Author: Josten Dooley

How to stay consistent

Staying consistent is really not difficult as you may think. Because at times we start something and then just burn out. But in actuality the real thing is not wanting it bad enough. Also realizing the effects of you not staying consistent.

When you have a reason for staying consistent you have an end goal. For example if you are cooking dinner you expect to have food to eat. Then another example is if you are producing a logo that can be used on multiple pieces of branding material, you expect it to be very strong conceptually and visually.

Disciplining yourself to say I am going to continue doing this no matter what till I see results. Then after you say to yourself I am going to stick with it and you start seeing results keep going. Because you are just scratching the surface. Which means you do not get lazy and quit.

So here is how I stay consistent

  1. Realize that I do want to do this (my current task/goal)
  2. Believe that I can do it
  3. Take no days off
  4. Constantly seek inspiration everywhere
  5. Know that I am not going to put out crap work just for the sake of it
  6. Fight through the crap work
  7. Set a goal to showcase a new piece of work somewhere for everyone to see
  8. Realize that at times it will be stressful and seem impossible but do not give in
  9. Do not be afraid to experiment with different techniques and etc
  10. Remember to have fun

There are many different techniques to stay consistent. Because I know that not everything works for everyone. These are a few that I use to be able to stay consistent.

My Current book I’m reading

This is a book that I decided I needed to purchase. Simply because I felt there are a lot of books out there on design. But I knew that improving my logo design skills and etc was important. You know when you have been doing something for so long you feel as if your lost. By being lost meaning your fall into the same approach. Therefore this was the way that I had a light to help guide me. I will say this is definitely worth purchasing.

The tutorials are some of the best that I have come across and are so simple to follow. When you read through this you will feel as if you are almost cheating and then have times such as wow so this is how its done. But I’ll let you be the judge.

Know Your Limits

When you are giving it you all in your pursuit make sure to know your limits. I recently experienced being burnt out. Since I wake up between 4:15 – 4:30 a.m most days are a bit longer. Anyhow I learned a lesson about overworking myself.

After learning my limits I realized how important stamina and getting enough rest can be. Also managing your time very critically is important. Because you can wake up early and get absolutely nothing done. For example you can read and eat breakfast then after just waste time browsing the internet.

When the sun comes up you want to be saying to yourself my goodness I never had gotten so much work done. There is just something about having more time to get work done. Let me stay on topic with this post and not get off track. I am not saying working hard is bad at all. Just more so you do not want to simply slowly start killing yourself.

By killing yourself I mean by not working smart,eating right and etc. Because there are people who do not need as much sleep as others. I for one feel if I get more then 5 hours I have slept too much. Another way to look at working hard,waking up early what is is your reason for it?

Then are you willing to start allowing yourself to increase your limits. In other words are you willing to take better care of yourself to push beyond your limits. When I started eating a bit better, exercising, doing yoga and meditation I always feel great. As designers we sit on our ass all day. We both know that’s not good to constantly do.

So make sure to get up away from your computer screen when the time permits. Do yourself a favor to not crash and burn while you reach beyond your limits.

Why I decided to Launch an Etsy Store

 

The reason is simply because I felt that I want to let other people enjoy my calligraphy work. Therefore I felt let me just give it a try with my work and see how it will go. Also with pricing I felt the pricing of the work matched the quality. In all honesty I wanted to let others enjoy my work as much as I did making it.

The first concept of posters is selling a 8.5 x 11 on french duro-tone butcher extra white 80# paper. The price of the posters are $15 dollars with 5 dollar shipping worldwide to anywhere.

And one more thing is as a freebie I give away a free wallpaper for your cellphone. I am still adding more posters daily so go check out my Etsy shop and pick up some work for yourself.

Keeping Inspiration Alive

This is something that I was asked on instagram the other day. At first I was thinking how do I really keep inspiration alive to do the things I do. Inspiration for me comes for everywhere. The reason I am able to stay inspired is because I look at many different things.

For example if I am sitting thinking hmm I would like to watch a vice documentary. Then if I say I want to watch some documentaries on calligraphy or graphic design. One main thing is to not be afraid to fail. Because the first time I did calligraphy I was horrible and the same with graphic design.

Another thing I do to keep inspiration is looking everyday at graphic design blogs and actively searching on instagram. Doing the simple things to be able to stay inspired as simple as possible. Also not forgetting to on instagram not stopping at the first couple results. But by scrolling really far into the results.

There is really not simple way to put staying inspired. Really it all depends upon the person and how much they love what they are doing. Because if you love(enjoy) what you are doing then you will be able to stay motivated and inspired. I really enjoy the creative aspects of design and calligraphy. Simply there is so many things to continually and the show of progress over time.

A great thing to always keep in the back of your head about staying inspired is how much time am I willing to dedicate to master this craft and do I really enjoy this or am I just doing it for the hell of it. I mean you may not want to achieve much in your chosen profession but eventually you’ll get bored and move to the next thing. Do what gets you up in the morning and what you truly know in the back of your heart you’ve always wanted to do.

I am not saying to quit your Job or whatever your currently doing. The main thing is to go about it a a smart way. Therefore you will allow yourself to continually be inspired to make your hobby/passion your source of income.

Over-deliver

By over-deliver this is something that you should put into practice. Because when you treat clients as gold they will respect that. Then it will put them into the mind-frame to take you seriously. If you get a client that does not appreciate you and what you are capable of then they don’t deserve to get treated like gold.

When you over-deliver to a client its a sense of accomplishment. Also if you are meeting deadlines ahead and really dedicating yourself to this profession it will pay off. Before your client may have gotten a designer whom took forever to do things and who knows what else. So you want to do your best to stand out among the competition.

Then the next thing with over-delivering is to sketch more. This should be a thing your doing anyways. If you are going straight to the computer before anything stop doing that. But of course doing research is important and etc. Sketching a lot shows the client that you are willing to not settle for the first idea.

Things to remember

Go the extra mile with your clients

Treat your clients like gold

don’t settle for the first idea

Meet deadlines

 

Your Passion can pay your bills if

Leopard

You believe that it is possible. Then you may think that its not possible. Because if you start anything you need to first have belief in yourself. Then after you make the decision that you are going to give it your all get started.

At times while you are working a day job to pay bills and then pursuing what you want to do you will just feel like giving up. A good thing to remember that is if it was easy then everybody would do it. There are some people who will get up at 4:30 – 5am before anyone else in their house is up. Then you have the other people who will just do what is required to get by.

You have to develop a mindset that you are willing to do whatever it takes. Because every single day there is new information  available for everything you can imagine. Then at times you may lose your drive to keep going after you’ve failed. Well if you are failing then you are making progress. Because through failure your learning what does not work. Think of the shape game that children play, overtime you learn that the square peg does not fit in the round hole as easy if you had the round peg does.

So while you are pursuing your passion do not get blinded thinking its always going to be fun and games. Because its not going to be fun. There are many times you will feel like just getting a job to just live and not deal with the emotion and heartbreak and rejection. Continue to work on yourself to develop a stronger mindset  to deal with rejection.

Then shortly overtime you will start to notice your passion will began to pay your bills.