how do you improve your career?
Out of context: Reply #26
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- monNom0
This isn't so much about how to advance in your career, as how to not burn out of your career:
If you really hope to advance up the food-chain, you need to stick around a long time. To do that, you need to learn to pace yourself. Nobody wins a marathon by sprinting, and nobody can pull the all-nighter circuit for very long without a break. (either a vacation, or a break down in work quality, and attitude).
Time for reflection and outside inspiration is a big part of being creative. So learn to be selfish with your time-off, and pursue your own interests, whether design related or otherwise. Be careful of taking on too much freelance work outside of your 9-5 --the same rules apply as pulling long days over and over.
Personally, I'd rather a consistent designer that works hard and clocks out every day at 5:00pm than a stressed out designer that works all hours and produces either shit or brilliance depending on where in the sleep deprivation cycle my project begins. And If and when there is an emergency that's going to require some extra hours, the 5:00 designer is going to be much better able to manage that strain, because they haven't been going full-bore the whole time leading up to the emergency. Do this and you'll be noticed for saving the day, rather than for your bad moods after a string of late nights.