

Ask HN: How do you remove your ego from a project? - mathgladiator

How do you practice ego-less anything? Programming, Marketing, Business Development, etc.<p>How do you separate your self image from a project?
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imjoel
I've been a freelance designer for over 7 years. This is something that I
struggled a lot with for the first few years and still do, sometimes.

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%.

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adestefan
Removing your self-image and removing your ego are two different things. You
should not remove your self-image. Instead, everything you do should reflect
your self-image.

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.

~~~
MaysonL
_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.

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brudgers
You can't separate your self-image from meaningful work.

But you can learn to treat certainty as a warning sign both in yourself and in
others.

