Ask HN: How do you remove your ego from a project?
How do you practice ego-less anything? Programming, Marketing, Business Development, etc.
How do you separate your self image from a project?
How do you separate your self image from a project?
These are my bigger epiphanies:
* Started asking myself "Why do I get so attached?" I started to see that I wasn't really all that confident in my abilities. I produced good work, but I wasn't skillful with working with clients and their problems, which is a very important aspect of being a freelancer.
* As I became more skillful in my craft and maintaining relationships, my attitude shifted and I started building confidence in myself when it came to solving problems. I started being objective about the problems I was solving.
* My creative process has been important, too. I figured out the more I focused on objectives, problems and pain, the more the client (and me) got behind my solutions. My solutions started to mean something because I could tie every decision to a pain point.
* All I can do educate and advocate the best solutions. Ultimately, it is up to the client to decide what he wants to do.
* Often times, people hadn't worked with a skilled consultant before. So, they didn't understand the complexities of the solutions I provided. This means they'll start requesting, what I often interpreted as, random shit. These requests, I learned, are mostly surface symptoms of deeper issues--dig down and figure out what the real problem is.
I guess bottom line: Trust in yourself and your skill. Remain objective. Educate and advocate the best solutions to the client. Know you gave it 100%.
Removing your ego is not as easy. You need to grow up and realize you're not really as smart as you think you are.
...and to realize that you're not as smart as you can become if you work hard and focusedly.
But you can learn to treat certainty as a warning sign both in yourself and in others.