whole bunch of these
books.
Yeah, that's right.
But but but it was contained in one book that you could kind of
do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: It's not a million posts.
When we were growing up, okay, and and what I mean by this is
like 20 years ago, 25 years ago, when we started this journey,
okay, we only had to worry about competing against people within
like a hundred kilometers of our area.
Right.
You heard about these designers in New York, you heard about
these people across the world from magazines like
communication arts and CMYK, right?
Exactly.
But it's a lot different.
Uh, you know, back then it's like, well, okay, I'm comparing
myself to everybody in this area and communication arts.
That felt doable.
Yeah.
It felt like you could compete.
Yeah.
Okay.
And again, and it was cool because these people in
communication arts were people that you could, you know, aspire
to be like.
Okay.
But going on the internet and scrolling like you are right
now, it's like, how the hell can I aspire to be like every
freaking person that we're seeing?
Okay.
So I do think that, you know, um social media has completely
distorted, you know, the reality of what the creative competition
actually is.
Yes.
Okay.
And it's so different than what it was.
You know, unfortunately, the the internet and and this whole
thing has made the whole world feel like it's our coworker.
Okay.
So I don't think that's realistic.
Okay.
But that is definitely a reason, you know, why, you know, this
compare this part of comparison is is killer, okay?
Yeah.
Number two, okay.
I think that, you know, we're tricking ourselves into thinking
that these people who are really popular on these social
platforms are successful.
And we're we're thinking that visibility equals success.
And I can guarantee you that, you know, that's not the case at
all.
Oh.
Okay.
Like I, you know, and again, it's just like just because
somebody's online and somebody has a ton of, you know,
followers and somebody is is doing all this great stuff and
showing it, you know, you're just assuming automatically,
well, shit, they must be killing it right now, right?
I know for a fact, okay, some of them are.
Not saying they all are.
I was just gonna say James Bernard's gotta be a
millionaire.
Yeah.
Of course, James Bernard's a millionaire.
He has to be.
He has to be.
But he is damn good.
He's very good.
But I mean, again, you know, we have confused, you know,
followers for talent, and and really, you know, followers just
means that you're able to entertain these people enough,
you know, to get their attention.
But I mean, oftentimes a lot of these people aren't teaching
anything, okay?
A lot of these times they're great entertainers, but that
doesn't necessarily mean they're great artists, okay?
They're great designers.
Oftentimes they can throw something together that looks
good and to follow to get you to follow them, but that doesn't
translate to work.
Yes.
And so comparing yourself to this, you know, I don't know, I
don't think that's fair.
I don't think that's fair for designers to just assume that,
you know, because somebody's visible, it means they're
relevant.
Yeah.
And what they're showing us is legit.
Because I don't, I I I don't think that that's the case.
SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
Well, that's it's funny because I see the the stuff that I I see
with with a lot of it is the tutorial aspect of it.
Which to me is is is low-hanging fruit, I think.
It's it's great.
I really love it.
I I but you can learn that skill and show somebody you know how
to do the blend tools and all these things properly.
But to actually, you know, the for the talent out there.
SPEAKER_00: Well, and again, the talent, what they're showing you
is only their wins.
Is yes.
And you don't know if that's what fails or we know for a fact
that, you know, and this is just based on you know the stuff that
we see and we create, and it's out there, right?
That, you know, the internet really rewards noise.
Yeah, it rewards entertainment.
It doesn't necessarily reward depth, you know.
You really want to learn something online.
Well, it's not very sexy.
Yeah, it's okay.
You want to actually learn design, solid design principles.
You're not gonna sit there and do that on a five-minute
Instagram, right?
But you want to see a quick, you know, 30-second logo
transformation, boom! Yeah, that's rewarding.
Yeah, but that's not success.
That's not even realistic.
Being seen um online and being respected as a designer are two
very different things.
Two very different things.
Okay, and then number three, okay, I think the other part
that was really messing with me, okay, was just trying to keep up
with the pace of technology and tools.
Okay.
That was again so overwhelming.
And even for me, yeah, and I like these tools, I like
technology, I like where where a lot of this stuff is going.
But I mean, everywhere you look, new programs are showing up, new
apps.
All of a sudden, it's like, hey, guess what?
Framer is now, you know, rising faster than any other design app
out there.
And I'm like, wait, wait, wait, what?
Like, I I knew about Framer, but it's my bottom now.
Right?
Not to mention, you know, all the crazy AI stuff that's out
there.
And now it's like AI is being integrated into everything.
And it's like, you know, I I thought I had a pretty good
handle in AI, but boy, does that change really quick.
You still do have a pretty good idea.
You do, yes.
You know, the reality is, right?
It's like everybody's blaming AI for this feeling AI, but it's
not.
It's it's it's what's happening is I think all these designers
were taking, you know, what these tools are replacing for
granted.
You know, they they they kind of thought that, you know, their
ability to create and execute was enough to make them a
designer.
Right.
Okay, where the reality is now AI is coming in and really
speeding up that whole process.
It's not like we weren't going there with Canva and with all
these bullshit templates and stuff, and right, you know,
really bringing down um, you know, devaluing execution part
about this.
But again, you know, we're acting shocked and blaming AI on
it, but again, it it didn't attack designers, it just
attacked what designers thought they were, which were execution
artists.
Right.
That's not necessarily the case, right?
Yes.
But again, when so many designers um built their whole
identity around being craftsmen, being execution artists, being
great at this, well, then that really does mess with them
feeling that technology is making me irrelevant.
It's taking me over, it's it's I'm so far behind now, I I can't
even keep up.
Right.
SPEAKER_02: So do you think there's a direct relation
between people and their um uh inability to to, or not
inability, but they're they're uh being intimidated by good
designers.
And and because this all this is all I got is execution.
I am a mediocre designer at best.
All I have is my execution.
Please don't take that away from me.
You think that's yeah, I do.
SPEAKER_00: I do think that's messing with them.
And if it's not messing with them, they're gonna have their
asses handed to them.
Exactly.
I'm being honest here.
Um, just to give you an idea of how fast this stuff's going.
I mean, you know, six months ago, I was playing with layout
software, AI layout.
So I'm like, okay, here, design me this, right?
No, didn't do a good job.
Design me this, didn't do me a good job, right?
I felt like I needed to play this week.
Right.
I was doing this, um, I was doing a car flyer for a friend
who had a car event, right?
I'm into cars.
So I was like, all right, you know what?
I pieced together all the information.
I pieced together the what the headline was gonna be, and my my
image of the cars, which one I'm using, right?
So I use my style, my judgment, my taste to kind of create it,
right?
Something was missing.
And I was like, you know what?
I keep hearing about how incredible ChatGPT 2 image is,
that their new image release.
Oh.
I'm gonna just curious test it out.
I was like, hey, listen, you know what?
Be critical, act like a creative director.
I'm gonna upload this for you that I just designed.
You know, tell me what you think and and how you'd make it
better.
And again, shit cham, which first it was like, hey, you know
what?
This is a job, you're awesome.
Well, no, it's getting so much better.
Oh, it is.
Oh, dude.
I mean, and I mean, it was going on there, being like, I see the
vibe you're going.
This has got that 90s import Japanese style.
And I'm like, that's what I was gonna do.
That's what I wanted.
And then it's like, yo, this is great, and it's it's pointing
out, I'm like, yeah, okay, wow, like you're you're critiquing
this incredibly well.
Oh, then it was like, oh, you know, I would consider doing
this, adding this, this, this.
And I was like, holy shit, really, right?
And I was like, that's not a bad suggestion.
That's not bad either, right?
Because again, that's uh by myself, creating by myself.
Yeah, you know, um, and then I was like, just curious, okay.
Can you recreate this in a Swiss modern style?
You know, take my content that I provided, but show it to me in a
Swiss modern, you know, layout.
It took what I did and it was beautiful.
We didn't use it by any means.
Okay, but I mean, I was so tempted to be like, I'm gonna
just copy this and do a second version because it was so good.
The reality is, you know, if your identity is just tied to
execution, yeah, and then I saw this shit, okay, because if if
that's all my I was tied to it and then it did this to me, I
would feel like my my my my days are limited.
I'm done.
I'm comparing myself to this tool if execution was all I was
focusing on, right?
So again, you know, the the thing is is is AI making
designers better or worse?
Well, you know, it should make designers rethink what their
value is that they bring.
Right.
Okay, it should make design, and and again, I I realize that in
having this conversation with Chad about that, which is
incredible.
But comparing it to it initially without having that that frame
of mind, I'd be screwed, dude.
I'd yeah, I'd be screwed.
So those are the three reasons I think, okay.
And you know, the reality is I was comparing myself to all
these different things.
Okay, and these are the three things I realized.
Okay, I was able to break them down.
And, you know, the and regardless if it was those
three, if there was five more other things, you know, maybe
comparing myself to my teenage daughter who now has more, you
know, design talent than I ever had, right?
Thing is, you know, when you start comparing yourself to all
this shit, right?
It doesn't just screw you creatively, okay?
It messes with your momentum.
Oh.
And and like what was happening is like I was feeling like I was
just gonna give up.
I was just like, Well, why am I even bothering here?
Right?
You feel like you don't even want to try.
Okay.
And then, you know, couple that with the whole fact that you
have to go to work still, you still have to put it in and make
your money, okay?
You can see that this will start spiraling people into, you know,
burnout, into depression, you know, into feeling like, you
know, because again, you you start doing this.
You if you thought you were before, you know, you're behind
yesterday, yeah, God, today you're gonna feel like you're
even further behind.
Yes, right?
Exactly.
And again, what happens is when you start doing this comparison
bullshit, you know, again, it just you you what you want to
try less, you want to try less, you feel worse, you and it is
just a continuous hole.
And so honestly, I was I it I was and this has all happened in
the course of like five days, guys.
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty overwhelming.
Some people would not just stay on the couch and watch shitty TV
and just no, no, you you have a shame spiral of design.
SPEAKER_00: I felt like this was because I got out of it, which
was crazy, okay.
And I did get to this realization, okay, that it I was
spiraling a course, okay, but it wasn't because I was falling
behind, okay.
It's because I wasn't looking at this through the right lens,
okay?
And what I mean is I never really, you know, clearly
defined what I was trying to do, what my purpose was.
So I was comparing myself to the whole fucking internet, to
everything, to everything layout, logo, to those 100
million people, right?
And that's the whole thing.
If you can't define, okay, what your purpose is, what you're
going, okay.
Well, you know, it's it is unfair for me to compare myself
to Alan Peters.
Because Alan Peters kills, he's one of the best freaking, you
know, logo designers right now in our generation.
Amazing.
Honestly.
And the thing is, that's not fair for me.
I looked at his stuff, I was getting intimidated.
I was like, oh wow, why doesn't my stuff look as good as Alan's?
It's so easy for him.
Why am I thinking that way?
Yeah.
I'm a fucking agency owner.
There you go.
And that's when I started coming, I started coming out of
this.
And I came up with it pretty quick.
I was like, it's I'm I'm being dumb if I'm comparing myself to
him.
This he's killing this space.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, that's not fair for me to compare myself to I own a
business.
Yes.
I've got you know a bigger picture in mind.
I've got bigger, you know, um, my campaign ideas are much
bigger.
My whole I I got a bigger visual of the whole situation.
I'm running a whole place with people, management, this, yes,
and I'm still trying to be creative.
Yeah.
And then furthermore, I've got a purpose, which is this podcast.
Yes.
Okay.
But again, as soon as I started, and that's why I think this
whole episode came together so quick, because then I realized
that the purpose was to share all the shit that I'm going
through with other people that are frustrated with this kind of
stuff.
Yeah.
So if you can't define your journey, okay, if you can't
define your journey, your purpose, what the hell you're
doing in this space, the internet will do it for you.
And that's what was happening to me.
Right.
And I guarantee you, that's what's happening with everybody
else out there, okay?
Because like we said, 300 million other graphic designers
become your competition.
Yeah, AI is now gonna be the tool that's gonna take you over
because it's it defines you and it defines what you do.
And that's not actually the case, right?
It's a trap that you'll quickly like fall into, right?
So again, once you start realizing that everybody's
journey is completely different, right?
Then all of a sudden it changes your attitude.
It changes what you're gonna learn, it changes what exactly
it is that you're gonna ingest and and how you're gonna so now,
and it was funny because once this started happening, I went
back on my feed and I started appreciating everything.
I wasn't freaked out.
And and honestly, it this it was it was such a revelation because
it was just like, you know, now it was just like, wow, good job.
You know, good job on that logo.
Yeah, that's great.
Love that layout.
You know what?
If I ever need that, I'm gonna remember it or I'm gonna
recommend it to somebody else here internally, right?
Yes.
Um, you know, that that that internet annoying social media
kid that I was telling you about.
Well, he still is the annoying internet social media kid.
I just scrolled by him here.
Yeah, you just whipped by him, looked at his cute.
But it changed everything.
Yes.
And so I think that that's definitely how I got out of it.
Right.
And so that's what I I wrote down four things.
Yeah.
Okay, four pieces, four points here.
One, two, three, four.
Super easy that I think this helped me realize the better
way, and and honestly, it's helped me replan this podcast.
Yeah.
I think we even have a new direction now.
I'm I'm seeing so much stuff.
So four simple things, okay, about how to actually own and
know your journey.
Because it will make a difference with this, okay?
Nice.
So again, number one, okay, you have to define what success
means to you.
Okay.
If you in fact do want to be a logo designer, yeah, fine.
Yeah.
Do it.
You want to be a logo artist, you want to own that, you know,
you want to be the next James Bernard, Alan Peters, you know,
Scott Fuller.
Hey, great.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now you can curate everything that you're taking in.
You can focus, right?
Yeah.
You know, and again, now it's it's it's not the industry
there, it's not all the all the social media that's gonna define
you.
It's gonna be small, pinpointed stuff that you're gonna use as
influence.
So now everything else is gonna kill you like this, okay?
And this way it gives you an idea what you're actually.
Actually trying to build because now you know you're defining
what your journey is gonna be.
And once you have that direction, dude, you know, and
you know the kind of designer you want to be, it changes the
way you approach everything that you're doing.
SPEAKER_02: Big time, just big time, yeah.
Cause obviously, you know, you're not gonna be concerned
too much with layout design or AI tools or things like this,
right?
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
And that's number two.
Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, so once you're gonna but it's true though, right?
Yeah, once you actually know the kind of designer you want to be,
yeah, okay, and you know what your journey is, okay.
Number two, now you can curate what it is that you consume.
Ah there we go.
That's good that you don't, you know, still appreciate other
things, yeah.
Exactly.
But as long as you understand your journey and you want to own
your journey, everything else shouldn't bother you.
Yeah.
You know, you you see an awesome layout artist on there, you see
a great typographer, good.
Okay, that's not you, that's not your journey, and nor should it
affect your journey, right?
If it doesn't align with your path, okay, your journey, it's
just noise.
Okay.
Doesn't mean you can't appreciate it, just like you
said, okay, but it doesn't mean you have to let it affect you
like it was, okay.
And that's the big difference.
So again, you know, they're only relevant if it has to do with
your journey.
Right.
Otherwise, you know, whatever.
Appreciate it.
Yeah, appreciate it for what it is, exactly.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Number three, okay, from that point forward, learn with
purpose and not with the fear of missing out.
Ooh, and that was it.
I was just like, holy shit, because I was like, I gotta keep
up with this app, I gotta keep up with this trend, with this
technique.
I was just like, No, I really don't at this point.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it's it's funny.
No just to interrupt, but uh you and I are kind of old school uh
and and I see all these kind of really cool things for new tools
and stuff like that.
But you can use Photoshop and Illustrator with very basic old
school ways, methods of doing this stuff, right?
Absolutely.
So not you don't necessarily need the latest and greatest
tools in order to execute your what project you're working on.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly it, right?
Yes.
You know, and at this point, it's just like, you know,
anytime you actually do want to start taking in a new skill.
And that's great.
But if it doesn't take you closer to your journey or in the
direction, exactly, or if it takes noise if it takes too
long, exactly, right?
Let's face it, okay, many times, you know, the book of James will
show us all these amazing ways on how to use Illustrator, you
know, faster.
Yes.
I was like, that's great.
It's awesome.
But I'm only gonna use that one time and never again.
And then I'll forget it.
I'm not gonna worry about that today, right?
Because I'm not an illustrator.
Exactly.
Yes to make sense.
Right.
I know that.
Yes.
So now I don't get stressed.
So now it doesn't, it's yeah, your heart doesn't get me.
Basically, you know what?
You know, you can learn what you want, okay?
And if if it applies to your journey, lean into it.
Yeah, okay.
And if it doesn't apply, be like, hey, I'm ends off.
Yeah.
Good.
I appreciate it.
That's a good one.
Yeah right?
Good to know.
And last but not least, okay, when it comes to keeping up with
these tools, when it comes to keeping up with these courses,
these new courses that are coming out, and learn how to be
a better designer using this and that and this and that, right?
Figure out first how it fits with your journey.
Oh okay, and really that's it.
If if your journey is gonna be print production, yeah, okay, AI
generated imagery probably won't have a lot to do with it.
Okay, maybe at the pre or maybe at the post press or the press
production stage, yeah, okay, and prepping.
But again, you know, if if it doesn't, that that's a whole
different set of skills.
Okay, so again, if you are using these tools to enhance your
creativity or your skills, good, be all in, okay?
If otherwise, it's just general knowledge, and you can take that
or you can push it away, like like you did all high school.
This way, it's it's like once you only adopt what matters to
you, yes, it all of a sudden empowers you, and you feel so
much better with this whole journey.
Like I went through this week.
Once I one, two, three, four, and once I realized what I did
this week, again, I felt reinvigorated.
I didn't feel behind anymore.
I don't feel overwhelmed at what's happening out there.
I'm like, shit, now I got a lot of things I gotta learn.
But that list is a lot smaller than it was than it was before.
Exactly.
Once I realize that that, you know, again, not even me,
everybody needs to realize, okay?
Your journey is your journey alone.
Yes, okay.
So you have to stop comparing yourself to everybody you see on
the internet, okay?
The technology, the pace of technology, the pace of trends,
other people's skills, other people's wins.
You know what?
Good for them.
Yeah, okay.
But their journey isn't your journey.
And that changes everything when you start actually believing
this, all right?
Yeah, you need to stop asking, you know, am I behind these
people or am I moving forward ahead of these people?
Okay.
And the reality is, you know, Alan Alan being awesome at what
he does really doesn't impact me.
It I learned from him if I have to, you know, share information,
you know, pick up a skill or whatever.
But again, his success isn't my success.
Exactly.
And I've always been happy for him.
Yeah, you know, even more so once I wasn't trying to compare
myself.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Pressure was off.
Yeah.
His journey was far different from yours.
You are as successful.
You know, you've got you've had your own studio.
And and back in the day, there were many, many design agencies
here in town.
Yeah.
There's very few of them now.
Fair enough.
Where were actually?
SPEAKER_00: I think there's like, yeah, nobody I only know
like one other thing.
The one big one still was around.
But there were a million back in the day.
SPEAKER_02: There was and we're still the last ones exactly
because you've pivoted and you've kind of you know rolled
with punches and everything.
Yeah.
Like that's a and the funny thing is, I'm happy with that.
SPEAKER_00: That's my journey.
And that's that's good.
And that's all that matters for me and my journey.
Yes.
Not your journey.
Nope.
It's not not James, Allen, Scott's, nope, Erin, Draplin,
CJ's, you know, it's nobody else's.
Yeah.
Okay.
That was my journey.
Yes.
And then to me, that's all that matters, right?
So again, once you once you clearly see your journey and you
focus, okay, everything else is just noise.
Yeah.
And you can appreciate it for what it is, whether it's
entertainment, whether it's it's educational.
SPEAKER_02: Educational in a in a certain respect.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is all that pressure just disappears.
Exactly.
Listen, guys, stop comparing yourselves, stop being hard on
yourselves, you know, and and honestly, figure out what your
journey is, figure out what your purpose is.
Okay.
Go through these four tips, you know, define what success means
to you, know your journey so you can curate what you learn and
ingest, learn with purpose, not out of fear.
And then last but not least, when it comes to tools, AI,
online courses, ask how it fits to your journey.
Okay.
Follow this, figure this shit out, and I guarantee you're
gonna stop feeling like you're behind, and you're gonna start
feeling like you are back in control of your future, of your
journey, of your destiny.
All right, everybody.
My name is Massimo.
My name is Sean.
Stay creative and stay angry.