🤫 The Silent Career Killer #10
Feeling guilty for taking time off | Unmasking 50 hidden threats to your UX career | part 10 of 50
👋 Hi UX friend, Marina here!
This newsletter series is where I share what I've learned during 25 years in UX about the silent career traps you may not even realize you’re falling into and show you easy ways to get break out and propel your career forward.
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Let's talk about that fascinating lie we tell ourselves as new or aspiring UX leaders – that our constant availability somehow equals our value.
I recently watched one of my most talented mentees, cancel yet another vacation…
Her reason?
"I can't leave NOW – we're at a critical point in our design system rollout."
Here's what stopped me in my tracks - it was her THIRD "critical point" this year…
The Availability Paradox
What I've observed after two decades in UX leadership is something I call the Availability Paradox:
The more indispensable you make yourself in the day-to-day, the less likely you are to have strategic impact where it really matters.
Think about the last truly innovative solution you developed.
Was it during your fourteenth straight hour of Figma work?
Or, was it when your mind had space to step back and see the bigger picture?
The 3 Hidden Penalties of “Never Stepping Away”
1️⃣ The Strategy Deficit
When you're always in the weeds, you miss the forest-level changes that actually shape product success.
I've seen brilliant UX leaders get blindsided by competitor moves or emerging user needs simply because they never gave themselves the distance needed to spot larger patterns.
2️⃣ The Trust Tax
Every time you make yourself available during off-hours, you're paying what I call the Trust Tax.
You're essentially telling your organization: "Don't worry about building robust processes or clear decision frameworks – just ping me anytime!"
This creates a dangerous dependency that actually devalues UX in the long run.
3️⃣ The Innovation Debt
Your brain needs periods of disconnection to form new neural pathways.
By staying constantly connected, you're accumulating Innovation Debt – a deficit of the novel thinking that comes from letting your mind wander and make unexpected connections.
The 4 Types of UX Rest (yes, there are 4!)
Through my mentoring work, I've identified 4 distinct types of rest that UXers and UX leaders need:
🔋 Tactical Rest
This is your basic time off – nights, weekends, vacations.
But it's not just about physical recovery.
It's about letting your problem-solving muscles relax so they can strengthen, just like recovery days in strength training.
🏔 Strategic Rest
These are longer breaks (think: a week or more) where you deliberately step away from your product's immediate context.
This type of rest often leads to those "aha!" moments about larger user patterns or market opportunities.