For the past few days, I’ve been having an extra hard time staying focused. I’m on one of the best projects that a UX Designer could ask for: blue sky work, involving a great amount of information design, with no hard deadline, and a dedicated content strategist/copywriter to help bring the ideas full circle. And yet, for some reason I am unable to focus on the task at hand. So yesterday, I really tried to reflect on what the block was for me… where was I losing the connection with my work. I’ve also found that I’m not the only one that this happens to, which piqued my interest and awareness even more.
I sat down to talk with my good friend about the problem. His thoughts “You know Lis, when you have a lot of things going on, each one of them gets a voice. Even if you don’t consciously listen, those items are always talking at you, and cause you to be distracted.” Me: “but I don’t really have that much going on right now actually”. Friend: “That is what you think, but in reality there are a million anxieties and worries that you are putting on yourself.”
Of course, my friend is correct. So my goal today, is to stay focused. I’m going to give it my very best! This post will be the last non-project item that I work on until mid day. Then, I’ll take a short break and head back to the drawing board. The best part? The project work is fun and challenging! Today, I’m going to give it the respect it deserves.
I think the high degree of freedom you have on this project is the culprit. When you work within more constraints or a tight deadline, the quality of the overall deliverable can be partially attributed to those limitations. Without those constraints, you’re burdened with the thought that there are no excuses for anything but perfection. And that’s when the anxiety and procrastination kick in…
Err… now I need to get back to work.
Your good friend has some good insight. I tend to really beat myself up when I have those blurry (lack of focus) days. Next time that happens I’ll take a few minutes to see which voices are drowning out the ones that need my attention. Thanks Lis.
– Ray