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Success in a Distracted world

Jesse Nyberg

May 08, 2022

Hey Friends

Finished up an awesome campaign for a big tech client that I am excited to share with y'all soon and in other worlds I got some dope videos coming soon. Writing this newsletter for once drinking an iced coffee in contrast to the usual hot pour over, just for some context.

Dummys Online

Interaction between some lame and Arch Fiend

Was scrolling through Twitter and ran into this interaction between some guy who runs an art collective and my talented friend/3d artist Arch Fiend. This is the kind of shit creatives deal with online sometimes and the amount of entitlement clients have is crazy. We all love designing and creating art ut in a capitalist society there is no denying that we need money to survive, so to belittle someone for wanting to know if a job will be worth the money is fucking dumb. These kind of issues don't all fall on the client end though, us as creatives need to be stronger at holding our ground and not let clients run all over us. If someone doesn't want to work with you on your terms then they don't wanna hire you they wanna hire a (Insert just a "designer", "artist", "photographer", etc).

don't let design be 100% solitary

As creatives, we can sometimes get so deep into our little concentrated workflows that we forget to engage in community. It is important to get your shit done and focus when necessary but chatting with fellow designers and other creatives can help you feel less isolated and realize your are not the only one dealing with (Insert imposter syndrome type issue here). For myself, I found the best (Online) place to do this is Discord. I'm usually chopping it up in my own discord server or a friend Jacks from Album Art Archive. Simple things like getting feedback on your work, sharing resources, or even just chatting about mechanical keyboards and other stuff can be a nice mental release from the confined work we do at times. This isn't just an ad for my discord server though if you live in an area that has a local creative community go out and explore that. Get in the habit of talking to strangers and share your work with people you admire.

My 3 pillars of Kinda Success

I mentioned it the other week but I am reading this book currently called Rest. It's really good and 3 of the chapters mentioned the things I follow in my practice. Having a MORNING RITUAL, going for WALKS, and 4 HOURS OF WORK.

MORNING RITUAL

I know everyone is different and starts their day off at a different pace/time but for me what I do first thing in the morning is crucial for setting the tone of the day. Find something or a sequence of things to start your day and stick to it. It takes about 21 days to build habits but after that it's easy. I know creatives sometimes are uncomfy around schedule or structure but this is what helps get that mundane stuff out of the way and sets you up for success in your creative work.

Currently, I wake up, brush my teeth, drink a protein shake, make my coffee, and sit down to start working. I also don't check my phone for the first few hours (have about a 75% success rate of following this rule lol). Find what works for you and enjoy that morning ritual.

WALKS

I have been talking about it again and again but going for walks is IMPORTANT.

NO PHONES, NO MUSIC, NO PODCASTS, NO TECH

People have been going for walks since the beginning of time and using it to contemplate ideas, clear their heads and just change gears. The Rest book talks about some of the greatest minds who had a walk to work or in the middle of the day or even after work is done. There is something very special about walking with no distraction and letting your mind idle. I find when I am struggling with some ideas on a project doing something that takes my mind off it helps those inspirations come and even if they don't going for a walk is never going to feel bad.

4 HOURS OF WORK

I first learned about the concept of working for about 4 hours in the book Deep Work by Cal Newport. This idea was further outlined in Rest and made me think there must be something to it. It's been studied that most work, especially creative work has a peak productivity rate when working for about 4 hours. This doesn't mean 4 hours of dicking around tho, 4 hours of DEEP and focused work. Find the time that works for you to get that deep work in and don't let anyone or anything compromise it. I work the best from about 10am-2pm. This is when I do the most important creative work and that way if I don't do anything else I still accomplished my core task. The rest of the workday can be taken off or I'll do more admin bullshit until 5pm like emails, scheduling, content creation, etc.

Anyway, check out the book Rest and figure out what works for you.