Motion Design List Pending
Artist and Author Leah Kopke
Editor Ezra Blocker
Doom List
We’ve all been there; feeling the weight of the world and the avalanche of to-do items breaking speed through our thoughts. This feeling inevitably leads to an exacerbated sigh and perhaps even overwhelm. The list of what must be done can seem impossible. Perhaps it is even intimidating to write it down and then face the difficult journey ahead without looking the other way. This is your roadmap to facing the intimidating to-do lists you have as a motion designer and in your personal life. It is easy to feel like a hamster running in an endless wheel getting nowhere, but let’s pause for a moment and set this back on track together. Motion designers work hard, and the overwhelm is real, but it doesn’t have to be this way your entire career.
Get off the Wheel and Into Values
More often than not, our to-do lists come from our own ambitions and goals. That is a very positive place of origin. If it is filling you with dread, it is because you care and caring is beautiful. You should be proud of your ambition and how much you care. What motivated you to do these things? Write down what you need to to help you reflect on the purpose of the items on your list. If your motivation for doing any item on your list doesn’t align with your values, you may consider removing it entirely to lighten your load. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do for your health is to walk away from tasks or expectations that no longer serve you and your true goals.
Taking a moment to pause and remind yourself of your values is important. If you write down your to-do list, each item should be a building block to a greater value you have. Doing a work project to support your family means family is a value. Doing the dishes could be because you value mindfulness and being considerate of others. If there is something that doesn’t align with a value on your list, you may have felt you couldn’t say, “no” to the obligation. Building boundaries is difficult, but boundaries help you connect with yourself and those around you who truly value you for who you are more than your production.
It can be hard to say “no” when someone asks you to be involved in a project or take on a responsibility. Time is our most valuable resource and should be treated with care.
First, ask yourself if a commitment aligns with a value or goal of yours before responding. If it doesn’t, you can sandwich the, “no” between two slices of bread that feel considerate and kind. You can place the “no” in between two positives that makes it feel caring. Here are some examples.
“It is so kind of you to think of me for this project and I think it is a great idea. At this time, I’m unable to work on it. I really appreciate you reaching out.”
“It means a lot to me that you are considering me for this project. Although this isn’t a good fit at the time, I hope there will be a future opportunity for us to collaborate on something else. Thank you so much.”
A detailed explanation of why you won’t or can’t do something isn’t necessary. It gives away your power, and leaves the discussion up for debate by giving information to be debated. If the explanation for saying “no” to someone doesn’t align with the other person’s values, they can feel even more rejected.
You have authority over your life. We only have so many hours in a day and so many days to live so make sure every moment aligns with your values and goals. The goal is to say “no” in a caring and kind way. Once you’ve cleared the clutter from your to-do list we can focus on the remaining items.
Is it Important or Urgent?
Even a well oriented list can feel like a hefty load to lug so let’s prioritize the items that matter. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People bestseller by Stephen Covey points to how it is easy to mistake urgency for importance. Not everything that is urgent is important, but urgency makes it feel critical. It doesn’t give you time to think or question what matters. That is why commercials say “LIMITED TIME OFFER” or “BUY NOW” practically yelling out of the television with the same speed and intensity in which they hope to motivate viewers to purchase. If it didn’t work they wouldn’t do it. Some mindfulness of the situation allows you to choose what really matters both in commercials, the workplace, and personal engagements.
Creating a graph can bring clarity to what should be done first. Pausing to be more thoughtful and deliberate in your actions is sometimes the fastest way to navigate a puzzle. It is like the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The slow, consistent, deliberate tortoise won the race. Quick mistakes cost time, resources, and energy. Steven Covey’s idea is to create a 4 quadrant graph. Along the X axis is urgency. Along the Y axis is Important and Not Important. Quadrant I is Urgent and Important. Quadrant II is Not Urgent and Important. Quadrant III is Urgent and Not Important. Quadrant IV is Not Urgent and Not Important. While Steven Covey suggests you list the items in the quadrant they belong to. As a visual artist, I’ve found placing them according to how important or urgent they are relative to location is helpful for me to visualize what is most important. You should do what works best for yourself. This will help you prioritize what order in which to work on items. Label items in the order in which you will do them. If you work on what is important now, they won’t become urgent later which will relieve some future stress. Perhaps what is urgent isn’t a high priority as it seemed initially and can be pushed further out for more important items. Even if you don’t get everything done in a day, you’ll have peace of mind that you did what truly mattered most.
Plan for the Unexpected
Give yourself some grace. Nothing truly goes as we expect. I always leave extra time in a project for revisions or the unexpected. Life happens. Even for my YouTube channel, I have multiple options on what I can record. If something happens in life and I don’t have time for a longer video, I focus on a shorter subject. I have a list of options prepared ahead to give myself flexibility. Sometimes, I become too overwhelmed to cook. I make a large pot of chili at the beginning of the week for unexpected long nights working so I don’t have to worry about prepping a meal in that scenario. Make a contingency plan so that you have flexibility. You can delegate tasks to someone else, if you have that option, and that can give your schedule more flexibility. Hiring help like someone to clean your home can even free up some time to focus on your career or what is important to you.
Even when you don’t finish everything on your list, feel proud of what you did. It is easy to lose perspective and forget accomplishments. Those moments of being proud give you the energy to keep going.
Take it One Step at a Time
While it may seem faster to multi-task, data shows our minds aren’t built for it and it isn’t as fast as it may seem. In the article Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers, Eyal Ophir, Cliffard Nass, and Anthony D Wagner comment on their findings from a study that found “heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability” and “multitaskers are more susceptible to interference from irrelevant environmental stimuli” (Ophir et al.). The effort it takes the mind to switch tasks frequently can cause mental fatigue. According to MD Kamrul Hasan, in his article, Digital multitasking and hyperactivity: Unveiling the Hidden Costs to Brain Health points out that “Human brains are not designed to handle multiple things at once. Multitasking divides cognitive resources, leading to higher cognitive load and hyperactivity” (Hasan). He further mentions, “When people multitask, the cognitive load increases because the brain has to move attention between tasks, which can overload working memory and reduce overall cognitive efficiency” (Hasan).
Between these articles, they suggest that while there may be more pressure on employees to multitask with email, work chats and additional computer tasks, that this isn’t the way our brains work most efficiently. Choosing to focus on one task at a time for a set time block is a good way to work with your body’s natural rhythm. It prevents mental fatigue, and improves accuracy. Focusing on only one item on your to-do list also reduces the overwhelming feeling. If you have your to-do list written down, you don’t need to take the energy to keep reminding yourself internally of it. It frees up your mind to be in the present working rather than thinking about what is next.
Small Goals lead to Large Accomplishments
If a task feels too daunting to do for one large time block, set something reasonable like working on it for 20 minutes. It can help you get out of a state of paralysis. If you do 20 minutes of something you don’t enjoy every day, it adds up quickly to a large accomplishment. I do this for accounting since it is one of my least favorite jobs as a freelancer. You can try the Pomodoro technique for studying or working, which breaks up large tasks into smaller blocks with breaks in between to help with focus and reduce fatigue. An example of the Pomodoro technique would be to work for 30 minutes and take a 10 minute break. Then repeating this 3 more times. You’ll get more done doing small intervals than feeling too overwhelmed to start a longer work session. Small goals lead to large accomplishments.
Remembering Long-Term Goals
As much as we’d like to think we’ll remember long-term goals, they are easy to forget. Seven months into the New Year, do you still have your New Years Resolution on top of mind? Probably not, because life is hard and full of distractions. It doesn’t have to be that way. While we can’t reduce all distractions, we do have control over some. Keep your list somewhere that isn’t distracting and easy to reach. I used to use a digital app for my to-do list, but now I use paper because there were too many distracting notifications on my phone. I didn't remember I was looking for my to-do list after reading a shocking headline in a notification. Find what works best for you. As you try new systems for lists, if something makes listing difficult, you can adjust to better suit your needs. It may take a few tries to find what jives for you.
I like writing my longer term goals in my planner. Each time I open a new month in my planner, I write them down again. The act of writing them down each month helps me to remember that this is something I’m doing. I break up those large goals into smaller parts so I can see myself make progress and you can try this too.
It’s Okay to Slow Down
Society places a lot of expectations on us. We are told the harder we work, the more we’ll make and contribute to society. There were times in my life I was nervous to stop working because I felt responsible for my business and was unsure what the financial consequences would be if I were to slow down. However, whenever I did I was okay. If I were sick and didn’t finish everything on my to-do list my business kept chugging along. When there was a family emergency and I skipped a scheduled YouTube video day, everyone was supportive and kind. It didn’t even affect my analytics. The worry was in my mind, but it didn’t become the outcome in reality. Take a break. Go for a walk out in nature. Spend some family time. Do something special for yourself. Take a vacation. Your business and career will still be here when you come back. You’ll feel better too. You may prevent some burnout in the process or even find inspiration. Often the best inspiration for design comes from living life. We work most efficiently when we take care of ourselves. Working harder and longer doesn’t always lead to more productivity, especially when your body needs time to recuperate so take a break.
Wrapping it Up
While to-do lists can cause a sense of overwhelm, you can overcome this with various strategies. Aligning what you do to your values and setting boundaries helps you have the right items on your list. Prioritizing what matters with awareness of what is urgent or important helps you do what matters most first. Delegating tasks, scheduling flexibility, and doing one task at a time reduces overwhelm while improving efficiency. Reducing distractions and giving yourself reminders of long-term goals helps you stay on track. Breaking up large goals into smaller parts makes a daunting task feel reachable. What will sustain all of the above is taking care of yourself. That means pushing the list to the sidelines to take a break from time to time. Celebrate all your wins both big and small. Cheers to your future success!
Citations
Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon et Schuster, 2020.
Hasan, Md Kamrul. “Digital Multitasking and Hyperactivity: Unveiling the Hidden Costs to Brain Health.” Annals of Medicine and Surgery (2012), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Sept. 2024, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11543232/.
Ophir, Eyal, et al. “Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Sept. 2009, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2747164/.
