Before DPS even started, I had been keeping a diary. I wanted to document this year out, and I did so by writing an entry or two every week. These entries were nothing more than a few lines. Notes from my talks with Ansel, to-do lists and wishful thinking were the starting point. The more I got on, the more the entries changed.

In this blog post, I am going to share some raw, unfiltered and scattered lines that I had written.

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In a session with Ansel, we picked apart my portfolio. I knew my portfolio needed work at this point as I hadn’t put too much care into it, so hearing what Ansel had to say was important. He re-directed me to the tool kit and I left with some actionables.

‘Change the descriptions of the projects to be more clear. Follow the formula from the toolkit (topline > outline > product)’

In this same talk, Ansel said something to me that really stuck. I love reading non-fiction books, ones that inspire or re-frame things and I would say that a talk with Ansel provides the same for me as that.

Remember that, what is familiar to you is new to them. Do not sell familiarity, sell a skill, a mindset. It is never JUST, it is more than something simple.

Having done design for a while now, and learning other skills alongside this, I began to see it as the norm. But in that talk I realised that what I can do might not be what someone else can do. My knowledge of different things is nothing to be humble about.

Many of my entries started the same. Almost identical actually.

Looking back, there is definitely a pattern of motivation in my entries. Start the week strong they say.

Honestly it wasn’t until the start of September where I started to actually contact people or apply for things. Prior, I was kind of just waiting for something to land. Something that I was interested in, but I soon realised that wasn’t going to happen. 

With time passing so quickly and moving out of London, I felt the pressure was on. This is evident in my diary.

The goal for this week is going to be outreach. cold email. Messaging alot of people a day. Starting from tomorrow however.

And message a lot of people I did. Almost instantly, I started to get responses. And in truth, I didn’t just message people about an internship. Some of my messages were just saying that I liked the work they were doing and that I would love to get involved. 

This genuine approach landed me my first job as a Graphic Designer for a magazine called Sighted. While this work was a short collaboration, this really motivated me to seek out more.

I need a new phrase. I don’t really like locking in. Tuning in. I like that.

As silly as it sounds, this phrase motivated me like no other. I adopted it on Sunday. And I made sure it played out on Monday. When I said tuning in, I meant it. This week was crazy for me, I contacted / applied for over 30, pushing 40 opportunities. 

MONDAY – 6, now 7. Today is Tuesday, and I’m going to aim for 6. We got 6. Going to aim to apply for 2 things. TWELVE. I HAVE CONTACTED 12 PEOPLE. Thursday: 1,2,3,4. I have emailed 4 more. 

On my whiteboard, I wrote down a target everyday, and seeing that number pushed me further. You really never know where a message might land, that is what I learnt from this process. From that week, I gained 3 internships. It would be lovely to say that all it took was a week but that isn’t true. 

If I hadn’t changed my mindset, taken the leap to stop working and lose my safety net, change up my portfolio or constantly re-work my emails and messages to be more compelling, I wouldn’t have reached this point. It was weeks of work and learning that led to that. And rejection too. 

Taking things on the chin is one of the key things I learnt from those weeks prior. I learnt not to sit on things, and that it was okay if I didn’t get a response right away. The other day, I actually received an email about an email I had sent over a month ago. I never would have thought I would be receiving an email about that, but I have.

Keeping that journal in those weeks leading up to DPS was vital, it held me be more accountable and was a part of the system I used to track my progress.