A Cut Above the Rest

The long winded story behind why I’ve started exploring cutting paper at the same time as discovering the joy of cutting up my time with screen breaks. If you think you’d like to give it a go, there’s a step by step guide and template to making your own paper cut birthday card. I even include a time/energy survey template if you’re inspired to cut up your time. All free for Designerating members, so join me, it costs nought.

‘Paper cuts are the tree’s final act of revenge’
Anonymous

My Quest
I spend so much of my working time in front of a screen, as do so many (my illustration work in often digital as well as all my graphics and any admin). When I finish work it’s often straight back onto the screen for life admin, ordering the food shop, playing a ‘brain-wiping’ mobile game, keeping my Duo streak going, and maybe watching some TV while cooking dinner. It’s too much, and it’s been making me feel really tired, exhausted and maybe even a bit overwhelmed as my world feels like it exists 1-2 feet away from my face-resulting in everything getting out of perspective. So, I am working on reducing my screen time and looking after my mental health more, without reducing my creative opportunities.

Trying to Break Out of Burn Out
To reduce my exposure to screens, I firstly worked hard at sorting out taking ‘proper’ screen breaks. I’m not great at starting something (procrastination queen), but then when I get into it I’m terrible at not stopping! I will find myself 3 hours later staring at the same file without much visible progress even though I know I’ve been pushing pixels the whole time. I’ve then over run into time I had put aside for other tasks, and I feel like I’ve failed by not really getting anywhere with anything. This ends up in burning out more often than not. A cycle I’m working to get out of.

I looked at recommended books with advice and read the relatively short and informative book The Time Chunking Method by Damon Zahariades. This helped kick start me into acknowledging that taking breaks is actually the most productive thing for me to do. I of course got overwhelmed at first as I’d already heard experts suggest 5 – 10 minutes every hour is best, but there’s also the 20/20/20 rule on top of that (every 20 minutes, look up from your screen at something 20 feet away, for 20 seconds), then the book mentions the Pomodoro Method (25 mins work, a 5 minute break, cycle that 4-5 times, then take a longer break and start the whole thing again). It can be anything that works for you . . . but what if someone in the studio asks if I want to go for a coffee in the middle of a work chunk? What if the dog needs to go out? What about answering the door for a package? I’m already stressed, why would I want to add timing myself into that!? It all felt so impossible. The book essentially asks you to find out your own rhythm and notice and manage your ‘time chunks’ around your energy level patterns. My real life includes hybrid working, freelance work, and a blended family of two kids and two dogs with one long list of interruptions in a routine that has to be different every day. I was not anticipating this would be the easiest of quests.

Taming the Goblin
I frequently try and square-peg myself into round holes. I try on a method religiously, and it fails because we’re all different, but rather than acknowledging that I always look for the quick fix or easy solution, which is surely out there, right?! Then I inevitably ‘fail’ and give up, looking for the next thing. As it turns out, it’s not easy to figure out your best break pattern, but I’m getting there and refusing to give up this time!

For a couple of weeks I logged my time and energy as the above book suggests. I started to see some muddy patterns emerging, but with those patterns came a lot of challenges.

I’m an early riser who is not always great at getting to bed on time to accommodate that, resulting in me being my own worst enemy, the Sleep Deprivation Goblin. If I’ve slept well, life is good and I can take on the world. If I haven’t, I snap, ruminate on negative thoughts, panic, get defensive, forget basic things and believe myself incapable of the most banal stuff (taking a shower being my first barrier). So, I knew I needed to work on that first. I have since accepted that it may be something I have to work on every day for the rest of my life. Maybe I’ll delve into that another time. In short, I took 3 months to sort out my sleeping patterns and routines around that until I was consistently getting 7 – 8 hours sleep a night and feeling pretty stable.

After my sleep work, I took another couple of weeks to look at my energy and time more closely, and the patterns were much clearer. I even realised that I am pretty average with my post lunch dip. Hooray! Below is my rough energy pattern for a day and you’ll notice what I schedule for then relates to my energy level (EL), EL 1 being the lowest, EL 3 being the highest.

• 05:15 – 06:30 (EL 1)
  • Getting up and getting my head around the day
  • Brain dump in journal + have a coffee
  • Feed dogs + walk Big Dog
• 06:30 – 07:30 (EL 2)
  • Hanging out with family
  • Get myself washed and presentable (ish)
• 07:30 – 12:30 (EL 3)
  • Working on my Top 3 Tasks + Top Goal
• 12:30 – 14:00 (EL 1)
  • Lunch time. Eat, chill, hang out, do relaxing fun stuff, do mindless tasks
• 14:00 – 17:00 (EL 2)
  • Working on admin, low energy tasks, chores and repeating tasks
  • Clear inboxes + note actions
• 17:00 – 20:00 (EL 3)
  • Family time. Cooking dinner, eating, playing, hanging out, catching up
• 20:00 – 21:00 (EL 2-1)
  • Winding down to lights out (no screens)

I could have split my time into 5 energy levels, or 10, or by my mood. I could also have spent a year studying the patterns and not benefitting from them, so I kept things simple (and most out of character). Here’s a description of how I spotted each energy level.

Cutting Some Slack
I then chunked my time into similar tasks. Work tasks together, house tasks, admin tasks, responsibility tasks, health tasks, and fun time. I tried them in different combinations and points in the day to take advantage of my high energy, or give myself a break when I was running low. I tried 25 mins + 5 mins break, 50 mins and 10 mins break, and everything in between. As it turns out, depending on what I’m doing and my energy levels dictates which break cycle I roughly work to. Admin works in short concentrated bursts in ‘EL 2’ time and creative design work is better at the longer end in ‘EL 1’ time. If you’d like a basic time/energy tracker printable for yourself there’s one for free in my members area, click here to join.

Cutting to The Chase
So I now had a good idea of when and how long I would be taking breaks and gave it a go. My energy and productivity felt so much better (if I’d slept), but in a 5 min break in the home office I kept gravitating towards the most obvious non-screen activity that could be done in little chunks . . . home chores, sigh. So the house was looking great and I felt less screen blind, but I wasn’t resting and that started to take it’s toll. I decided to brain dump things I could do in 5-10 mins that were not screen based that would be for me, and restful (but also feel a bit productive if I had the energy, I can’t help myself!). I also wanted to make sure I could put down or pick up what I was doing if it wasn’t finished, without having the weight of an incomplete task hanging over me. This is called the Zeigarnik effect, which is when you get layers of unnecessary stress and tension building because your mind wants to cling on to incomplete tasks, even in your subconscious. In short, it’s exhausting. The lists are below.

Stuff I Was Doing

• Picking up and tidying away EL2
• Putting a wash on EL1
• Taking a wash out EL1
• Folding washing EL2
• Letting the dogs out EL1
• Letting the dogs in EL1
• Letting the dogs out again EL2
• Letting the dogs in again EL2

Restful Stuff

• Make a coffee + Sit and look out the window EL1
• Call my dad for a quick catch up EL2
• Read EL2
• Listen to audio book and squidge the dogs EL2
• Sketch EL3
• Create Something* EL3
• Write in my journal EL1-3
• Light exercise/stretching/moving EL2-3
• Meditate EL1-3

*Creating Something
I have loved making my typographic illustrations on Adobe Fresco for cards, prints and colouring pintables in my Etsy shop. So I’ve started trying to replicate that, but without using a screen. Pens were fine but I couldn’t get the flat colour and crisp edges I wanted. Paints would work, but, well, what a mess you could make in 5 minutes! Then, the lightbulb turned on. Cut out a design and move the parts around until I get them where I want, just like layers in a graphics programme. Paper cutting has the clean edge I was after, and a more graphic style. I could ‘render’ a solid letter with clean edges in no time at all.

Collage art has a real graphical feel which I love (there’s a great editorial on collage artists from AnOther Magazine here), it’s freeing as you can try something out before you stick it down… So there’s no fear you’ll mess up the final work. Great for all you perfectionists out there.

It’s a work in progress to develop my skills and style, but I’m enjoying it, 5-10 minutes at a time.

Creating Something, Together
If you’d like to give paper cutting a go I’ve created a free mini project printable you can download in my members area to make the birthday card above. It comes with a step by step guide, but doesn’t include the following advice. Do not cut your paper outside or by an open window . . . It’s sad when what you’ve lined up gets blown onto the dog shelf (floor).

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FREEBEES! YAY!

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