Why overdefined?

I’m Jaileen. I’m a mechanical engineering student. I’m also a twenty-something living in a foreign country. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about something:

I don’t like labels.

Here is why.

When you are designing in SolidWorks (a.k.a. Photoshop for mechanical engineers), and the sketch is overdefined, it means you are trying to create something impossible. You have relations and dimensions that conflict with one another. When the sketch is overdefined, you need to fix it. You can’t ignore the error and get it right by chance.

I think it is too easy to be overdefined in the world we live in. We take on many things, activities, and projects, and we try to converge them in an impossible life. We believe that by adding things to our resume or by doing more—a new course, badge, or position—we will have a better picture. In reality, however, overdefining stops us. What mostly happens is that we think and overthink, but the math doesn’t work, and it paralyzes us.

That’s why I don’t like labels. More often than not, they overconstrain you. I used to think that being a mechanical engineering student meant giving up learning other things in different branches of engineering and other fields. My goal is to prove myself wrong.

I don’t pretend to have a formula or step-by-step plan on how to fix the overdefined error. But when I’m designing, what really helps is to go back and experiment. Try different paths. I don’t need to control every little detail to have a beautiful and useful design.

In overdefined, I share my thoughts, projects, and ideas. I fight paralysis by analysis through experimentation. I go back to the basics and keep track of every step in the process.

So if this resonates with you, consider joining me. I would love to invite you to write this story with me.

Go back to an underdefined sketch and allow yourself to mess with it.