Everyone has bad days; it’s a simple fact of life. If you were to graph your mood on a scale of one to 10 each day, there are inevitable dips on the chart. In the kitchen and bath industry, several things can cause you to have a bad day: product delays, problems on the jobsites and challenging clients, to name just a few. It’s important to recognize when the chart is trending downward over time rather than upward or even just staying neutral. I don’t want to suggest that simply pretending to have a good attitude can make difficult days disappear. That isn’t possible. It is certainly common to have hard seasons in life, but what you choose to do with them can be the key to rediscovering the joy in design that leads to a long and fulfilling career.
Slowing Down
Everyone has bad days. I used to believe that I, as a self-proclaimed “eternal optimist,” was somehow immune to them. When something hard happened, I would try to just suppress it, ignore it and move on. Sure, this worked for a bit, but over time, the negative thoughts would cloud my creativity, I would be irritable with clients and colleagues, and my business would suffer. What I have found is that allowing yourself to slow down and reflect can give your body time to settle, process and breathe, creating space for inspiration and a change in your attitude toward the day. So, when I am having a bad day, I’ll start to spread out my meetings, take a walk if I can and be quiet with the screens off as long as possible. This is not always possible in the kitchen and bath industry where showroom meetings and project site walks fill our calendars, but even just five minutes of sitting in your car can make all the difference in allowing your creativity to return.
Finding Support
The second thing that helps me through my bad days is being surrounded by industry colleagues I trust enough to confide in and pull me out of a funk when I need it. Sometimes I just need to express why I am struggling and I’ll feel better. Other times I need someone to give me advice on how to deal with something instead of being stuck and ruminating on it. Since the design world comes with such specific challenges, it’s helpful to have someone who understands and can offer advice on how to handle a particular problem. If you do not have a group like this, I would encourage you to find one. I don’t believe we were meant to navigate this work in isolation, but, unfortunately, many designers do. So, start networking and meet people you can trust. It will be one of the best decisions you will make in your career.
Growing & Moving On
The last thing I believe is important to recognize about bad days is the ability to either grow from the experience or to recognize that something in your career needs to change. For example, when you have a client who may challenge you, your business or your product, it can be easy to take it personally. But if you can take a step back and ask if there is any truth in the criticism, you may find an opportunity to improve for the next client. Again, this is where it is good to have peers who can be a sounding board. Alternatively, if you are recognizing that the downward trend of negativity revolves around a certain person, company or type of project, it may be wise to separate yourself from it. It’s okay to move on in search of a better experience. I often will say that I believe in second chances but not always third, fourth or fifth chances.
Finding Joy – Again
Recognizing that bad days are okay to have, finding community in the hardships of the industry and removing yourself from difficult circumstances may seem like oversimplifications on paper because they are. There is no magic formula that will make difficult days disappear. But if you allow the bad days to make you pessimistic, it can block creativity, turn people away from wanting to work with you and lead to general burnout. Staying encouraged and working positively isn’t the result of having only good days. It comes from learning how to have bad days without carrying them forever.
—Andrew Risinger, CMKBD, CR, is co-owner of Kitchen Bath & Home LLC
