INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS: you are not your job

I've talked to a lot of designers recently who just lost jobs. And every day there are more. Many are struggling with the loss of purpose and title. They struggle to remember their worth.

When you lose the title, the paycheck, and the team. Your value hasn't changed. But belief collapses because it was tied to external validation. When those disappear, internal worth crumbles because it was never actually internal.

Take ownership of your personal value. It lives in who you are, not your job title.

It can be hard when you've searched for months getting nowhere. When rejections feel personal. But the market doesn't determine worth. It determines timing and opportunity. Very different things.

You didn't become less valuable when you lost your job. You lost the external validation you were using to measure it.

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