Productivity Tip: Create a safe mental space in which you feel safe to create.
Whether I'm working on my own writing (including the 250, 500 and 1000 Words/Day Challenge) or an illustration project, I find I'm able to better focus and be more productive if I can create a mental space in which I feel safe enough to do my best work.
Perhaps safe isn't the right word. I like Shaun Tan's "bubble of delusion" idea, which I first heard in his talk at an SCBWI Winter Conference a couple of years ago.
Sean's advice: Set up a safe space in which you feel positive about yourself and your work, and in which you know that you WILL do great work. Surround yourself with positive, encouraging people. Try to avoid negativity as much as possible. Sean says he steers clear of reading reviews of his work, for example.
Part of the way I do this is trying very hard to STAY OFFLINE when I'm doing creative work. Even dropping in on Twitter or FB for a few minutes can end up being an energy-sucking black hole, often making me question whether I'm doing enough (especially in terms of promotion, networking, working on my craft, etc.) or doing it -whatever "it" is- the Right Way.
What do YOU do to create your own Bubble Of Happy Delusion?
Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 9:12 AM
Reader Comments (1)
Such a great comic and timely post! I'm actively working to reduce the digital/online distractions, too. I'm in the process of permanently unsubscribing from a lot of email subscriptions (like the ones I save & tell myself I'll read later) and ALL post-holiday-shopping email ads.
I'm switching the MUST READ subscriptions - like yours - to my Feedly Reader. I allow myself 45-ish minutes in the morning to read Feedly while I eat breakfast, which seems to give me an online "fix." (NOTE TO SELF: Need to purge Feedly next!) In the evening, I can catch up on Feedly again. Since Feedly is mostly textual reading, I get weary of it more quickly.
Also working on weeding through my Facebook newsfeed, to remove duplication of my Feedly subscriptions. My goal is to make my email and FB as "boring" as possible.