Pilcrow #30
Mocha, personal website, and focus
Hey friends,
And here we are, 30 editions later! I’m enjoying this more and more, even if some editions tend to require more work or focus, it’s always interesting to finish the week with this writing exercise, both to reflect and to try to develop some thoughts.
I hope you enjoy Pilcrow as much as I do. I’ll send a survey next week to gather your feedback and make it even better! Also, I posted this week a poll about what topics would be interesting to see developed as essays, feel free to give your opinion!
Here are today’s topics:
What I’m working on
Thoughts on rituals to dive into focus
Interesting works of the week
What I’m working on
I had plenty of time to continue my work on my website, especially on refining and enhancing my visual direction. I’m starting to be confident in the path I followed years ago to have something more than a portfolio but rather a personal space on the Internets, a little corner where I can do anything I want.
It’s still a little early to share sneak peeks as all of this is related to an announcement I’ll make in a few weeks — iykyk. The best I can do is this blurry thing right now:
I can’t wait to show more! Hopefully, I’ll be able to share more, especially about the other pages involved — About, Moodboard, Work, and others. I also changed my title to Software Designer, as it will be more relevant in the future of what I’m doing.
Thoughts on rituals to dive into focus
I had an interesting conversation with Andres Jasso this week-end on Twitter/X about ways of fighting procrastination.
TL;DR
Understanding how your brain works is a valuable task.
When procrastinating, focus on your initial motivation for the project.
Create a ritual before starting a work session, as athletes do.
—
Every brain works differently — or at least there are different types of behaviors, perceptions, and triggers. Understanding how yours works is an (almost) infinite task, but every step of this journey is worth it in my opinion.
When it came to procrastinating, I learned to stop feeling guilty and to start thinking about my initial motivation that made me start the project. As this year was quite dense in terms of projects, ideas, and interactions, I tried multiple times each week to find solutions to my problem by doing something that was more involving my hands than my brain, while thinking about actual solutions. This worked pretty well: LEGO sets, fidget cubes, pencils, anything, as long as the object and its details are interesting for your fingers. It’s like running a background task but with your brain.
Also, and that was the part I mentioned on Twitter, I developed a ritual when I’m starting a work session, based on a friend's advice. It’s something built by athletes and their coaches: specific movements before their set/race/etc., with the example of Rafael Nadal’s pre-serve ritual.
Personally, I quickly clean my desk, quit non-work related apps, put my headphones on, and launch the same music, often Succession or The Social Network soundtracks, Jimmy Whoo or Derek Pop albums, and sometimes my Hip-Hop playlists — depending on the nature of the work (I mentioned it on Twitter a few months ago).
Here, you can find the original conversation with Andres.
Interesting works of the week
Dott — Branding
The Box — Branding, Packaging + Editorial Design
Masa Cookie Dough — Branding + Packaging
That’s all, friends — have a great Sunday! 🖤