We live in a world filled with noise; wherever we go and whatever we do online, there’s always something that demands our attention. Our social media feeds are crammed with content and ads, and that’s nothing compared to the dark pits that can be our email inboxes. Navigating around these rabbit holes can be a minefield – even the good content can eat up away our time without our notice.
As designers and creatives, we need the mental space to think and refill the well. While it’s good to find inspiration from others, being overwhelmed by all that content can actually compromise on your creativity, and make it difficult to develop (or stay true to) your own authentic style. I’ve mentioned before the importance of being a sponge, but even a sponge can become over-saturated.
Here are 3 tips that I personally found working for me to becoming more productive and produce work at a higher level without distractions or noise from everything that surrounds us.
1. Mute the Noise & Detox Regularly
The first thing you need to do is mute the noise and do some form of a digital detox regularly. Social media has been our saving grace during the pandemic for connecting us to one another, and it’s a great place to network, market, and stay up to date with what’s happening in the world, but it can also be our downfall.
We are only able to handle so much outside information, so it’s a good idea to limit your social media time each day or detox completely for a day a week. Social media apps are often our go-to whenever we have a spare moment or feel stuck with our work, so an app blocker or site blocker is a great way to break the habit. If you intend to do a detox, consider deleting the app from your phone (you can always reinstall it) so you can’t instinctively open it.
Taking time away from social media can help you enjoy life more in the real world, as you are more present, and find inspiration in things that surround you that you never thought of to be inspiring. It can also give you the space to clarify exactly what you want from your design, life, or business, without the influence of what others are doing.
2. Clarify Your Goals
You’ll struggle to be productive if you don’t know what you’re being productive for. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the cycle of sharing every part of your works’ progress on social media, and it’s also easy to see what all the hundreds of other talented designers you follow are doing and decide to do the same. But what do you really want? If you don’t know for sure, then you need to step away from the computer (or your phone) and really think about it. Think about what you want for your art and your life. If you’re a multi-passionate person, it’s easy to jump from one project to the next, never focusing on any one thing long enough to make real progress.
When you take the time to clarify your goals and the vision you have for your life, you can check in weekly and daily and ask yourself if what you’re doing is driving yourself toward that vision. If so, you’re being productive. If not, you’re either procrastinating or not truly being productive. For example, my client work has to take top priority, but I also make sure to allow space in my schedule to prioritize other creative ideas, such as learning a new skill, creating a tutorial, writing, or preparing something for an awards submission. Note that I make space for it, I don’t try to do it all at once.
Time blocking (where you block out hours of your day to work on one particular task or goal) is a great way to ensure you are productive and actually make progress, rather than spreading yourself so thin that you can’t make any progress at all, so if you find yourself bouncing from design work, to admin, to watching a YouTube video and back again in the space of half an hour, it might be something to try. It will help you come to each task with the right energy.
3. Take a Break
This one may come as a surprise, but if you’re a workaholic or simply feeling overwhelmed, remember to take a step away from everything. I’m a working machine – if I’m not interrupted, I’ll often get sucked in, throw all my passion into what I’m doing, and push myself until I feel burnt out.
Of course, we’re not machines, and the best thing we can do for ourselves is to take a break. If you also too often forget that it’s okay to enjoy life now, as well as when you reach your goals, make sure you build time off into your schedule. Spend your evenings and weekends with friends and family, playing or watching sports, reading, watching films, and anything else that brings you joy and helps you relax.
These things will all give you new energy and a feeling of rebirth and renewed vigor, and that feeling of child-like wonder about the world. When your passion is also your career, you’ve got to nurture your creativity and not treat it like an inexhaustible supply. You’ve got to give it time to replenish, and that’s when you’ll feel most passionate and be most productive.
Productivity truly comes down to staying focused on your vision and going after your bigger goals, one at a time.
We all like to think we are the one person in the world who can multitask a million different things, but we can’t. When you focus on one thing at a time, you’ll be productive and even more importantly, make progress, and find the outcomes of your work have a much bigger impact and are more fruitful.
These are some thoughts and ideas that I personally think of when I need to boost my productivity and need to remind myself of getting back on track. What are some of the things you find useful to re-energize you and stop draining your creativity away?
