Rashid Zakat

When I first became interested in web design I started reaching out to blogs and magazines to get an idea of how to do it and the most effective painless way to learn; and if the web has anything, it’s information on how to build websites and web applications. I became overwhelmed with the amount of information out there, and as with a lot of things, my Capricornian tendency to methodically disseminate each piece of information before I tried it kicked in…a method contrary to my natural Rashidian tendency to hop in and screw it up.

Needless to say, it wasn’t until I took an internship at O3 World (a really dope branding/web agency in Philly) that I actually took the time to learn HTML. Brandon let me borrow his HTML book, I got another CSS book on my own and read them in my spare time. This was helpful, but what made the techniques stick is when they made me drill through what I already knew and solve problems, learning new techniques everyday and spending hours a day practicing them. Needless to day, I learned by practicing as often as I could.

I use this rather long story to draw a line between learning something technical and learning how to become a better person. There is no real difference in the method.

Another story: If you’ve read my post, or have had a long enough conversation with me, you know that I was raised on a daily regiment of Jesus, Jesus and more Jesus. I spent a decent amount of my life in church, which is supposed to be a place you learn to be a better human being. Church is an amazingly beautiful thing when you boil it down to a regular event that you fellowship with people who want to take active steps in making the earth a better place through trust, spirituality, sacrifice and selflessness.

The problem is, that changes as soon as people walk out of the door. Everything sounds nice, and you get high in the moment; and for those brief moments you’re in the congregation, you have the courage you believe you need to be the virtuous person the world needs. Of course, once that self-righteous high fades so does the confidence you have to actually make those changes in your thoughts and stick with them.

So what do you do? Well, first of all I think to become a better person, we need to get rid of this notion that self-improvement is a comfortable process. The biggest strides and growth I’ve experienced in life were born out of some of the most painful, often most awkward moments of my life.

It wasn’t comfortable.

It wasn’t always happy. There’s nothing like facing your fears, attacking your preconceived notions about the world to find out reality isn’t what you though it was. If you challenge your norms to prove their validity, no matter what you find, it’s not a process you enjoy. Especially if you have to come face to face with the demons you’ve developed and allowed to attach to you in your life. Humans thrive on familiarity.

Lastly, it’s not an overnight process. My mom used to always tell me that you don’t wake up in the morning a different person. You’re always a compilation of who you’ve been over the years. The bulk of your thoughts are based on habit and perception. Even if you make an active decision to change an aspect of yourself, it’s not a one time decision. You have to live with it and make the choice to affirm that decision every day. More importantly, you have to fight the urge to settle back into whats comfortable. What’s comfortable feels natural because it’s familiar…but natural doesn’t always equate to honest, best, real or productive.

Comfort is the biggest bane to development or improvement.

My point is, you have to take active steps in becoming a better human being…whatever that means to you. It’s absolutely ok to evaluate yourself on a regular basis. To write out your affirmations, to track your progress and most importantly to take very uncomfortable steps to grow. While growth is natural and progressive, I’m starting to learn what natural growth really means….and it doesn’t necessarily equate to being comfortable.

Last story. I was never a work-out guy. While I was pretty active in high school, and I remember going through a phase for about a year or so where I was very diligent about daily exercise, it wasn’t ever anything serious. When I moved back to Philly after moving home for a year, my brother Qadim and I began a serious workout routine. Now, Qadim played sports, and it’s important to him to stay in shape. I spent hours in my room reading and making nerd things….so it’s needless to say that the first few weeks of us working out was a lesson in improvement. But, though working out regularly with Qadim, something happened. I went from 5 push-ups to 15. Then from 15 to 25. Then from 25to 35. My arms got stronger. My endurance increased. With each push up, I felt the lactic acid seep into my muscles, making every push-up more difficult than the last. That would have normally told me to quit and get back to something I was more accustomed to. “Go make a beat.” “Turn the TV on.” “Don’t you have some scripts you need to finish?” I eventually went from jogs around the block to jogs to center city and back. While I’ve dramatically fallen out of shape, that’s a lesson I need to remember to remind myself that nothing happens overnight….physically, mentally or spiritually. EVERYTHING takes time and effort to grow…and the less we can see or touch the change the tougher it becomes to integrate into your life.

To sum it up, becoming a virtuous, honest, productive and well….happy human being takes work. ACTIVE work. It’s something that should be practiced, thought about and maintained on a constant basis. We should all be asking ourselves is what we’re doing a step in improvement, or a cop out because of our level of comfort and “mental lactic acid” that we believe is telling us to quit, but in actuality, that discomfort is our bodies, spirits and minds telling us what we’re doing is right.

*This entry was sparked by this entry I read about design on the Echo Endurance blog: http://blog.echoenduring.com/2009/12/02/the-one-thing-you-need-to-do-to-become-a-better-designer/