I have been thinking about what to write lately and decided to document about my product management journey as a form of accountability and also, as a way to help others who are also new to this field.
When I first heard about product management, I was like “Eh? What the hell is that?!”
So I googled it and found it fascinating. I then signed up for Utiva’s Product management course last year in the hopes of getting a certification that could land me a job since I was unemployed at the time. (Psst: still am)
Let's just say I kind of underestimated the job as I was not fully emotionally prepared for everything and soon got overwhelmed with learning new stuff.
Not helping was that at the time, I was going a severe mental and emotional crisis that ended up with me getting diagnosed with bipolar.
The diagnosis terrified me and made me develop Imposter’s Syndrome which I still struggle with till this day.
Part of that frustration stems from my current unemployment situation. There are times when I ask myself, “How long do I have to keep learning?! Others are ahead of me!!“
How many of you have struggled with thoughts like that?
There are times I do not want to wake up and there are times I feel like throwing myself off a cliff whenever those dark thoughts plague me.
Yet, I am still alive today and still returned to this field. I signed up for Treford’s Product Management course and have started Google’s UX course as well and I am taking other courses than involve product design and technical writing as well.
Why am I telling you all this? We are all humans at the end of the day. Life is beautiful and can be a bit stressful but that does not mean you should beat yourself up too much. Take a break whenever possible.
Go read that book you want. Heck even listening to music can calm your head a bit. Stop expecting perfection especially when you are starting out. Keep practicing and you will get there eventually.
Life is not meant to be a race. Do not treat it as such otherwise you will be left dazed and confused.