/ JOURNAL
Honour thy error as a hidden intention
As a younger designer, I think I imagined every move in my career would be linear: a logical, progressive step from what came before to what would come next. Nice and neat. But careers, like lives, are rarely like that.
The through line of my career has been curiosity. Wanting to see both private and public sector; to work client-side and agency-side; freelance and perm; and both leading and doing. Jumping between new worlds, learning, and letting them inform my practice.
Not every role works out, and what you learn from those roles often isn't what you expected to learn. I’ve held roles that weren’t right for me, or me for them. And that, with the best of intentions on all sides, happens. But my self-critical brain is wired to see these as errors.
In ‘Eno’, Gary Hustwit's brilliant documentary film, Brian Eno talks about the origins of oblique strategies, including this one: honour thy error as a hidden intention. Using an error creatively, as a thing to build upon. It’s been on my mind lately as I’ve been thinking about the kind of work I do next.
It's through reflection that you find meaning, perspective and the hidden intention. Every role you’ve held shapes you and the learning informs and — critically — makes possible what comes next.
It concentrates the mind on the values you hold to be important in an organisation; the roles where you can give the best of yourself; and the types of work you find the greatest emotional reward in.
I'm finding that journey both more winding than I once expected, but also richer for it.