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.

门开了，我进入了我要租的公寓的卧室。 里面没有家具或物品，除了墙上的框架外，几乎是空的。 那是Kong雀的照片。 当我凝视它的时候，我无法摆脱一个清晰的想法：我需要处理我的投资组合。

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.

这个术语：投资组合，对每个设计师，动画师，插画家都是不祥的……至少(至少可以说)这是令人生畏的，以显示您已完成的工作，将其放在那里并与所有人共享一些房地产。那些在Dribbble，Instagram，Medium上发布的杰出艺术家，你都可以命名。 有时候，我感觉好像我是一个男孩，把折叠不好的纸船推入游泳池，挤满了知名品牌的昂贵玩具船。

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.

人们常常认为他的作品“不是那么好”，可能是因为我们花了很长时间在那件作品上，所以到目前为止，我们唯一看到的就是我们的错误。 您并不孤单，这是一个广阔的话题，您可以找到许多有关这种恐惧或焦虑的文章。 它存在于每个领域，我偶然发现了这篇文章，是在写作领域中谈论它的： 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，投资组合是我们获得理想工作的最佳方法。 因此，您的作品集的主要目标应该是开始关于您的工作的对话。 那里有很好的建议可以帮助我们站稳脚跟 ，我将留下三篇有关经验的出色文章： 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.

但是如何凝聚勇气呢？ 我们如何避免我们内心不断的声音告诉我们“这不值得”？ 有时我们自己缺乏信心使我们推迟投资组合的制作，直到我们被存入一个永久性的雨水检查循环中以完成此任务。 而且，由于我确信我们大家都对此问题非常熟悉，因此我想提供谦虚的建议：尝试Kong雀技术。

Kong雀是什么技术？ (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:

征服幸福是伟大的伯特兰·罗素(Bertrand Russel)所写的书。 标题很容易说明，在其中一章中，他谈论Kong雀。 罗素说(我的意思是)当Kong雀向一只豌豆展示他的羽毛时，他表现得宏伟，傲慢，甚至自大(双关语意)。 这只鸟在那里，骄傲地跳来跳去，展示他的能力。 需要指出两点：

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雀从不怀疑自己的尾巴足够好，他毫无疑问地展示了它的样子。 这就是我，我对自己所拥有的充满信心。 最后一部分很重要，因为我看到太多的学生提交作业以征求反馈。 他们有时以免责声明开头，并在进行任何形式的审查之前开始为自己的工作辩护。 这足以说明缺乏信心。 如果您的工作还没有达到您想要的水平，那么我们绝大多数人都会遇到这种情况，我们知道我们还有很多事情需要改进。 只要保持心态，那就是这是您的工作，您花了一些时间，也许您可​​以改善颜色，构图，布局……您的作品集说：这就是我的立场，这就是我所拥有的，我为此感到自豪它。 您可能会觉得这很正常，我建议阅读有关Impostor综合征的文章 ，您可以尝试以下20种方法来增强创造力。

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

不过，您应该始终开放以征求反馈，但是在其他时间还有更多。

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雀战略的第二部分是-这很重要-Kong雀永不停息地看着另一位同事的尾巴。 这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雀都会羡慕另一只Kong雀的尾巴，因为每个Kong雀都被说服说自己的尾巴是世界上最好的。 其结果是Kong雀是和平的鸟。 想象一下，如果Kong雀的生活被教导人们对自己有好感，那是多么不愉快。 每当他看到另一只Kong雀张开尾巴时，他都会对自己说：

‘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.’

``我绝对不能想象我的尾巴比那更好，因为那会自负的，但是哦，我多么希望它！ 那只可恶的鸟是如此相信自己的伟大！ 我可以拔掉他的一些羽毛吗？ 也许我不再需要害怕和他比较。”

For the entire text you can go to archive.org

对于全文，您可以转到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.

现在，重要的是要声明伯特兰·罗素(Bertrand Russel)在书中确实提到了Kong雀的行为，但他没有将其称为“Kong雀技法”，这是我使用的，因为它更易于引用。 同样重要的是要解决他对信心的评论，并提及自我怀疑和嫉妒。 但是，我主张在自信和能力内容之间取得愉快的平衡，并能够获得反馈。

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.

无论如何，不​​看设计师的作品的部分……说起来容易做起来容易做起来轻描淡写，尤其是考虑到设计师花大量时间寻找参考资料(这意味着盯着其他设计师的出色作品。)但是，我们有请记住，我们的工作是宝贵的，我们是我们所处的位置，我们不应强迫任何事情。 我们不能让不耐烦获胜。 我经常发现自己在浏览参考资料，然后对自己说：“哇，我距离这个地方还有几公里(如果是美国人的话，是几英里)，我现在必须大大改善，不，不是现在，我需要昨天做完！” 所以我变得不耐烦，然后焦虑就陷入了。

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，本文是对影响我们所有人的主题的意识流。 我绝不认为自己是设计的权威，但我觉得谈论我们分享的东西很重要。 向全世界展示您的作品集的不安全感非常普遍。 我想对自己重复一遍，投资组合始终是一项正在进行的工作，我将通过努力工作和睁大耳朵来达到更高的技能水平。

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.

重要的是要继续阅读并提高技能，使自己了解要完成的事情以及(为什么不这样做)使自己感到高兴的事情。 并以这种态度来表达您的投资组合。 另外，您可以参考我写的任何链接，以搜索经验丰富的人的建议。 我还发现这篇文章非常有趣，它被称为UI UX设计师的10个软技能 。

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.

回到我的房间，那里挂着Kong雀的照片，好吧，我把它放在那儿了。 我的办公桌正指向同一堵墙，很高兴提醒自己以我的羽毛为荣。