December 29, 20244 min de lectura

😖 Working less, and making more than ever · The Bunker #113

Hi friend 👋🏻!

A Newsletter in which we talk about UX Design and the Freelance Journey, dedicated to those who are starting out in both worlds and who feel identified.

From The Bunker, we accompany you on the way.

I’m a hardworking person by nature, perhaps even too much.

I don't know how many hours I have wasted trying to get clients or make some money.

And with no results. Maybe it's been 7 years of work with €0. 😖

People were going out to party, and I was staying behind to work.

People were going out to eat, and I was staying behind to work.

They were going out on their bikes, and I was staying behind to work.

And still, I earned €0.

But, it wasn't all in vain now that I think about it.

"Wasting so much time" made me unconsciously try many things.

And it created a discipline in me that I didn't know I had.

🗓️ Reduce your working time.

It really makes sense, think about it.

A task that can be done in 30 minutes takes you all afternoon because you have the whole afternoon free.

Set limits. And you will be more effective.

We are like this, we function like this, we need limits on things. If you don't set limits, you can end up scrolling through Instagram endlessly. We are that foolish; you need to set a limit on the iPhone so that Instagram closes after 15 minutes.

But it works.

🍻 I’m more social than ever, I just seek balance.

This way, I can keep myself busier and spend less time on work.

So when I work, I truly work, making the most of "the little time I allow myself."

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 It's not worth sacrificing life and moments for work.

If you want to party, go once a month.

If you want to spend time with your grandparents, go with them.

You'll be happier, and therefore more efficient; it will help you rest.

Nowadays, I look back and think it wasn't worth missing all these moments by staying at work. I may have achieved things at 23 years old, but what would have been the cost of doing everything I wanted to do and achieving it at 27 instead of 23? Definitely worth it.

Finding balance simply makes you happier because you realize you're finding time for everything.

🎧 I focused on just one thing.

I believe that 99% of the problems I had were:

Too much time to spend on a task, therefore too much time to overthink.
Lack of focus.

Set time limits and focus on just 1 thing.

There is a concept in productivity called "attention residue." This means that when you switch from task A to task B, your mind is still thinking about aspects of task A, which highly affects task B with inputs from task A.

In other words, it is not efficient. Focus on one thing, and your mind will only think about how to improve that one thing. The results will speak for themselves.

👑 The times when things have gone best for me are when I've focused on just one thing.

I focused on Koala UI, and it's doing better than ever.

Regardless of everything else, I focused on 1 project, and I'm making it work.

All my time and attention were fully dedicated to improving this task. It doesn't surprise me that it works better than ever because my mind only has room for this right now.

Until next time,

Jordi Espinosa.

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