Every job comes with challenges to mental health and work-life balance or harmony.

But one big difference between service designers and other professions is the amount of negative feedback you're faced with.

In fact, a big part of the service designer's job is to search, ask, and read negative feedback and criticism. So much criticism and negative feedback can give you a feeling that:

• There is no hope as everything is broken

• People don't appreciate your work

• People don't like you

Obviously, all of this can be pretty depressing.

How to deal with negative feedback overload

So here are a few strategies you can try if your mental health suffers from all that negative feedback:

Learn how to separate criticism from you

I don't exactly know how I learned that, but I learned it. But I've learned over the years that my work isn't me. This means that when someone shits on my work, finds it stupid and shit, they are shitting on a piece of work, not on a piece of my own body. It really doesn't matter.

If I can learn from it, good. If I can't, I just let it go.

Be an example of good feedback

In some workplaces, the way feedback is shared can be pretty hurtful. It's hard to change such cultures.

But one thing you can do is to be an example of how good feedback is given, and slowly, people will notice that there is another way to do it.

Know that critical feedback takes a toll on you

You know how sometimes we don't know that we are hungry or tired, and we get all grumpy. Then people around us tell us: "You should eat something", or "You should sleep". And then we say: "No, that's not what I need! It's just that problem I'm faced with is sooo big!"

But once you get some food or sleep, you suddenly realise: "Oh, the problem was not so big, it was just that I needed sleep or to eat".

I feel the same can happen with critical feedback. We don't notice that it has an impact on us. So we don't take a break and then get all grumpy.

So maybe, next time you do a study where you know you'll have to get through a lot of negative feedback, plan some "taking care of yourself" time right after it.

Give the right amount of time for work, life and bonus learning

Don't make your self-worth depend on just your job. If your job is all you have, things will go to shit, as you might feel that nobody is ever happy with your work.

Keep track of the positive feedback

We often spend hours analysing negative feedback, but we forget to celebrate the good feedback.

That's why, over the years, I've started collecting the lovely comments and feedback that people share about my work. And I've built routines that help me to resurface that feedback automatically.

So that I can see: One year ago someone liked this part of a service I worked on.

Going further

Obviously, all the usual things you can do to manage your mental health also apply to service design professionals (sports, meditation, eating well, sleeping well, etc..). On these topics, here are a few resources that have helped me:

• For meditation: The Headspace app and the book "The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness"

• For nutrition: the Noom app

• For sleep: the book "Why We Sleep"