I’m starting on another major redesign at work, and trying to stay open and mindful of my process as a designer. Here is what I’ve learned so far: design is like sanding a piece of wood before you paint it.

Much of design, like sanding, is about prep; I choose some fonts and some colors and a grid, and only after that’s done can I start playing. The formative work makes the fun stuff possible. No groundwork = lame design. Like sanding, design is heavily iterative. When you sand a huge chunk of wood–a banister on a staircase for instance–it slowly dawns on you that it’s possible to never be finished; in the right light, you will always see what you could have done better or differently. The real trick to being a designer is giving yourself permission to stop, and be alright with the fact that what you’re doing may not be attractive to you anymore in six months, but at least it will be done.

And like sanding, design feels better when it’s part of something bigger and when it’s finally done. This time around I’m trying to embrace the administrative aspects of this project, and I’m starting to ease back into the notion that there’s more to life than hairlines and swatches and CSS rules. Not much more, but more.

I’ve also discovered that it is infinitely useful to see design as something easy and pleasant with only fleeting moments of pain, rather than the opposite: something fundamentally difficult and laborious with fleeting moments of joy. It’s hard to see it this way when it seems as though design is being elevated to the level of science or even religion on a almost daily basis; (even I wasted ninety minutes of my life watching a movie about a font, when twenty would have done nicely. It’s a great font, but come on.)

Revel in the ease of your work. If you’re a designer or a developer, your work means never having to break the news of a loved one’s death, or having to shoot other humans or rescue other humans from burning cars. In fact, when you get right down to it, it’s a lot like sanding a big board. Even better, there’s no splinters and your sandpaper says “Designed by Apple in California” on the bottom.