To do anything well, we have to be “into it”. What does that mean? Where do we get the motivation to dive into something so strongly that we forget everything else around us? War is being waged in every direction in the battle for our attention.
To resist these shiny objects of desire and clear our mind to focus takes energy. It is one of the reasons why productivity gurus have been championing the benefits of mindfulness and sleep. Sleep provides your brain the rest it needs to reset and recharge so It may use that energy to fend off attention attacks and give you the space you need. It requires some mastery over the decision-making parts of our lizard brains (e.g. the amygdala) to take command of the ship and steer it in the right direction to get to our destination.
But getting ourselves ready to do good work requires other things as well. It needs a spark. While a strong shot of inspiration helps, a more dependable means involves routine. Maintaining a consistent practice each day is the best path to get to our goal. Author Seth Godin talked about this with screenwriter Brian Koppelman on his podcast The Moment and advised “if you ship the work and ship the work and ship to work, you will discover it’s a craft. If you keep waiting for the lightning bolt it will never hit you.” That rigor helps us get better at what we do, which in turn gives us confidence, which gives us the strength go continue to do more good work. It is a virtuous cycle.
I am always looking for that feeling of being lost in my work. There is a sense of great satisfaction of looking forward to creating something new and looking back at something that I, and my team, have created. Early in my practice it would be that I would only want you start something if knew how it was going to end. Or felt inspired. Or I could be sure it would come out perfect. As a creative professional my job is to produce and guide others to produce inspired work every day—whether that lightning bolt strikes or not. What experience demonstrates is that it is the process that I love the most. Putting ideas out there and getting it on the whiteboard, page, or screen is the only first step to getting started. Cal Newport, describes this in his book Deep Work as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create a new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” I’ve set up rules for myself to make sure I am creating my best work:
- Throw nothing away. Document each idea for a reason. Even bad ideas provide pieces that may prove valuable to solve the puzzle.
- Assume you will make several iterations. While Paul Rand is to have famously presented a single logo design option to his clients, he doubtlessly left dozens of iterations left on his drawing board back at his Connecticut studio. In other words—get it all out on the the table. Build confidence in knowing that you explored every visible avenue.
- Putting ideas out in public helps to shape them. It is by communicating our work that we articulate our intent. Whether that be through speaking, writing, or interpretive dance, we are forced to describe the piece from a different perspective. We also have the benefit of—hopefully—receiving constructive feedback in return.
- Walk away—and then come back. Build in enough time in the process to walk away from the work so that you may return with fresh eyes and a clear head. Point of view is everything and by looking at the work with some time in between will allow you to put your editing hat on. An editor looks at a piece objectively, with a critical eye and nose pointing to the best product.
- Present with purpose. When it comes time to formally share your work with clients, know your story. Designers tell stories to themselves as they are making work that rationalize decisions. Synthesize those thoughts into a cohesive, clear narrative that your audience will understand the thinking that went it to making meaningful work.
Getting into work is not always easy but it’s one of the main reasons why we do this. It’s to recapture that feeling of exploration and discovery and making something that is valuable for the project and meaningful to yourself.