In the last quarter of 2021, it dawned on me that I could actually upgrade my career. I had been designing on Canva for 3 years and one random day I thought of a design idea and realized that I could make it better, but Canva was not the right tool, Illustrator was.

I began the search for Illustrator tools and with luck, was able to get tolls installed and began to fire up YouTube videos on how to create simple to complex drawings. At the time it didn't seem enough and while looking for more, I stumbled into tweets about UX and UI design and with further research, decided to give it a go!

Not long after, I got a scholarship to study to be a designer for 6 weeks. It just seemed that as soon as I made the decision, opportunities began to locate me left, right and centre. It was like a path predestined by fate. The 6 week program yielded little in the end and I was back to learning on my own. Battling with tutorials, very poor electricity and very little sleep. It was almost like my time for ease and access had expired and I was thrown fully into hell. Trials and tribulations, so to speak.

Just as I thought my luck was up, another scholarship opportunity presented itself and boy did I rush to apply. I got in and began another 12 week journey into learning UIUX Design. Deadlines, assignments and tutorials took up all of my days. They left me exhausted, excited and mostly hopeful for the future to come. I would practice on my own projects, work on assignments as soon as there was electricity and read books whenever the electricity went out again. It was definitely another era of trials and tribulations but I made it work.

This was a typical day

• Wake up and read one or two designs books. Just a couple of pages a day. Timed appropriately so that I don't lose focus and not absorb all that I had read
• Start or continue a design for practice. This would be accompanied by a tutorial so I could learn the tips and tricks of Figma to make my work better and design faster as well
• Work on assignments
• Nap or watch a movie
• Continue assignments till late at night sometimes till the a.ms
• Sleep and continue in the morning

And on and on it went till I finished the 12 week program and it was an equally trying period for me as well. I was barely makimg any income as I combined a small business and making designs on Canva for clients which did not happen very often. With time and dollar rates, I had to let go of the business and was surving on making designs on Canva for clients alone. It was what I used to get data plans for practice and study and live classes. Luckily I was living in my sister's house so that made quite the difference and helped me put the money in these other places.

My routine, while gruesome, made my design strength a little higher than beginners. I would always get comments about my work and they would always say that it didn't look like someone who was just a year in. Which is quite the compliment. But it was all possible because of my crazy routine and knowing that I had very little to fall back on if I did not succeed.

There were times I definitely wanted to give up. Sleeping by 4am almost every night, trying to post designs and be discoverable every other day and just drifiting through without much money to fall back on can take quite the toll. Whenever people asked me for my routine, they always screamed at how crazy it was.

But what always kept me going was the method I employed, the scarcity mindset. If I didn't have money to pay for a course or tool, I'd just find a harder way around it. Would it be tiring and back breaking? Yes. But it was the only option I had.

Is it all paying off? I don't even know but hey it's just been a little over a year. With more grit, I'll keep pushing ahead and wait for my big break…