We asked some folks we admire to share one piece of conventional advice they disagree with.

Yvonne Boyiazis | SFX Makeup Artist

“Fake it ‘till you make it.” I think if you believe you have “made it,” it is a great personal failure, as it allows you to slow into a complacency where you think your best is behind you. Not to say you cannot celebrate victories, but I believe people never stop learning unless they personally stifle their ability to learn. Read more>>

Zainab Okeowo | Creative

“Make sure you have a plan B for your life.” I think the idea that we need a plan B, is already admitting to knowing th plan A will fail. We don’t have to be just one thing. in this lifetime so we don’t NEED a thousand plans, we just need to know where we want to go/who we want to be, and go after it full force, as if it’s the only thing way we’re meant to live in this world. There aren’t any other options. Read more>>

Chris R. Becker | Sr. User Experience Designer / Educator / Author

That a person must choose a “profession” and stick with it to have a career. There are an infinite number of paths and all “professions” are in flux the best advice I was given was… Be flexible and don’t worry about labels. “Designers” will always find a way to be useful and help solve problems. Read more>>

Christina Laham Paganelli | CEO & Founder

We are in a completely new world, a vacuum in a way, in which all conventional advice needs to be thrown out and new systems, which makes absolutely no sense, be brought in. In our new normal, small businesses stay alive by creatively finding unorthodox ways of navigating the current economic landscape. Good old-fashioned ‘Do it yourself’ method kicks in. Read more>>

D’yann Elaine Crosby | ASL Educator, Influencer, Producer, Author, Entrepreneur

There’s an old adage that says, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.” What is meant by this is that it is difficult to teach someone especially an older person a new skill or behavior if they are already firmly set in their ways. I agree the younger mind works a lot better when it comes to learning new things and retaining information. Read more>>