Are you looking for ways to increase your efficiency as a designer?
Try these easy tips to help you disconnect, stay focused, and avoid procrastination.

5 TIPS to Disconnect… Stop Procrastination as a Designer

• Beware of Social Distraction.
• TIP 1 Don’t find the time. Create it.
• TIP 2 Stop your phone notifications.
• TIP 3 Preselect the information you consume.
• TIP 4 Draw on Wacom tablets, not iPad.
• TIP 5 Embrace life as a gift.

Do you face Procrastination as a Designer?

I was born in 1981.
And I realize I am among the last generations born without the Internet.

• I grew up without wi-fi or 4G.
• No iPhone, tablet, or computer, at home.
• But color pencil, paper and a TV with 6 channels.

Oh… I am not going to say: “Life was better before.”
I am grateful for my childhood and I embrace new technologies. 

• I got my first mobile phone from Sagem at 17 years old 
• My own computer NEC at 19yo.
• My first graphic tablet Wacom Graphire at 22 years old

I discovered most of these technologies as a young adult.

How about you?

Today,
I want to ring an alarm bell for the younger generation of designers.

Beware of “Social Distraction”.

While the Internet is an infinite source of inspiration for designers and creative people, it can become a “stubborn obstacle” to productivity because of Distraction.

Have you ever told yourself that you should spend more time drawing, but you don’t? 

We give ourselves thousands of reasons for not starting. Being so busy.

However, to succeed, you have to realize that the main obstacles
won’t come from the outside world, but from inside you. 

I know, it sounds a bit cheesy like the great movie “Karate Kid and Master Miyagi” giving philosophical lessons.

However, at the end of this article, it will make sense to you. : )

TIP 1: DON’T FIND THE TIME. CREATE THE TIME.

Nowadays we sacrifice so much of our time to things that don’t matter.

How come?

Yesterday, today, or tomorrow… we never have time…

• No time for cooking delicious meals. 
• No time for meeting people. 
• No time to be kind to strangers. 
• No time for a beer with friends. 
• No time for a call to our relatives.
• No time to go to the gym.
• No time to have a hobby.
• No time to chat with our parents… 
• No time to live slowly and quietly. 
• …

What do we do that is so important to overwrite all these great moments of life?

Staring at luminous screens… like zombies (or a mosquito fascinated by a light bulb)

• Playing iPad
• Taking pictures of our food,
• Posting pictures on social media
• Looking at people’s stories
• Binging on Netflix
• Messaging people thousands of km from us while our friends are just here in front of us… also looking at their smartphones. -.-U
• …

I feel uncomfortable when a friend is typing on his/her phone while we are together. I suddenly feel invisible. I feel like furniture or a decorative flower pot. 

How about you? How do you feel when it happened to you?
From that standpoint, we gotta make sure we don’t do it to others as well. 🙂

Time is precious.

And it is all about how you allocate it to your activities.
If you feel you don’t have time. Think twice about what is essential to you first. 

For example, if you fall in love with someone.
No matter how busy you are.
You will create time to meet him or her.

If you are in love with sketching and creating from your imagination.
Create time to make that “relationship” with design intimate daily. So you can build a long term happiness.

TIP 2: STOP YOUR PHONE NOTIFICATIONS

Quick Test: 

How many times today did you check your phone for notifications from Facebook and others?

Pretty much a lot right?
When I was a kid we checked our mailbox once a day. 

• How about checking your emails once or twice a day only? 
• What would it change in your life to check your phone notifications 1 or twice a day only?
• How many % of these notifications were so urgent to deserve to be checked now?

We do not put enough effort and time to cultivate and grow a true relationship or a true skill. We want quick, fast, results without enjoying the journey.

But if you wanna learn how to sketch, it won’t appear in a day like magic.
It needs your inner drive.
Your determination and passion to put on the work, and the love for progressing daily. 

That is only possible if you cut down on distractions.

I know these little rings are addictive.
But they are “eating” your most precious moment of life.

So, go to your settings, and stop your app notifications.
You will see that Android doesn’t want you to do so, and added extra steps to “discourage” you to pause them.

TIP 3: PRESELECT THE INFORMATION YOU CONSUME

As a designer, if you wanna create with quality, make sure to input quality information in your mind.

• Read books
• Get artbooks from your favorite artists
• Go to museums, exhibitions…
• Buy specialized magazines
• Meet students and professional designers
• …

Select your sources of information carefully instead of letting Facebook (or hundreds of apps) dictate the content you’ll consume. These should be restrained to occasional entertainment only. Not a zombie daily consumption.

If you consume the Facebook feed like a zombie and you straight away take your phone when it rings to check, you are in reactive mode.

Basically, Facebook is dictating your “rhythm of life” with constant interruption.
All these without talking about all the applications installed.

Go to your phone settings, and pause all the notifications you don’t need.
A minimalistic approach will help you take ownership of your life.

TIP 4: DRAW ON WACOM (NOT iPAD PRO)

My little niece loves drawing Manga.

And my brother is already thinking about buying it for her Christmas present!
(If I am not wrong, my niece doesn’t read my blog, or I am going to spoil the surprise!)

Last week, my brother asked me for a recommendation for a tablet that would suit her.
At first, I thought about a screen tablet, and the iPad is doing a great job!

However, iPad (or Wacom Cintiq) is very expensive, especially for the first tablet for a kid.
And an iPad is also a paradise of distraction…

When you wanna start sketching,
Angry birds will love notifying you that you better send furious birds into green pigs.

I remember that Wacom has a special Manga pack for Graphic tablets. It is not a screen tablet, but a regular one you plug on your computer – and look at the screen to see what you draw.

These tablets are a cheaper investment and are much more Mono tasks.
(Somehow like a Kindle for reading for example)

I told my brother that he will need to encourage her the first week to keep up! Because these tablets take at least 1 week of practice for our brain and arm to synchronize. It’s very weird at the start.

So don’t give up!
That is a normal transition.

Plus the pack includes Manga software and the packaging is appealing.
Her motivation to adopt the tool will rise up! Which is essential for a kid :).

TIP 5: EMBRACE LIFE AS A GIFT

Have you noticed that Present also means Gift?
So appreciate it at its true value every second you receive it.

Don’t get distracted by the past or future problems that may or may not happen.

If you want to do something, do it now.
And face the obstacles in real life.

Be aware that whenever we have a project, some people will love keeping that project as a dream. They will talk about it non-stop with plenty of passion!

But…

They will never start…

Why?

Because the brain loves that feeling of that dream where everything is possible. And putting things in action means facing the reality and maybe the possibility to fail.

In both cases, to me, both fail anyway.
To only way to succeed in your sketching learning journey is to start and give your best.

If you let procrastination win.
You will become grumpy and talk with regret.
Don’t give “your future self” a chance to start your sentences by: “If only I did…”

Cheers,
Chou-Tac

PS: I hope Master Miyagi’s wisdom sentence makes sense to you.

“To succeed, you have to realize that the main obstacles
won’t come from the outside world, but from inside you.”

All along the article,
I did not complain about society, family obligations,s or else. It is not about trying to change others. But about changing ourselves first to become a high-performer as a designer.

Testimonial from Lola Lalic

“Hi, Chou!

You probably don’t know me but I have been using all your design tips and they have really helped me improve! I just got into the best Design School in my country where they were only accepting 10 people! And you have helped me so I wanted to thank you.”