Celebrate the Wins. Learn from the Losses.

When you design for clients — whether external companies or internal stakeholders — you almost never get to do exactly what you want.

And that’s okay. You’re helping shape someone else’s vision. You’re part of a team. You’re working inside constraints — business, tech, time, politics.

But that doesn’t mean you stop fighting for what’s right.

• You still push for best practices.

• You still advocate for the user.

• You still try to build the thing that not only works but matters.

But let’s be real — it can get personal.

Sometimes you have to explain the same rationale three different ways to five different people. You’re asked to iterate ten more times when you know three would have been plenty. You’re trying to create clarity in environments built on ambiguity.

And often, you’re working with people who genuinely don’t understand what you do.

“You’re just making it look pretty.”
“We’re not solving world peace here.”
“Let’s just ship it.”
“Can you make it pop?” (yes, that still happens.)

It’s hard.
You burn out.
You question if it’s worth it.

That’s why I say: celebrate the wins.

• Even the small ones.

• Even the weird ones.

• Even the ones that didn’t go quite how you wanted, but somehow still worked.

When something clicks — when your team gets buy-in, when your ideas land, when users actually say thank you — take a moment.

Talk about it. Share it. Scream it into the void, if you have to.

Those wins keep you going. They’re proof of impact. Proof that you cut through the noise, the friction, the bureaucracy — and still made something good.

When You Lead Teams, It’s Even More Important

When I was managing teams in-office, I used to take my team out once a month or so.

Not for a milestone. Not because the C-suite noticed.
But just to say: We’re doing hard things together. And that matters.

We’d toast to the little battles we won.
We’d laugh about the near-disasters.
We’d vent.
We’d reconnect.

Sometimes the “win” was getting a PM to understand that yes, copy does matter. Sometimes it was finding a faster way through user testing.
Sometimes it was just getting a prototype out the door on time.

Whatever it was — it deserved a moment.

• Wins are momentum.

• And momentum is fuel.

• For the team. For morale. For the next impossible challenge.

And the Losses?

You’ll have them. You’ll keep having them.
Not everything lands. Not everything ships the way you imagined.
Not every stakeholder will “get it.”

That’s okay.

Learn from it.
Autopsy it.
Run a retro.
Write it down.
File it away.

Because one day, you might see that same problem again — and this time, you’ll be ready.

So, enjoy the wins. Don’t dwell on the losses.

The wins are proof that you’re doing something right.
The losses are proof that you care enough to try.

And both are part of what makes this work so damn meaningful.