💎 What if your insecurity is actually your superpower?
UX career goodies
By anfisign.design
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Hey, UX friends! Happy Tuesday.
If we haven't met yet, my name is Anfisa—senior product designer at MEWS by day. By night, I help UXers to stand out in a crowded market inside the IntoUX Community. Oh, and I’m also raising a 1.5-year-old (hi, all working moms).
Have you ever been told you're too much of something?
E.g. Too detailed. Too slow. Too conservative. Too creative. Asking too many questions. Asking too little questions. The list can go on...
For me, it was: "You overthink everything."
In design critiques and retro feedback, it always came back:
“You focus too much on edge cases.”
“You’re holding up the flow. Can’t you just design it quickly?”
“Maybe you’re more of a PM than a designer?”
I started to wonder if I was the one slowing the team down.
And one day, it really got to me.
I had opened my own Figma file…and then a few files from my design teammates. That moment was sobering.
75% of my Figma was notes, screenshots, user research links, and data references. An investigator’s board.
90% of the other designers' files were design flows. Clean, polished, screen after screen.
And I remember thinking: “Am I really a designer?”
That self-doubt crept in deeper than ever. I started to quiet myself. Try to design faster while feeling less confident in design choices.
Then one demo day changed everything.
We just wrapped a particularly complex feature cycle with lots of edge cases and moving parts. All in a short 3-week timeline, thrown at us last minute. And we wrapped it without chaos or blockers. The engineering team had everything they needed, exactly when they needed it.
We ended up shipping 30% more than in our usual sprint. I got publicly called out in front of 100+ people for…
And it hit me:
My "overthinking" wasn't actually a flaw.
Turns out the traits I tried to downplay were now seen as the reason the team had a seamless sprint. Maybe it is my superpower? Maybe my overthinking mindset lets me to:
Provide the team with clarity, not just mockups.
Anticipate blockers before they appear.
Give everyone space to do their best work.
As designers, we often get told to “move faster,” “skip the fluff,” and “just make the design.” However, product design is not just about building the thing, it's also about reducing the risks, thinking long-term, thinking systematically, and, of course, unblocking the team when edge cases occur. And sometimes, the thing that makes you hesitate, dig deeper, ask again — That’s not indecision. It’s building confidence.
So here’s what I want you to think about today:
👉 What’s a trait you've been told to tone down? 👉 What feedback made you feel like you didn't quite "fit the mold"? 👉 Could that thing be the reason you're irreplaceable?
Some strengths don't look like strengths right away.
They show up as quirks. Resistance. Discomfort.
But when channeled right, they’re what make you irreplaceable.
⭐️ Need help reflecting on how to stand out from the crowd? Join the community.
IntoUXCommunity is your shortcut to breaking into UX with confidence. Instead of figuring it all out in the dark, stay ahead in a competitive market— and enjoy the process. Here is what awaits you inside:
