Early focus on skills

For a long time, I believed progress came from getting better at design itself. Cleaner layouts, stronger visuals, tighter execution. I spent years refining craft, assuming that good work would naturally lead to better opportunities.

Skill mattered, but it wasn’t the lever I thought it was. Improvement alone didn’t create momentum the way I expected.

The real shift

Things changed when I started paying attention to decisions instead of details. Which projects I accepted, how I positioned my work, and where I spent my time began to matter more than polishing every output.

Design became less about perfecting screens and more about choosing problems worth solving.

Lasting impact

Once my focus shifted, progress became steadier and more predictable. Fewer projects, clearer direction, better outcomes. The work improved as a side effect of better choices.

That shift didn’t happen overnight, but it changed everything that came after.