Every run has a purpose

Tackling difficult work down is just like going for a simple run.

Went for a jogging before the midnight strikes. As usual, I launched Nike Run Club app and listened to coach Benett's words along the run. I love running with coach Ben’s voice. Most of the time he’s encouraging you, asking you to slow down and make the run easy — quite against the norm as we would usually expect the coach asking you to push yourself, advance the limit and break personal best. Definitely, sports are competitive, but coach Ben’s way of coaching is somehow easier to accept, especially for people like me who skipped the majority of PE classes during school days. Everything has a beginning, of course, but we all gotta start at someplace that does not consume our physical and mental health by stressing and straining at the starting line. Therefore, coach Ben definitely got his point on this: as long as I’m starting the run I’ve already made an achievement, I should be proud of myself of stepping out the first leg, and celebrate that moment because every run has a purpose.

A bit of thinking from that while I was jogging tonight, I thought about work these days. Since last Thursday, I was collaborating with a few other colleagues on an RFP deck that’s urgently needed by today, with less than 5 working days to prepare. This was a big challenge for all of us, it might be big or small, but definitely a challenge to everyone. Changes are coming over and over again throughout the entire progress, and I had to spend most of the time understanding how the process works before starting to craft the right infographics and charts to use in the keynote. Being very familiar with Figma, I had a quite stumbling time at the start. I was good at design system thinking, so I thought of creating a temporary design system so that every slide can be unified in certain manners. It takes some time to build up, but will save a lot of time eventually. I tried the best I can and crafted what I could, but there were always improvements to be made.

Somehow, the jogging reminds me of these days I spent with others in the studio. It’s just like going for a running. It’s not an easy step to make in the first place, but there’s always something worth celebrating for — we are making progress along the way. We started strong and tried to finish strong as well, and next time when we start a new project/race, it’s something new again. Every run has a purpose.