Christopher Murphy · 7 April, 2020
<aside> 📄 This post is really two posts in one: 1. Fit your own oxygen mask first…; and 2. designtrack is Evolving. I'll separate them later, but bear in mind while reading.
</aside>
I need to be a bit more strategic about how I manage everything, so I don’t have a nervous breakdown from rushing around like a crazy person. As someone who has – in the past – experienced mental health trauma (that's the only word for it), I need to regroup, urgently.
Cara has an expression that I have only recently begun to appreciate:
You need to fit your own oxygen mask first.
Put simply: You need to ensure that you help yourself, so that you are in a position to help others.
I think, certainly over the last few weeks, I've been guilty of rushing around putting oxygen masks on others, whilst I'm gasping for air.
This post, which I'll share publicly, is me reaching for my oxygen mask.
As you execute upon a startup, it has a tendency to evolve, to reflect your current thinking.
In one of our Propel talks last week, Connor Murphy – who is busy replacing LinkedIn with a fantastic startup called Bridge – shared a lesson that really stuck with me:
You constantly need to experiment.
As Murphy (no relation) put it: "Never stop experimenting, because you never know if your next experiment will deliver a ×10, ×100, ×1,000 (or more) return." There are lessons in every experiment and there are no failed experiments.
One of the joys of Propel has been the ability to explore a startup in the company of others, developing it collectively. I've learned lessons from Propel's fantastic team and I've learned lessons from the rest of the Propel cohort. As a result, my thinking is developing and my vision for designtrack is evolving.
These are my notes on how I'm evolving designtrack. I'm sharing them here – publicly – for accountability.
Steven Hylands, co-founder of Lowdown, kicked off something similar with a weekly goal-setting post in Week 1 of Propel. It's Week 12? 13? 14? and I'm finally doing this.
In my teaching, I stress the importance of understanding and articulating your value proposition and, with that established, positioning yourself accordingly. I need to practice what I preach.
Initially, I positioned designtrack as a programme designed to ‘Supercharge Your UX Career’. With around six weeks under my belt, my positioning has evolved.