The mindset shift I didn’t expect to learn at Amazon

Turning my harshest critic into my biggest fan

Hey there! I’m Raika, a Lead UX and Conversation Designer at Amazon. If you’re new here, welcome! You can subscribe to my Secrets to Great UX Design newsletter for actionable ways to create great experiences, grow your career and more… for designers and non-designers.

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The mindset shift I didn’t expect to learn at Amazon

The creative process itself is a journey – starting with a blank canvas and building layer by layer, making new discoveries along the way. The best designs often come from playful explorations, happy accidents or unexpected combinations that I never would have planned.

Sometimes it's easy and fun all by itself. I get a cup of coffee and put some music on and the ideas flow.

Other times when I sit down to do my work, I feel blocked or heavy resistance. I hear:

"That's an awful idea."

"No one wants that."

"That would never work."

“I need more inspiration.”

"I should work on something else."

Time is passing and I haven't made any tangible progress. My inner critic is sabotaging me!!

It's feeding off of the lie that I must think of the perfect idea before I take action.

Well more accurately, it's trying to keep me safe. But that also means preventing me from taking creative risks.

It's a quick path to a depressed or anxious mood. In fact, self-criticism is considered to be among the most common and destructive stressors linked to different forms of psychological suffering, including depression, perfectionism, and imposter syndrome among others.

"Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate; it will seduce you. Resistance is insidious." — Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Great designs are created in exploration, not in pontificating.

So, what's the mindset shift I've learned at Amazon to stop my inner critic from killing my creative motivation? I do these 8 things:

1. Personify my inner critic

Mine takes the form of a troll. I've tried giving it a name but none have felt right. It tries to make me feel ridiculous to prevent me from doing great work. But when I magnify it, it becomes comedic.

The troll pops out behind trees trying to get in my head. But it can only go so far, it's bound and limited. And as I continue down the path I leave him behind.

2. Remind myself of who I am

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…” — Theodore Roosevelt

Pulling from Theodore Roosevelt, I remind myself that I'm someone in the arena. I'm out there trying. Designing new experiences, creating art or writing. I want to do the things I love in this life! Regardless of the critics.

3. Start with a warm up entry

This one has been a fun addition. I write whatever comes to mind! I keep it short and fun. A little creative writing to get things flowing. It's my equivalent of stretching before a workout.

4. Envision my audience

I picture someone specific that I'm writing to or "having a conversation with". A curious friend or colleague. I think about what questions they would ask. What I could share with them, what I think would be unique or a good reminder.

5. Put pen to paper daily

"I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o' clock every morning." — Peter De Vries, American editor and novelist

As they say, inspiration is cultivated through consistent effort. So with writing daily, I've given myself permission to have a surplus of drafts. I have time blocked off on my calendar to write daily. If I don't have a topic in mind, I'll use Claude to help me pick one. I don't have to publish but I must write.

6. Change my environment or move

When I'm feeling really blocked I change my environment to a favorite coffee shop, the library, a different part of the office or shake things up with a quick neighborhood walk or a workout. I've found a little change in environment or movement can be just what I need to find flow and make writing feel a little more fun.

7. Talk it out

Whether it's with a friend or leveraging voice memos, sometimes verbally processing my ideas is what spurs new ideas. I bring them into my brainstorming process. I let them see my messy drafts or designs. I don't have to figure everything out myself and neither do you!

8. Give myself iteration cycles to hit and deadlines

One of the biggest lessons for me at Amazon has been don't wait for perfect to ship a product. It's better to be roughly right and fast than precisely right and slow. How I extended that advice to my design process is when I'm feeling blocked I shift to focusing on quantity of output vs quality. I'll then do a cycle of iterations on the explorations that feel right. This helps me get out of the trap of perfectionism. And I give myself deadlines. Time pressure works for me. So I use time boxing and I set micro deadlines for myself.

Great designers commit to the daily habit of creating and create when they don't really feel like it.

I used to think that the further I got in my career, the quieter the critic would get. Instead what I'm realizing at Amazon is it's something to master. Something to work with. A signal to lean in. And I remind myself, the act of creating something is far more important than the result. Once it exists, I can always make it better. But it must first exist.

The quicker I can get back to having fun with my work, the better the output.

Now as Johnny Cash said to Bob Dylan, go track some mud on the carpet. ◡̈

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Favorite Quote and Photos of the Week*

“Being engaged is a way of doing life, a way of living and loving. It's about going to extremes and expressing the bright hope that life offers us, a hope that makes us brave and expels darkness with light. That's what I want my life to be all about—full of abandon, whimsy, and in love.” - Bob Goff, Love Does

*Seattle the other week

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That’s it for today.

Thanks a ton for reading, whether this is your first or 50th time. I sincerely appreciate you. Please let me know if you have a topic you’d like me to write about. Just reply to this email, I’d love to hear from you!

Until next time,
raika