Redesign

If you knew the ending to a movie, would you continue watching it? My answer, and that of many others would be yes. I believe in the beauty of the process and that greatly reduces my anticipation for the outcome. But how many of us hold this same belief in life? Attachment to results kills the joy of any journey.

I'd been stuck in a rut at work. As an interior design consultant servicing high-end clientele, my creativity was my prized possession. But the story of every writer, artist and creator is the same. It begins with high hopes, and random bursts of inspiration and then delves into pressure to remain consistent. You cannot keep churning out good ideas unless you're AI and that's a whole other story, but on a human level, imagination is limited.

So, I had this one particularly annoying client. He said he didn't specifically want any theme for the house and would let me pick what was best. Since he was buying this house for his parents, I chose a cozy theme of Victorian woodwork, rattan chairs and ambient lighting. Proud of my sophisticated design, I showed him the proposal. He rejected it quickly and called it "impractical". The rejection hurt from someone who didn't set the bar for success that high to begin with.

So, I showed him a second design, with mahogany sofas, arching hallways and ivory granite flooring. He rejected it again. And dismissed the next one, and the one following that. I was offended, as my company's star designer, this continuous rejection was a tough pill to swallow. I didn't know the exact reason behind these rejections either, which was frustrating. So, I reached out to one of my old professors for advice.

There he was, my old economics teacher, seated in the plump chair I gifted him after I got my first job. He was my mentor and my anchor in the rough seas of life. I told him about my situation and he remarked, "Stop being such an apple tree".

"What?", I responded, confused.

"You always feel the need for absolutely everything to be perfect in one shot to work out. If one aspect fails, you scrap everything. Try to focus on what you are getting right."

Apple trees are notorious for requiring the perfect conditions to grow. They require greenhouses with optimal temperature and soil conditions at all times, or else the crop fails. I resonated with this analogy as I felt the constant need to "ace" a design by perfecting every little detail. But in life, growth is often accompanied by discomfort and uncertainty. We assume rejection to be a failure on our part, but things don't work out for many reasons, and that's alright.

So, this time when I refocused on the project, I stopped merely changing things up. I discussed with my client what he did like from my previous proposals and wanted in the house. We spent the afternoon shortlisting designs and he said yes to the final pitch. It was satisfying to have finally gotten his approval. 

It's easy to complete a task, but it becomes difficult to accomplish so that you learn the lesson you're meant to. In the movie of life, I say screw the ending because it's going to be good. Learning to enjoy the process of creating value for yourself is far more fun than getting to the ending anyway.