How To Fight Procrastination As A Designer

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procrastination has always been a problem for me. but then again i rarely have deadlines at my day gig and if i do i meet them. on the design side of things i am still starting out – so i have no paying clients and it is hard to do work when you have no work to do.

that being said i do drag my feet, especially with things i do not want to do.

.mike

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I find what helps is to write yourself a ‘to do’ list, complete with a rough timeframe for each activity. This helps you focus on one thing at a time.
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Thanks for the tips.

With regard to music, there are increasing productivity to listen to her.

@mike – Thanks for your comments. Thats what I like to do always, to do things which I don’t want to do

@Codesquid – I agree with you. Its the best practice to manage your time for multiple tasks

Great article!

Look at the picture! How messed up it is!!!!
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yeah! this story has entered the popular today section on popurls.com…

I bet i can use these tips in my work sphere too

That is a messy office space !
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yes the sound sometimes distract me thanks for sharing
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Music is not noise ! Using music, you can control your mood. If carefully chosen, music can lead you to stop procrastinating, give you energy and flow.

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As a pathological procrastinator, I’ve found that promising a tight delivery date on any given project or task helps me stay motivated and on track. It can be all to easy to keep putting things off when I have ambiguous production goals. Intentionally overbooking my schedule helps ramp up the pressure and intensity. A desire to maintain my integrity and reputation overcomes the tendency to slack.

Some helpful tips. I must say, I’m guilty of procrastination myself sometimes.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Great tips here as well.

@Codesquid – I agree, I love to do lists, starting with the easy stuff and working my way down to the harder tasks.

@emmanuel – That’s great that music inspires you so much. As I said in the article, if it works for you, keep it! It doesn’t work for many people though, so it’s not recommended for those types.

I am guily of it all, except the office clutter, oh my goodness, who’s home office was that? lol

From my experience the best gambit against procrastination is … time management. What it is you make a list of thing you need to do, place them in a time table and get on working. It’s important to keep the table tidy – organise stuff into 10-15 minute blocks and every big task is nothing for you! Take care!

This is a GREAT article.

I think a lot of ‘creatively inclined’ individuals can relate and benefit from these tools.

Some things that help me (I understand not everyone is the same):

1. Clutter- I make a point to reorganize and ‘clean out’ my desk space/office area every few weeks; otherwise it clutters, and clutters fast! It helps to make habit of doing this. As a notorious pile-maker & procrastinator, I even set reminders on my Droid (side note- the Astrid app is a procrastinator’s savior!) If you don’t have an iPhone or other device with applications, then you can use a regular calendar or alarm clock.

2. Social Media – These distractions (especially Twitter) are a big challenge. One tweet can turn into several hours of reading articles or conversing with others. I shut off all notifications for a set time period, so I can focus strictly on a project. Otherwise, it becomes a vicious cycle…It’s a procrastinator’s death trap. Creating structure for yourself and your day helps!

3. Noise – As for music, I have to disagree…I agree with @designfollow. I’m more productive when I put my headphones on and listen to some of my favorite tunes or playlists. I focus much better. In some studies it shows music helps stimulate your brain, thus increasing productivity. I procrastinate when I feel like my brain is mush, and the right music puts me in a great mood. (I enjoyed reading this article- especially #3 http://brainz.org/brain-hacks/)

Thanks for the tips!

You make some excellent ideas here. I frequently finding myself trying to take time to play video games just to distract myself from the real work I have to do – it’s a killer on productivity.
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Very enjoyable post, I think I’m going to clean my room now

I like to put on “blinders”.

I generally keep all the lights very dim (not great for your eyes) but when the lights are dimmed, the screen really comes alive and helps me focus.

I do leave Tweetdeck running and glance from time to time but I run it on a separate computer so it’s not directly within my focus.

I find that listening to music actually helps me concentrate. I listen to a lot of Electronic Music (which, as you know, is quite repetitive) but it keeps a beat as I type away and work on my projects.

Always try to reward yourself after you’ve reached a hump in your work. Don’t grind out the day in one long stretch, sit back and just think for a few minutes, resist the urge to jump back in.
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My cats probably the biggest distraction for me, ha. The biggest thing I’ve done so far to avoid procrastination, which unfortunately isn’t applicable for every one, is to work at night. Nobody is really active on social networking sites, nobody is nagging me to go to lunch, hang out, or come over, etc. Everyone is asleep, and there’s nothing to do BUT work.
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The article was helpful (obvious advice often overlooked) but I find myself procrastinating by typing this out right now. but as soon as I’m done I will finish my portfolio

…still procrastinating.

and still here.

Oy.

I’m off now.

Really.

More good ideas from everyone!

@Mia – it’s a photo from flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/waltersfamily/329286594/ Pretty terrible I know!

@Murlu – Good idea on rewarding yourself. I find that the action of checking an item off my to-do list is rewarding, it doesn’t take much time and it makes me feel really good about it! It allows me to get back to work quickly and I have a list at the end of the day of what I’ve accomplished.

[...] How To Fight Procrastination As A Designer [...]

I’m with you on all but the music , I find my left brain gets bored when I’m designing and my right when coding so to keep them both happy I pit on some funky deep house without vocals on. This, I find, kelps me not only working well but also moving as I bop to the beat. The reason movin is important is so o don’t get aches and pains or RSI.

Lovely post cheers

There steps are important to avoid getting distracted especially when you are in the “zone”. But what do you do when you work in a cubicle like environment with papers flying all around. Well, not that bad, but you get the idea. Where you share a phone with the colleague next to you.

I suppose invest in a good pair of noise cancellation headphones.
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How To Fight Procrastination As A Designer…

In order to maximize your productivity and work time, you need to cut back on procrastination. The more time you spend procrastinating, the less work you get done, which is bad news in the end. Distractions are all around us as designers….

[...] How To Fight Procrastination As A DesignerDistractions are all around us as designers, whether you work at home or in an office away from home. In order to maximize your productivity and work time, you need to cut back on procrastination. [...]

Great advice about something that’s becoming more and more of an issue the more connected we become. I posted this as one of my three links on my Design Thought for the Day blog:
http://designthoughtfortheday.blogspot.com/2010/02/02-12-valentines-fonts-fight.html

All the best, Ted

I also try to minimize distraction from the above mentioned but with regards to sounds, sometimes I don and sometimes I don’t listen to music. It depends but overall, I couldn’t agree with you more about fighting procrastination… nice post.

[...] How To Fight Procrastination As A Designer [...]

Thanks for a great article! I agree – I work at home and the distractions are huge that lend to procrastination. I’m thankful that I have a dedicated office. I use a big wall calendar to make lists and stick to a “work” schedule – the laundry and grocery shopping wait for the weekend!

Earplugs have become an absolute necessity. They may not shut out everything, but I find that they help to dull down noise that may otherwise distract me. If I’m working on less technical items that don’t require too much thought, then I listen to podcasts as another way to make myself focus and alert others around me that I am unavailable for conversation.

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I use a star chart, similar to the ones you can get for kids. Instead of getting a star for cleaning my teeth, tidying my room or being a good girl, I get them for clearing the day’s emails, phoning clients, opening the post straight away and so on. If I hit my weekly star target, I get a prize.

Sounds childish but it really works.

@Rachel – I love this idea! Sometimes the silliest methods are the ones that work best.. and rewarding yourself is always important Thanks for the input!

@Rachel: star chart reminded the childhood time but really enjoyed how you are still using it. Great tip!

@Shannon: thanks for following with comments. Really appreciate it

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Web designing has become popular to make website more beautiful.
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I used to have a lot of social medias account and stay in them for long time. But now just Twitter as my main one.

All other tips are okay with me.

Nice article!

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