Chris Halaska: I Don't Have a Career Goal

I prefer to focus on how I work instead of where I want to end up.

The world of design has changed and will continue to do so for years to come, meaning that what you think you want to do will inevitably change by the time you get there.

This is why I've never set a specific career goal or end point.

Sure, I've had lofty goals of learning enough to 'do my own thing', not knowing what that thing even is. You could say that it's my design studio, which could be it, but it could also just as easily be my own education platform for designers, my own startup or an e-commerce brand.

You should never beat yourself up for not knowing, as even if you think you do, you don't.

Instead of focusing on that goal which you may only enjoy for say 1 or 2 years, or less, focus on the journey to get wherever you're going which will likely take you 20-30 years (oooft I feel old now).

I love to do this by always trying to challenge myself and keep learning.

Take the roles that scare you the most, work in an industry you know nothing about, work with people much smarter and more talented than you.

An example of how I did this was when I took a job at Google as the sole UX designer, leading a team of 16 engineers with one remote product manager, having to fly to India to conduct user interviews on the second week. I took this job without ever having worked in a pure UX role before.

This is what ensures continuous learning and enjoyment, which is going to have a much bigger positive impact than pushing yourself on what you think you need to do for something that probably won't even exist in the future.