Why Your Work System Needs to Adapt!

Work System Illustration

Since this blog post about “Why your work system needs to adapt” is a bit longer, here are three points you’ll learn from this post:

  • How to overhaul a broken work system from the ground up.
  • What my old creative process looked like and how it is now.
  • Why my work system had to change.

Imagine you are in a moving car and suddenly you have to get out. Why, you ask? The reason is that the car you are in cannot change its destination and you have realized that you need to go to another place. After you get out of the moving car, you expect to be able to continue your way at the same speed as before. But this is not the case, because no one can get out of a car and continue at the same pace. No, you fall at high speed on the bare ground (not fatal in this scenario), get up again after a short confusion (as you do after making mistakes), and look for a new way to get to your new destination.

This analogy applies to our own work system, as I had to experience it myself a few months ago.

For a long time, I took little time to work out most of my illustrations. 3 to 8 hours, sometimes more, rarely less. Over the past year, that has now changed. I’ve been focusing on longer stories now which I’ve always wanted to do. Most of the time I put them aside for these smaller illustrations I could produce almost daily. The problem now was that longer stories take … well … a long time. Doesn’t sound so bad at first, you might think. But that led to a change in my creative process, which meant I had to change my whole work system. To go back to the car analogy: For me, that change meant getting out of a car that was going pretty fast. And I didn’t even notice it.

A work process like an addiction

My brain learned an addiction. And it was those 3 to 8 hours of me doing an illustration. As an example, here’s how the process for my Monster Monday used to be:

I started sketching in the morning, developing ideas. A short time later, the addiction sets in: I have a good idea! The first highlight of the day. Once I have an idea, the first sketch is not far away. Then another sketch, with the light table. And then maybe another, until the drawing is ready for ink. Everything is traced with ink and most of the work is done, another highlight in my creative process. At this point, I’m in an extreme flow. Scanning, correcting the lines, and coloring the illustration is very easy after that. Because I’m in the zone and I like to get things done.

And ta-da: the illustration is done! I like it, I love it and my body is full of dopamine. Give me more!

The sense of accomplishment at each completed step in my old creative process motivated me to keep going. So was the urge to finish the whole illustration. However, when I decided to work on longer stories with correspondingly longer deadlines, this source of motivation was no longer present. The fire that had fueled me in the past was extinguished because the longer time frame for completing each step no longer provided the same sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. This change in my process resulted in a loss of motivation, and I no longer had food for the fire that fueled me.

So I had to change my entire work system. Find a new vehicle to take me to my new destination. I was mentally stressed and lost the fun in my creative work. Extreme pressure on myself led to weeks where I could barely work.

I had to find a way to make the work fun (and addicting) again. How I could be more comfortable with this new process of drawing. To do this, I had to adapt my work system.

Difference between a work system and the creative process.

The work system is a system in which you perform your creative work with the help of information, technology, and other resources. This includes work techniques (e.g., time stopping, To-Do’s, or time blocking).

The creative process is how you do your creative work. With critical thinking, you solve problems in creative ways. Simple as that. Your work system helps you do this work effectively. The vehicle of your creative process.

A step-by-step guide to an overhaul of your work system

As long as you can work, it is helpful to tinker with your work system from time to time. Regular reflection helps keep your system fresh and flexible. Where can something still be adjusted? Where are there difficulties in the work?

Big changes that involve a whole new approach or process however may require a major overhaul of your system. As was the case for me. And here’s the step-by-step guide for that:

  1. Realize that your system needs to be adjusted due to a change (In my case, this realization took months).
  2. Examine analytically how you worked. Check your creative process. What motivated you in the old process? What steps were the highlights?
  3. How does it differ from your current creative process? Can things from the old process be incorporated? Can you transform some of it?
  4. What can be a new motivator in the new work system? What can also be fun? Do your research and try to incorporate work techniques that you may not have needed before that.
  5. All these questions will give you insights about a new work system.
  6. Write down the new system you have made so it stays in your mind and you can make adjustments to it.
  7. Use the new system and think about how you can adapt it every day.
  8. Do a weekly review. What went well last week and what didn’t? Where can adjustments still be made?

With the help of this list, you can find out what your new vehicle will look like, which will take you to a different place than usual.

What helped me

What changes have I made? I’m still working on it and changing it a bit each week, but what has helped so far are the following changes:

  • I have stopped tracking time while at work, which I used to do for over two years. I’m currently having trouble working through “my hours” (without client work) and the number at the end of the week stresses me out too much. Therefore keeping track of time is counterproductive right now.
  • I now use Todoist (not sponsored (sadly)), which miraculously keeps me very motivated. Normally, I always wrote down my to-do lists on paper. With this app, I can intuitively enter my tasks with a date and then …. simply forget about them. This is incredibly helpful and calms me down. You can’t “forget” tasks till they are due if you are writing them on paper.
  • In addition, I write down the most important thing I want to get done during each day of the week. With time tracking, I knew I wanted X working hours every day, and I knew at the end of the week if I had accomplished that. With this change, I can measure if I did the most important task every day.
  • I’m trying to bring more gamification to my creative work. I no longer have my daily highlights to fuel my fire. Gamification brings me the motivation I need as I slowly approach the highlights. They’re still there, just much further apart.
  • I started with time-blocking. Every morning I write on a piece of paper what blocks of work I do throughout the day. I’ve found that it gets me into the flow incredibly quickly and makes me less distracted.
  • Weekly reviews on Monday morning. This is one of the best things I’ve started doing in the last few months. It’s crazy how much I forget, what is good for me. The weekly review reminds me to repeat good things and to do bad things less. It also gives me a kind of benchmark for how the week went. It motivates me and pushes me forward.
  • I try to do at least 4 hours of deep work every day. I usually listen to podcasts or live streams while I draw. But I’ve noticed that I get distracted very quickly these days. So I’ve changed that, and the background noise can come back in after I’ve done 4 hours of undisturbed deep work. I even consider this a reward.

Conclusion

Every work system is different. Maybe you just need to adjust it a little, or maybe, like me, you want to get out of a moving vehicle to get to a different destination. If that’s the case, I hope I was able to help you notice it and got you some ideas on how to approach it.

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How Perfectionism Can Be Good and Empowering

perfectionism title gif

Perfectionism can be good! But you need the right one, because there are two different types: Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism. As an adaptive perfectionist (the better type of perfectionism), you have high-performance expectations but allow yourself small mistakes for the greater good. You have high standards and are more critical of your work to achieve good results. The best part about adaptive perfectionism is that creativity is maximized in people with moderately high levels of this type of perfectionism.

What is Maladaptive Perfectionism?

Maladaptive perfectionists (the type of perfectionism to avoid) are more likely to procrastinate because they try to avoid mistakes. They are more concerned about making mistakes and achieving high standards. They believe that they cannot make mistakes or do bad work because they want perfect results. As a result, maladaptive perfectionism hurts your performance!

You can have both types in different situations and to different degrees. The goal here is to try to use the adaptive one to your advantage and avoid the maladaptive one. I’ll show you four steps to move from maladaptive to adaptive perfectionism.

How to go from a Maladaptive to an Adaptive Perfectionism in 4 steps.

Identify your type of perfectionist you are and when perfectionism occurs

Step 1: Identify your type of perfectionism and when it occurs

If you struggle with perfectionism, you probably already have the maladaptive type in the area where you experience this negative perfectionism. You probably wouldn’t consider it bad if it were the adaptive type. Try to find out why. Is there an area of your creative life where you allow yourself to make mistakes? If so, why? Find out where you struggle the most and where you want to be perfect but struggle less. The better you can identify your problems when they occur and how you have dealt with them in the past, the better you can change yourself.

Once you have done this, the next step is to try to change your maladaptive perfectionism into an adaptive one.


Be aware of the challenging process and obstacles of perfectionism gif

Step 2: Be aware of the challenging process and obstacles.

Fixing perfectionism itself is difficult, if not impossible. However, we can change how we react to these stressful experiences to reduce the negative effects. To do this, we need to change the self-criticism in us. We must begin to allow ourselves to make mistakes.

There will be obstacles and setbacks in this process of change. If you have ever tried to change, you know this. A bad day, something not working, not seeing progress, and much more can set you back to zero. Try to visualize the risks that could come your way to free yourself from your bad perfectionism. Lie down, close your eyes, and imagine how you can (and probably will) fail. Figure out in your mind’s eye how you are going to get over those failures. If you do this, you will be ready when the negative environment tries to stop you in the future!

To allow mistakes and to get better over obstacles and setbacks, we also need to change our mindset. It is not easy and it takes time, but it works. So be aware of the challenging process that awaits you.


Change your perfectionist mindset gif

Step 3: Change your mindset.

There is a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is the belief that you can’t change. A growth mindset is the belief that skills are qualities that can be developed. A person with a growth mindset is allowed to make mistakes in order to get better.

Position yourself in a growth mindset. Just knowing that it exists will get you there. Then allow yourself to go out and fail. Try it actively. Do something where you have a bad case of maladaptive perfectionism and just make mistakes. Learn it, train your mindset. Figure out what you can learn from the mistakes you make. How can you improve? Remember that every mistake you make will make you much better than not making any mistakes at all.

Know that you can change this mindset and always remember this when you have problems with your perfectionism.

More about mindset in this “Change Your Mindset” post.


Set a goal and see the benefits gif

Step 4: Set a goal and see the benefits.

It would help if you had clear goals with a detailed plan of how you want to change. Write it down and put it where you can see it. Write down your “Why“! Why do you want to change? If you change, what will be better? Visualize how you will succeed and what benefits you will have. Imagine this just like the bad things from step 2. How will you feel if you succeed? What does it look like? Do this regularly and it will motivate you to change for the better.

If you don’t write your goals down, you’ll either forget them or not take them seriously. So don’t skip this step! It’s one of the easiest things to do and won’t take much time, although it has a big impact.


Build a perfectionist Habit gif

Step 5: Build a habit!

This one right here is the cauldron of the whole process. The most important step! If you don’t cook this stuff every day, nothing will happen. Building habits is such a good way to change yourself. Yes, the process is long and it will take time. But you are getting older anyway. So why not change while you are on the road? To build a habit we use the way Charles Duhigg writes in his book “The Power of Habit“. A habit is made up of these three things: CueRoutineReward. We break them down in our case of perfectionism.

Cue

The cue is when your perfectionism kicks in and prevents you from being productive. You don’t have to do anything if it’s adaptive perfectionism. Remember, this is the good kind! Just let it be. If you just can’t work, then it’s the bad kind of perfectionism, and we’ll use that as a cue for our new habit. So try to find those cues when your bad perfectionism strikes.

Routine

Usually, your routine was different. You gave up or got emotional about your creative work. Now we use what we learned in the previous steps: Why did maladaptive perfectionism strike you? Why isn’t it the adaptive kind? Can I change this? Did I make a mistake? Can I learn from it? Tell yourself that the way you feel right now is okay. That what you are doing is good. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Small mistakes are OK to get good results! This is where the growth mindset we talked about in Step 3 comes in!

Reward

The reward will be that you will feel better. That you can finish your work, even if you feel like you couldn’t finish it. Maybe you reward yourself with the feeling that you have overcome your maladaptive perfectionism and replaced it with an adaptive one. You can even experiment with other rewards, like taking a break or getting a nice cup of coffee or tea. See what works best for you.

Something more: Craving

There is also the craving that drives the habit. You will crave the rewards, and therefore you will do the habit automatically. So if you reward yourself with good things (like feeling better), then you will use that habit without hesitation when maladaptive perfectionism strikes!

Conclusion

If you use these steps, there is a chance that you will find a way out of the deep hole of maladaptive perfectionism. But remember, this is going to take a long time to fix. If you’re afraid it’s going to take too long, here’s a tip: It is always going to take a long time. There is no way around it. No shortcuts. That’s why it’s important to start NOW!

Sources

Wigert, B., Reiter-Palmon, R., Kaufman, J. C., & Silvia, P. J. (2012). Perfectionism: The good, the bad, and the creative. Journal of Research in Personality, 46(6), 775–779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2012.08.007

Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets That Promote Resilience: When Students Believe That Personal Characteristics Can Be Developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805

Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (1 edition). Random House.