PROTECT YOUR HEADSPACE
P ROT E CT YOUR HE AD SPACE Doing the Work can be a pain in the arse. It’s too easy to get distracted, you can’t seem to find inspiration, you don’t feel “in the zone.” There are a million reasons why it’s hard to just sit in front of your computer and make stuff on-demand. However, the best designers can turn it on when they need it. Here are some tips and resources to help you find your zen.
Kill distractions in all shapes and forms. When you’re trying to get in the zone, any interruptions in your thoughts will kill your flow. You’ll lose your momentum and have to start again. Before you sit down to work, we really suggest the following:
Install Newsfeed Eradicator Facebook is the crack of the internet. C’mon, admit it. You’ve gone down that clickhole before and woken up an hour later not even remebering what day it is. Do yourself a favor and install this Chrome extension which will replace your News Feed with a happy quote. You can still access pages and groups, you just can’t sit there scrolling down forever wasting your time.
Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator
De-distractify your phone Turn off your notifications on e-mails, Slacks, Tweets, Instagrams... whatever. Ideally, you should just schedule 2-3 times each day to check whatever you need to check, and to completely ignore that stuff the rest of the day. It’s too easy to be bothered these days... you’re a Designer! You need your headspace!
Lower the stakes. It can be really daunting to sit down in front of a blank page. I get it... the possibilities are endless, you could spend forever on this stuff! That’s actually the problem, so let’s remove some of our options.
Work in blocks of time (Pomodoro method) Sometimes you need to crush 4-5 hours of work in one go, but when you’re starting a new project that can be mentally frightening to think about. A good hack to help get you going is to simply commit to less... only do 25 minutes of work and then STOP for a break. This is called the Pomodoro method, and as obvious and simple as it sounds... it friggin’ works. Give it a shot.
Tomato Timer
Don’t do the work. Just get close to it. Have you ever sat down to work and then realized you just HAVE to clean off your desktop first, or wipe your monitor off, or defrag your hard drive? You can use this built-in procrastination strategy to your advantage. Let’s say you need to lay out a Tune-In page for a promo. Just open Photoshop, grab the type tool, and just type out the info in the default font. That’s it! That’s all you have to commit to do. The funny thing is that once you do that, your brain tends to turn on all by itself! Give yourself an easier task... just get CLOSE to the work and you’ll find that momentum carries you to the end.
Get a little woo-woo. This might be a bit much for you, but there are some more drastic measures that can be taken to help your mind be in the right place to tackle Design work.
Practice mindfulness. Look I WAS SKEPTICAL TOO! Meditation is a loaded word, and may conjur up images of yogis seated in the lotus position humming loudly with their eyes closed. In reality, it’s sort of the mental version of weight-lifting. By practicing the act of alternately controlling and releasing your mind, you end up with a much better ability to focus when you need to. Try it for a week... you might be really shocked at how cool it is.
Headspace App
Or... if you’re adventurous. Nootropics. This is a contraversial topic, but the fact is that there are compounds that can actually help you focus your attention. Legal ones! For example, caffeine is a widely used nootropic. But there are lesser known ones that can also have really profound impacts on your mood and attention span. Do your research and decide for yourself if there are interesting to you. Your mileage may vary, and you can overdo this stuff so if you decide to try any Nootropics, know that you do so at your own risk and to please be careful! IMPORTANT: Don’t do anything illegal, please... and make sure your doctor knows what you’re up to :)
Kava - Alpha Brain - Cold Showers (drugs without drugs) - CILTEP Stack
Kill distractions in all shapes and forms. When you’re trying to get in the zone, any interruptions in your thoughts will kill your flow. You’ll lose your momentum and have to start again. Before you sit down to work, we really suggest the following:
Install Newsfeed Eradicator Facebook is the crack of the internet. C’mon, admit it. You’ve gone down that clickhole before and woken up an hour later not even remebering what day it is. Do yourself a favor and install this Chrome extension which will replace your News Feed with a happy quote. You can still access pages and groups, you just can’t sit there scrolling down forever wasting your time.
Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator
De-distractify your phone Turn off your notifications on e-mails, Slacks, Tweets, Instagrams... whatever. Ideally, you should just schedule 2-3 times each day to check whatever you need to check, and to completely ignore that stuff the rest of the day. It’s too easy to be bothered these days... you’re a Designer! You need your headspace!
Lower the stakes. It can be really daunting to sit down in front of a blank page. I get it... the possibilities are endless, you could spend forever on this stuff! That’s actually the problem, so let’s remove some of our options.
Work in blocks of time (Pomodoro method) Sometimes you need to crush 4-5 hours of work in one go, but when you’re starting a new project that can be mentally frightening to think about. A good hack to help get you going is to simply commit to less... only do 25 minutes of work and then STOP for a break. This is called the Pomodoro method, and as obvious and simple as it sounds... it friggin’ works. Give it a shot.
Tomato Timer
Don’t do the work. Just get close to it. Have you ever sat down to work and then realized you just HAVE to clean off your desktop first, or wipe your monitor off, or defrag your hard drive? You can use this built-in procrastination strategy to your advantage. Let’s say you need to lay out a Tune-In page for a promo. Just open Photoshop, grab the type tool, and just type out the info in the default font. That’s it! That’s all you have to commit to do. The funny thing is that once you do that, your brain tends to turn on all by itself! Give yourself an easier task... just get CLOSE to the work and you’ll find that momentum carries you to the end.
Get a little woo-woo. This might be a bit much for you, but there are some more drastic measures that can be taken to help your mind be in the right place to tackle Design work.
Practice mindfulness. Look I WAS SKEPTICAL TOO! Meditation is a loaded word, and may conjur up images of yogis seated in the lotus position humming loudly with their eyes closed. In reality, it’s sort of the mental version of weight-lifting. By practicing the act of alternately controlling and releasing your mind, you end up with a much better ability to focus when you need to. Try it for a week... you might be really shocked at how cool it is.
Headspace App
Or... if you’re adventurous. Nootropics. This is a contraversial topic, but the fact is that there are compounds that can actually help you focus your attention. Legal ones! For example, caffeine is a widely used nootropic. But there are lesser known ones that can also have really profound impacts on your mood and attention span. Do your research and decide for yourself if there are interesting to you. Your mileage may vary, and you can overdo this stuff so if you decide to try any Nootropics, know that you do so at your own risk and to please be careful! IMPORTANT: Don’t do anything illegal, please... and make sure your doctor knows what you’re up to :)
Kava - Alpha Brain - Cold Showers (drugs without drugs) - CILTEP Stack
