I think it’s safe to say everyone has their good and bad days, but that doesn’t mean we are a disaster.
Although it isn’t something I should say out loud or I am comfortable talking about, sometimes I tend to procrastinate. This isn’t about not being happy with my job or — I don’t know —grateful that I can do my laundry 😇, but rather about not having that dose of dopamine that I receive from scrolling through Youtube shorts of Instagram stories.
Because I noticed I wanted to — just stay in bed or do other things than what I was actually supposed to do — I tried to find activities that would keep me busy from my phone or other distractions. So I started reading and I kind of liked it so I thought I should find books that could cure my procrastination problem and I did: Atomic Habits by James Clear.
This is not a review of the book, it’s about the main idea from it: instead of planning to change your life completely (e.g.: tomorrow I will go to the gym, tomorrow I will finish my book, tomorrow I will be 100% productive at work) you should try to change by 1% every day. So instead of going to the gym, try moving for a couple of minutes — like stretching or a bit of jogging. Eventually you will get the rewarding feeling after you exercise — and the health benefits and you will want more.
He is also talking about how our poor choices when it comes to productivity or even health can impact us.
“A single decision is easy to dismiss, but when we repeat 1% errors day after day by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalising little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results.” — Atomic Habits, James Clear
How this book helped me to improve my career?
By breaking my bad habits into pieces and trying to work gradually on them to eventually replace them with better ones. Here is an example:
Social media procrastination: I put my phone on Work mode so I won't be distracted by notifications and I will be focus on what I need to do. I will take 15 minutes breaks when I have to take one and then check all my notifications, instead going back and forth with my phone and my PC.
To change my bad habit into a productive one, I turned my phone time into creation time, so in this time I would sketch a new article, or even work on a personal project. The things you could do are up to you, but I also like to:
Watch informative videos on YT (like the ones from NNgroup)
Read articles about design subjects
Read design books
This way I help my career by putting a small piece of information or gradually build a skill everyday. It's a significant progress you could achieve, but with patience and baby steps.
“With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible.” — Atomic Habits, James Clear
Thank you for reading my article 🙏
