A Post For A Monday
Be honest.
When you got up this morning, were you excited? Did you think, "HELL YEAH, IT'S TIME TO GET BACK TO WORK!" or did you wake up and think, "Back to the grind..."
When the pandemic first hit and sent us into lockdown, there was a lot of talk about balance, about work/life balance working from home, about continuing to take care of our bodies, and not spending too much time on screens.
An iLight Demo for a client
But after a year, the prevailing feeling I get from friends, colleagues, and clients is a pervasive sense of burnout. My client's clients don't care about the pandemic anymore; they care about results. 3-hour zoom meetings are considered standard project management. Remember how concerned we were for working parents trying to juggle? That's fallen away too. Everyone needs what they need when they need it.
ALW Moondish installed on a recent client project.
There is hope about the vaccination rollout and the idea that we'll return to normal over time. But it also feels like when you were a kid on a long car ride and your parents told you you'd get to the vacation spot "in a little while," the closer you got, the more prolonged the minutes felt. The closer we get to normal, the more we're reminded we aren't there yet.
Inter-Lux Rubber Demo
Testing the new batwing optics from Lumium
So now is the time to remember why we do what we do in the first place. When every day feels like a stream of emails and zoom calls, it's never been more important to step back and remember you are not a machine. You're a living, breathing person.
Whenever I step back (my method is journaling) then come back to work, I am more refreshed and inspired to get back in the shed or to think creatively about one of my customers' design challenges.
A product of a journal entry
I know your calendar is packed. But make time and clear space.
Take time to step back, get away from your screens (including your phone), and remember why you do what you do. It will fire you back up. It will get you moving again, and you'll do better work because of it. I know you didn't sign up for a motivational talk, but here we are...
Have a great week.
