Productivity and Procrastination: A Journey on Finding “Enough”
Procrastination. Productivity.
These two “P” words on the opposite end of the spectrum are often how we define our days. From my friends and family, I hear one or the other. Either they feel as if they had a “lazy” day and procrastinated on projects, or they felt super productive and got a lot done.
What is in the middle of this spectrum? What about a day when you did one or two things and that was that? Do you feel productive or procrastination-prone?
My journey right now centers around finding that answer, and figuring out how to level out my days where each day is enough.
“Enough” is the goal. Striving for “enough” is enough. Not too frenzied, not too slow, just enough.
Let what you did today just be enough.
My current trend is this: I get creative bursts one to two days at a time where I MUST CREATE. This has led me to an excellent spurt in course creation, social media work, and blog writing. I love when I get these creative sessions because I start to feel a bit like Wonder Woman or Oprah. You get a website! You get a website! You get a website!
I call these “Crazy Creative” weeks.
I experienced this in the past three weeks, after meeting with amazing strategist Kate at Work Well with Kate. After our session, I felt like making a website for everyone in the world!
Here’s a list of everything I did in the three weeks after getting inspired:
Started, wrote, tested, and launched a FREE Blogging Course
Re-branded my Brand Jumpstart course
Re-branded O+CO Studio for the last time this year, redoing the homepage and revamping other pages
Completely revamped my packages
Started an Instagram account, a Twitter account, and a Facebook account and have actually been posting
Started the #100DaysProject and have been creating Illustrator Tutorials
Written two blogs (including this one) and completely redesigned the product tiles / blog listing
Written two portfolio case studies
Client work, including:
Designing and launching an SBA doc startup
Researching and wireframing for an HR startup
Designing a website for two clients
Designing two logos for two clients
Revamped three websites for existing clients
Had 16 meetings. Yes. 16.
This is a lot and is representative of a three week “burst.” It’s a lot. A lot a lot.
The other side is that, well, some days I ain’t got it. Some days I wake up and just know as my hands touch the keyboard that I’m drained and that’s just that. I feel defeated these days, because I know I should be producing but I can’t. It’s almost as if there’s a boulder attached to my body that’s weighing me down.
I’ll try to start a project only to open up a new window to look at something else. I’ll get water ten times. I’ll snack. I’ll go bother my husband and tell him I feel uninspired. I start procrastinating in the biggest way. It’s not pretty, and it often leaves me feeling pretty sad about doing “nothing.”
I call these “Stuck Days.”
My theory is that one informs the other. I get too creative and hyper-focused, which drains me, and thus causes my burnout days. This week I sat down at my computer and took a deep, deep sigh, because I knew my spurt had run out.
But so what? Look at the giant list of things that I tackled!
During the “unproductive” moments, I take the time to reflect on the amount of work I created with my two hands. From my brain to the computer, I’ve put so much out into the world!
I have focused on a set of tips that have really helped me at least help to start my balancing act, so read the two lists below!
Here are my tips for getting motivated on “Stuck” days.
Emails! Emails are so easy to write and it can feel very productive to take the time to check in with clients. I also love going through and “cleaning up” my inbox: archiving old emails, unsubscribing from things, saving notable links to a document.
Write! Even if it’s garbage, I write! This blog post was a product of a stuck day. I had to do a lot of rewriting after, but at least I got things down.
One task! Write one thing you need to accomplish. ONE! If it’s that client logo or a homepage, set a goal for only one thing. Get that thing done. If it inspires you to do another, great! If not, that’s okay. You did enough.
Clean! I like to help my husband or clean up around the house. Sometimes design is the last thing I want to do. If I feel that way, oftentimes I can be productive by doing the dishes or picking up a room. Always makes me feel good and adds to that feeling of accomplishment.
Nothing! Yup! Sometimes I don’t do anything! Sometimes I need to sit on my phone and browse the internet and let my brain wander. That’s okay, too. It’s my brain’s way of restarting. I try to release guilt often and acknowledge that the universe isn’t expecting anything of me.
Here are my tips for managing creative bursts so they don’t drain you:
Stop! Set a “stop” time. On my crazy hyper insane days, this could be 8:00 or 9:00pm. By stopping myself, I often find that my body gives me a huge “Thank you” when I finally do disconnect. The mind might go faster than your body - so stop stop stop!
Focus! I love to do multiple things at a time: blog and post on social media and email. However, I’m terrible at it. If I’m creative, I try to set up all of my posts for the MONTH on Later or write 3-5 blog posts at a time. I call this batching.
Proofread! Creative fast energy often produces mistakes. Have someone else check your work or come back to it during a “stuck” time.
Give back! Share that creative energy! Post in your favorite Facebook Group, lead a discussion, call a friend. Put that energy into the universe so others can benefit from it, as well!
Nourish! When I get into a design-trance, food and water go out the window. Sometimes I’ll accidentally skip lunch because I was so excited or I don’t get up often enough to get water. Water is your friend!
In the end, while I have these two lists to help me, the ultimate goal would be to strike the balance so that each day is full of a little of both. I’m not sure that’s possible as a creative person, but it’s something to work toward.
Comment below YOUR favorite tips for procrastination and productivity!
