This is the fifth bonus episode of Captn OffScript. When Teresa Ferreira and I recorded her main episode, we got into imposter syndrome and self-worth, and it was honest enough that I kept it back for this.

It went to newsletter subscribers first as a private YouTube link. Today it's available here too.

Teresa's first point is the most reassuring one: imposter syndrome doesn't go away. Not with success, not with experience. You just get better at spotting it. Her tool for catching it is a question I've been repeating ever since, whose voice is that? Because the critical voice is almost never yours. It's usually something someone said to you growing up that you've disproved a hundred times since. We also got into why creatives tie their whole self-worth to their work, her brilliant line that nobody who looks after trees feels worthless when one doesn't grow, and the thing I admitted out loud: I check my stats most mornings before I've done anything else. The numbers don't measure you. They never did.

In this conversation we talked about:

• Why imposter syndrome never goes away
• "Whose voice is that?" and how to catch it
• Why creatives tie their self-worth to their work
• Why your followers and earnings don't measure your value
• How the morning metrics check quietly steals your worth

Timestamps: No chapters for this bonus.

The main episode this bonus extends: S02/E36 — Teresa Ferreira on Digging Her Way Into Design & Letting Go of the Perfect Day https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e36-teresa-ferreira-digging-into-design

Find Teresa here:

• Website: https://www.ferrgoodstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teresaferrgoodstudio/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferreirateresa/

Find me here:

• Website: https://captnoffscript.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript

If this resonated, listen to: Andy J. Pizza (S02/E30) — another honest conversation about self-worth and untangling who you are from what you produce.

This was the fifth Captn OffScript bonus episode. Newsletter subscribers get future bonuses on YouTube a week before they reach the podcast feeds. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.

Some people walk a straight line into design. Teresa Ferreira dug her way in, through archaeology. She was born in Lisbon, spent part of her childhood in Macau, has lived in London for nineteen years, ran design at the Financial Times, and now runs her own studio, Ferrgood. When I said she felt like the whole world in one person, I wasn't exaggerating.

What I didn't expect was how much of this conversation would be about slowing down and letting go. Teresa was talked out of art as a kid, found her way back through archaeological illustration, burned out twice, and eventually learned to release the idea of a perfect day that had been quietly setting her up to fail every single evening.

In this episode:

• Growing up between Lisbon, Macau and London
• Being talked out of art, and finding design through archaeology
• From museum graphics to head of design at the Financial Times
• Building brands that last, and why she thinks in centuries
• Leaving the safety of a big brand, and the self-doubt that came with it
• Burning out twice, and what finally made her leave
• The "perfect day" she chased that set her up to fail
• Choosing a slower life, and getting good at saying no
• The one drawing she'd keep if she had to delete everything else

Timestamps: 00:00 Meeting Teresa Ferreira 01:25 Growing up between Lisbon, Macau and London 04:04 The unlikely path from archaeology to design 10:35 Moving into graphic design and the Financial Times 13:00 Building brands that last 16:50 Self-doubt, and leaving the safety of big brands 19:28 Burning out, twice 25:03 The perfect balanced day 29:48 Letting go of perfectionism 33:43 Choosing a slower life 40:24 Journaling and daily practice 46:13 The drawing she'd keep, and advice to young Teresa

Find Teresa here:

• Website: https://www.ferrgoodstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teresaferrgoodstudio/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferreirateresa/

Find me here:

• Website: https://captnoffscript.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript

This week's Friday bonus: Teresa and I go deep on imposter syndrome, why it never goes away, how to catch it by asking "whose voice is that?", and why the numbers have nothing to do with your worth. It goes to newsletter subscribers first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.

If you liked this episode, listen to: Kristof Devos (S02/E31) — another conversation about slowing down, resisting the hustle, and building a calmer creative life.

Haraldur "Halli" Thorleifsson built the design agency Ueno from nothing, sold it to Twitter in 2021, and made a decision almost nobody makes: he structured the sale so he'd pay as much tax as possible, in Iceland, on purpose. Because Iceland is the country that gave a kid from a poor family with muscular dystrophy the chance to build something in the first place.

Then he started Ramp Up, which has put almost 2,000 wheelchair ramps across Iceland and is now expanding to Ukraine and Panama. And six or eight months ago, he rebooted Ueno to work on design in the AI era, because, in his words, he was bored, and his brain needs a problem to chew on. This was not the lightest conversation I've had on the show. It might be one of the most worth your time.

In this episode:

• Why he chose to pay the tax everyone told him to avoid
• Growing up poor with muscular dystrophy
• Seeing the world as decisions people made, or didn't make
• Ramp Up: from 100 ramps in Reykjavik to almost 2,000 across Iceland
• The Musk moment, and what it taught him about perception vs reality
• Building Ueno twice, and designing beyond the text box in the AI era
• Getting humbled by users again and again, and going again anyway
• What AI means for young designers entering the industry
• The decision to stop drinking that changed everything
• Kids, independence, and the sweater he can't unravel

Timestamps: 00:00 Meeting Halli Thorleifsson 00:40 Choosing to pay the tax in Iceland 06:40 Growing up poor with muscular dystrophy 09:29 Starting Ramp Up, and the world as decisions 12:06 Progress, and the case for impatience 14:52 The Musk moment, and perception vs reality 16:30 What he's building now, and getting humbled by users 18:59 Why he rebooted Ueno 24:05 What AI means for young designers 27:47 Sharing a studio with his artist wife 31:19 Getting sober, the decision that changed everything 33:13 New York, Tokyo and the cities that shaped him 35:03 What children force you to become 41:56 Creativity as building his own world 43:18 The sweater he can't unravel 45:54 What people should know about Iceland 49:15 Advice to eight-year-old Halli

Find Halli here:

• Website: https://www.haraldurthorleifsson.com/
• Ueno: https://www.ueno.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haraldurthorleifsson/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haraldur-thorleifsson-359aaa5b/

Find me here:

• Website: https://captnoffscript.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscript

This week's Friday bonus: Halli and I go deeper into the rebuilding: rebuilding yourself brick by brick, the boxes he packed away as a kid and never looked into, and what surfaced when the numbness lifted after 20 years. It goes to newsletter subscribers first, a week before it's public. Subscribe at https://captn.myflodesk.com/newsletter.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify takes less than a minute and helps more people find the show. I'd be incredibly grateful.

If you liked this episode, listen to: Radim Malinic (S02/E34) — Halli says creativity let him build a world he wanted to live in; Radim's episode is the other side of that same coin.