The door opened and I entered the bedroom of an apartment I was looking to rent. No furniture or items inside, it was almost empty except for a frame in the wall. It was a photo of a peacock. As I stared at it, I could not shake one clear thought off my mind: I need to work on my portfolio.

門開了，我進入了我要租的公寓的臥室。 里面沒有家具或物品，除了墻上的框架外，幾乎是空的。 那是Kong雀的照片。 當我凝視它的時候，我無法擺脫一個清晰的想法：我需要處理我的投資組合。

That term: portfolio, is ominous to every designer, animator, illustrator… It is intimidating (to say the least) to show the work you have done, to put it out there, and to make it share some of the real estate with all those amazing artists posting in Dribbble, Instagram, Medium, you name it. Sometimes I feel as if I am a boy pushing his poorly folded paper boat into a pool crowded with expensive toy boats from reputable brands.

這個術語：投資組合，對每個設計師，動畫師，插畫家都是不祥的……至少(至少可以說)這是令人生畏的，以顯示您已完成的工作，將其放在那里并與所有人共享一些房地產。那些在Dribbble，Instagram，Medium上發布的杰出藝術家，你都可以命名。 有時候，我感覺好像我是一個男孩，把折疊不好的紙船推入游泳池，擠滿了知名品牌的昂貴玩具船。

缺乏信心 (That lack of confidence)

It is often that one thinks of his work as “not that great” probably because we have spent so long on that particular piece that by now, the only thing we see are our mistakes. You are not alone, this is a vast topic and you can find many great articles about this fear or anxiety. And it is present in every field, I came across this article that talks about it in the realm of writing: Article.

人們常常認為他的作品“不是那么好”，可能是因為我們花了很長時間在那件作品上，所以到目前為止，我們唯一看到的就是我們的錯誤。 您并不孤單，這是一個廣闊的話題，您可以找到許多有關這種恐懼或焦慮的文章。 它存在于每個領域，我偶然發現了這篇文章，是在寫作領域中談論它的： 文章。

However, a portfolio is the best way we have to put our foot in the door to get that dream job. So the main goal of your portfolio should be to start a conversation about your work. And there is great advice out there to help us put our best foot forward, I will leave three great articles that talk about this from experience: Fabricio Teixera’s , Daniel’s Fosco’s, Olga Filimon-Lecka’s.

但是，投資組合是我們獲得理想工作的最佳方法。 因此，您的作品集的主要目標應該是開始關于您的工作的對話。 那里有很好的建議可以幫助我們站穩腳跟 ，我將留下三篇有關經驗的出色文章： Fabricio Teixera的 ， Daniel的Fosco的 ， Olga Filimon-Lecka的 。

But how to gather courage? How do we avoid that constant voice inside of us that tells us “This is not worthy”? Sometimes our own lack of confidence makes us postpone the making of our portfolio until we get stocked into a permanent loop of rain checks for this task. And since I’m convinced we all are well familiar with this issue, I would like to offer humble advice: try the peacock technique.

但是如何凝聚勇氣呢？ 我們如何避免我們內心不斷的聲音告訴我們“這不值得”？ 有時我們自己缺乏信心使我們推遲投資組合的制作，直到我們被存入一個永久性的雨水檢查循環中以完成此任務。 而且，由于我確信我們大家都對此問題非常熟悉，因此我想提供謙虛的建議：嘗試Kong雀技術。

Kong雀是什么技術？ (What is the peacock technique?)

The Conquest of Happiness is a book written by the great Bertrand Russel. The title is self explanatory enough, and in one of the chapters, he talks about peacocks. Russel says (I am paraphrasing) when a peacock shows his plumage to a peahen, he acts grandiose, haughty, even cocky (pun intended). This bird is there, prancing around with pride, showing what he’s got. Two things are important to point out:

征服幸福是偉大的伯特蘭·羅素(Bertrand Russel)所寫的書。 標題很容易說明，在其中一章中，他談論Kong雀。 羅素說(我的意思是)當Kong雀向一只豌豆展示他的羽毛時，他表現得宏偉，傲慢，甚至自大(雙關語意)。 這只鳥在那里，驕傲地跳來跳去，展示他的能力。 需要指出兩點：

First of which, the peacock never doubts his tail is good enough, he shows it as it is, with no doubts. This is me, and I am confident about what I’ve got. This last part is important because I have seen too many students submitting their work for feedback. They sometimes start with disclaimers and they begin defending their work before this works under any kind of examination. Which speaks volumes about lack of confidence. If your work is not at the level you want it to be, well that happens to the vast majority of us, we know we have things to improve. Just keep the mentality that this is your work, you spent time on this, maybe you can improve your colors, composition, layout… your portfolio says: This is where I stand, this is what I’ve got, and I am proud of it. This doubt you feel is normal, I would recommend reading about the Impostor syndrome, and you can try these 20 things to boost your creative confidence.

首先，Kong雀從不懷疑自己的尾巴足夠好，他毫無疑問地展示了它的樣子。 這就是我，我對自己所擁有的充滿信心。 最后一部分很重要，因為我看到太多的學生提交作業以征求反饋。 他們有時以免責聲明開頭，并在進行任何形式的審查之前開始為自己的工作辯護。 這足以說明缺乏信心。 如果您的工作還沒有達到您想要的水平，那么我們絕大多數人都會遇到這種情況，我們知道我們還有很多事情需要改進。 只要保持心態，那就是這是您的工作，您花了一些時間，也許您可??以改善顏色，構圖，布局……您的作品集說：這就是我的立場，這就是我所擁有的，我為此感到自豪它。 您可能會覺得這很正常，我建議閱讀有關Impostor綜合征的文章 ，您可以嘗試以下20種方法來增強創造力。

You should always be open for feedback though, but more on that some other time.

不過，您應該始終開放以征求反饋，但是在其他時間還有更多。

The second part of the peacock strategy is -and this is important- the peacock never stops to look at another colleague’s tail. And that is the paramount part of it.

Kong雀戰略的第二部分是-這很重要-Kong雀永不停息地看著另一位同事的尾巴。 這是其中最重要的部分。

I do not believe that any peacock envies another peacock his tail, because every peacock is persuaded that his own tail is the finest in the world. The consequence of this is that peacocks are peaceable birds. Imagine how unhappy the life of a peacock would be if he had been taught that it is wicked to have a good opinion of oneself. Whenever he saw another peacock spreading out his tail, he would say to himself:

我不相信任何Kong雀都會羨慕另一只Kong雀的尾巴，因為每個Kong雀都被說服說自己的尾巴是世界上最好的。 其結果是Kong雀是和平的鳥。 想象一下，如果Kong雀的生活被教導人們對自己有好感，那是多么不愉快。 每當他看到另一只Kong雀張開尾巴時，他都會對自己說：

‘I must not imagine that my tail is better than that, for that would be conceited, but oh, how I wish it were! That odious bird is so convinced of his own magnificence! Shall I pull out some of his feathers? And perhaps I need no longer fear comparison with him.’

``我絕對不能想象我的尾巴比那更好，因為那會自負的，但是哦，我多么希望它！ 那只可惡的鳥是如此相信自己的偉大！ 我可以拔掉他的一些羽毛嗎？ 也許我不再需要害怕和他比較。”

For the entire text you can go to archive.org

對于全文，您可以轉到archive.org

Now, it is important to state that Bertrand Russel does mention the behavior of the peacocks in his book but he does not call it the Peacock Technique, that is something I use since it is easier to refer to it. Also it is important to address he comments on confidence, and mentions the self-doubt and envy. I, however, advocate for a happy medium between been confident and content of one’s abilities and been able to take feedback.

現在，重要的是要聲明伯特蘭·羅素(Bertrand Russel)在書中確實提到了Kong雀的行為，但他沒有將其稱為“Kong雀技法”，這是我使用的，因為它更易于引用。 同樣重要的是要解決他對信心的評論，并提及自我懷疑和嫉妒。 但是，我主張在自信和能力內容之間取得愉快的平衡，并能夠獲得反饋。

Anyway, that part of not looking at your fellow designers’ work… easier said than done would be a towering understatement, especially considering that designers spend numerous hours looking for references (which means, staring at excellent work from other designers.) But we have to keep in mind, our work is valuable, we are where we are, and we should not force anything. We cannot let impatience win. More often than not I find myself browsing for references and I think to myself: “Wow, I am kilometers (or miles if you are American) away from this, I must dramatically improve now, no, not now, I need that done yesterday!” so I get impatient and then anxiety sinks in.

無論如何，不??看設計師的作品的部分……說起來容易做起來容易做起來輕描淡寫，尤其是考慮到設計師花大量時間尋找參考資料(這意味著盯著其他設計師的出色作品。)但是，我們有請記住，我們的工作是寶貴的，我們是我們所處的位置，我們不應強迫任何事情。 我們不能讓不耐煩獲勝。 我經常發現自己在瀏覽參考資料，然后對自己說：“哇，我距離這個地方還有幾公里(如果是美國人的話，是幾英里)，我現在必須大大改善，不，不是現在，我需要昨天做完！” 所以我變得不耐煩，然后焦慮就陷入了。

So this text is a stream of consciousness about a topic that affects all of us. In no way I consider myself an authority on design, but I feel it is important to talk about things we share. And the insecurity of showing your portfolio to the world is all too common. I try to repeat to myself that a portfolio is always a work in progress, that I will reach a higher level of skill with hard work and open ears.

因此，本文是對影響我們所有人的主題的意識流。 我絕不認為自己是設計的權威，但我覺得談論我們分享的東西很重要。 向全世界展示您的作品集的不安全感非常普遍。 我想對自己重復一遍，投資組合始終是一項正在進行的工作，我將通過努力工作和睜大耳朵來達到更高的技能水平。

It is important to keep reading and sharpening your skills, to keep yourself informed about the things you want to accomplish and (Why not?) the things that make you happy. And with that attitude be in terms with posting your portfolio. Also, you can refer to any of the links I wrote to search for advice from more experienced people. I also found this article quite interesting, it is called 10 soft skills for UI UX designers.

重要的是要繼續閱讀并提高技能，使自己了解要完成的事情以及(為什么不這樣做)使自己感到高興的事情。 并以這種態度來表達您的投資組合。 另外，您可以參考我寫的任何鏈接，以搜索經驗豐富的人的建議。 我還發現這篇文章非常有趣，它被稱為UI UX設計師的10個軟技能 。

Coming back to my room, where the picture of the peacock was hanging, well, I left it right there. My desk is pointing to that same wall, and it is great to remind myself to take pride in my plumage.

回到我的房間，那里掛著Kong雀的照片，好吧，我把它放在那兒了。 我的辦公桌正指向同一堵墻，很高興提醒自己以我的羽毛為榮。