Letter No. 15 [finding your work rhythm]

Dear Friend,

For some reason, when I started working full-time (so to speak) as an artist during this quarantine, I told myself, “I need to illustrate in the mornings. That’s when people are most productive.”

It’s not. Or rather, I’m not.

I’m not a morning person, and maybe you’re not either, and I’ve just found that I had to flip-flop my schedule around. Now I do most of my digital work, emails, and research in the mornings and early afternoons, and illustrating and writing in the later afternoons/evenings. It’s like a science experiment, and I’m this crazy person with crazy hair, muttering to myself all day long as I work things out in my little corner while listening to a hodge-podge collection of music (or one song on repeat for four days).

But I think it’s important for us to analyze when we do our best work for each particular aspect of our craft and/or business, so I challenge you to analyze your own practices and when you are most productive, effective, and creative. Are you an evening person? A morning person? Do you like to finish small tasks first, and then get the big ones? Do you work better in high-stress situations, or low-stress situations? Do you have to plan everything out the week or day before in lists, or block out each hour with a task?

Just explore, and find out how you do your best work so you can do your best work.

Best wishes,

Tara