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Abstract

rly every mentee. Of course, it takes some time to get to this question. I first want to get to know you. I want to know a bit about your past and what led you to design. I want to know your story and meet you where you currently are in your journey.</p><p id="fbe3">I want to know what you’ve tried, what has worked, and what hasn’t. I want to see your UX skills on display. I want to know where you’re getting inspiration and who you’re adding to your network. Then… and only when you’re ready… we go deeper. We dig into your inner dialogue.</p><p id="f54b" type="7">How do YOU experience YOURSELF?</p><p id="4f80">What are the things you tell yourself? Job searching, rejection messages, inequality, career advancement… all of those things are so incredibly taxing on us emotionally and mentally. And often, we aren’t very nice to ourselves along the way. We look in the mirror and don’t like what we see. We say things in our minds that we wouldn’t in public.</p><p id="c29c">You have to be ready to ask that question because the answers can sometimes sting. What is your UX? Your personal user experience?</p><h1 id="ef19">This is as meta as UX gets and it is your key to unlocking your potential.</h1><p id="e55e">Customers <b>“experience”</b> the products you design. Your network <b>“experiences”</b> you as a person. And finally, there’s you. You <b>“experience”</b> yourself every single day as nobody else can.</p><p id="e8d3">If there’s internal friction, tension, or frustration with your personal UX, this is where you need to start. Ignore everything else for a time and get this right. You are the foundation by which all good things can and will come to you. Nobody will care about your career progress as much as you.</p><p id="5f8b">Treat the friction in the same way you would a product. Seek to find the source of the friction. Do the discovery research and find out why you feel this way about yourself. Look into your UX bag of skills and see which ones you could use to have a better experience with yourself.</p><ul><li>Prioritize your life, get organized, and set realistic goals</li><li>Ask others for feedback, analyze the results, and ideate solutions</li><li>Put a prototype of yourself out there and try something new to see how it is received by others</li></ul><p id="1cc3"><b>This is

Options

the level of mentoring that unlocks potential in people.</b></p><p id="30ae">Do whatever it takes to get to the core, first principles, and beliefs you have about yourself. Maybe it’s easy for you and you don’t need help. Maybe you need a mentor. Maybe therapy is the right approach. Define what you know to be true and what are merely assumptions. Seek help. Humble yourself to the knowledge that you deserve better and you’re qualified to receive it.</p><p id="74b8">Call me crazy, but this is the key. We have to apply UX to ourselves. The UX of you must be dialed in. Nothing I’ve found in my career works better than this.</p><p id="6e27"><i>If you enjoy reading stories like these and want to support me as a writer, consider <a href="https://mikewcurtis.medium.com/membership">signing up to become a Medium member</a>. It’s $5 a month, giving you unlimited access to stories on Medium. If you sign up using <a href="https://mikewcurtis.medium.com/membership">my link</a>, I’ll earn a small commission.</i></p><div id="593e" class="link-block"> <a href="https://mikewcurtis.medium.com/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link - Mike Curtis</h2> <div><h3>As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…</h3></div> <div><p>mikewcurtis.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*9l9WhIS-7lnkahLf)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="221e"><i>Uncle Mikey helps amplify people and products and is the author of <a href="https://medium.com/mikewcurtis">The You Design System</a>. With 21+ years of experience in design, marketing, e-commerce, and UX, his passion is helping people & businesses apply their skills to the way they’re experienced by others. Connect with him on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecurtis80/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/the.you.experience/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/mikewcurtisut">Twitter</a>, or follow his writing on <a href="https://mikewcurtis.medium.com/">Medium</a>.</i></p></article></body>

THE YOU DESIGN SYSTEM

The type of UX mentoring that you desperately need, but likely aren’t hearing

A meta approach that digs right to the core of the problem.

I can teach you how to create a prototype. I can give you all you need to succeed with a design system. I can train you on how to build a customer journey map or wire up a prototype. But there’s something in the UX industry that I most certainly cannot do for you.

I can’t control how you experience yourself.

My UX mentoring sessions in the past used to focus mentees on the vital elements of getting them closer to the hire. I’d show them the blind spots in their work. I’d help them polish their portfolio, infuse impact statements into their resume, clean up their case studies, and point out ways they could add flare to their LinkedIn profile.

These are all good things — think of them as applying UX methods and activities to your job search or career strategy. But I started to notice a significant missing piece of the entire mentoring process.

I wasn’t helping them work on the UX of themselves.

It sounds so “meta”, doesn’t it? Almost stupid to even bring it up. To apply UX thinking to ourselves comes across as cliché. But deep down, behind their smile, underneath their struggle, trial, and hardship of getting noticed and finding a job, was a desperate designer who had never stopped to consider the experience they were having with themself. And nearly every time, when we’d get to the truth, huge changes took place.

That’s when my whole approach to UX mentoring changed.

How would you define the experience you’re having with yourself, right now?

This is the question I now ask nearly every mentee. Of course, it takes some time to get to this question. I first want to get to know you. I want to know a bit about your past and what led you to design. I want to know your story and meet you where you currently are in your journey.

I want to know what you’ve tried, what has worked, and what hasn’t. I want to see your UX skills on display. I want to know where you’re getting inspiration and who you’re adding to your network. Then… and only when you’re ready… we go deeper. We dig into your inner dialogue.

How do YOU experience YOURSELF?

What are the things you tell yourself? Job searching, rejection messages, inequality, career advancement… all of those things are so incredibly taxing on us emotionally and mentally. And often, we aren’t very nice to ourselves along the way. We look in the mirror and don’t like what we see. We say things in our minds that we wouldn’t in public.

You have to be ready to ask that question because the answers can sometimes sting. What is your UX? Your personal user experience?

This is as meta as UX gets and it is your key to unlocking your potential.

Customers “experience” the products you design. Your network “experiences” you as a person. And finally, there’s you. You “experience” yourself every single day as nobody else can.

If there’s internal friction, tension, or frustration with your personal UX, this is where you need to start. Ignore everything else for a time and get this right. You are the foundation by which all good things can and will come to you. Nobody will care about your career progress as much as you.

Treat the friction in the same way you would a product. Seek to find the source of the friction. Do the discovery research and find out why you feel this way about yourself. Look into your UX bag of skills and see which ones you could use to have a better experience with yourself.

Prioritize your life, get organized, and set realistic goals
Ask others for feedback, analyze the results, and ideate solutions
Put a prototype of yourself out there and try something new to see how it is received by others

This is the level of mentoring that unlocks potential in people.

Do whatever it takes to get to the core, first principles, and beliefs you have about yourself. Maybe it’s easy for you and you don’t need help. Maybe you need a mentor. Maybe therapy is the right approach. Define what you know to be true and what are merely assumptions. Seek help. Humble yourself to the knowledge that you deserve better and you’re qualified to receive it.

Call me crazy, but this is the key. We have to apply UX to ourselves. The UX of you must be dialed in. Nothing I’ve found in my career works better than this.

If you enjoy reading stories like these and want to support me as a writer, consider signing up to become a Medium member. It’s $5 a month, giving you unlimited access to stories on Medium. If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission.

Join Medium with my referral link - Mike Curtis

As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…

mikewcurtis.medium.com

Uncle Mikey helps amplify people and products and is the author of The You Design System. With 21+ years of experience in design, marketing, e-commerce, and UX, his passion is helping people & businesses apply their skills to the way they’re experienced by others. Connect with him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or follow his writing on Medium.