The Experienced Designer's Unsaid Rules for Getting Work Done

Estimate your time for every task, whether or not your job requires you to do it. You already have 8 hours of tasks on your schedule for today and someone gives you another 1 hour task? Then you immediately know something has to shift. Taking on more than you can physically do in a day only sets yourself and others up for disappointment. Understanding what’s actually feasible in a day makes you someone others can count on.

If you get distracted often, which leads to you working all hours of the day, it’s because you’ve told yourself you can. You’ve chosen to use your free time to catch up on wasted time. Start every day with a firm end time, and envision yourself doing what you want to do on the other side of that time. Discipline is simply having an imagination. When you have no boundaries, you only cheat yourself.

If it’s not working today, and you have the time, do it another day. Procrastination can be your best friend, if you use it to your advantage.

The thing you’re avoiding is likely the thing you need to do first.