Creating A Great Work Environment For You, Not Someone Else

 

Artists are really weird bunch. Each one of us prefers entirely different work environments than the next person. Sometimes this can be range from nice and quiet, no distractions to a certain level of chaos. Everybody has a different situation they've gotten used to because of how they were raised or what happened around them. I grew up in an active household, so if I don't have a certain level of chaos going around me, it tends to drive me nuts to the point where I can't do anything. Conversely, you have some people that require quiet in order to get anything done. 

You have all these books, articles, and people telling telling you "quiet" is a basic work environment, and if you're not working in this kind of environment you're not going to get anything done. Sometimes you need to tell these people that they need to take a long walk up a very short Pier. Sure, they're great for the general case everybody's different; you need to allow for that in your own personal space. Anything that gets you up and working needs to be encouraged. With that in mind, I'm going to tell you three basic tips that helped me. 

The first is to find an environment to work for you. And I don't mean just little things, I work best when I have a certain level of cleanliness around me; my ADHD has certain degree of OCD with it. And so if it's not that a certain level of clean, I'll be distracted until that's been dealt with. I also need a certain level of sound; I grew up in a very active household. This is why I will always make sure I've got TV or music going on whenever I'm working. Occasionally I will be distracted by what's going on the TV, but generally I can do a lot more with the TV or radio on than I can without

Eliminate as many distractions as possible. For most people this is this noise and activity; for me it's hunger and thirst. So, before I work, I always make sure I have some sort of meal or snack. I also don't necessarily mean "water"; I usually go for some diet soda. The key is that I don't start hungry and that I always have some sort of liquid nearby. This eliminates the distractions of hunger and thirst; I have something in my stomach and if I feel thirsty I don't need to leave my desk. This helps me concentrate on the task at hand. Just figure out what your distractions are take them out.

And one shouldn't forget about rituals. These are those things that you do in order to get into it, like making sure that everything is where it should be or that chores have been taken care of. Some people adjust the lighting just so or check the thermostat. I make sure that I have a playlist queued up or that I have shows recorded. These are part of your established routine and by enforcing that routine, it's a lot easier to get into the workflow.

You just need to figure out what kind of conditions work best for you. If somebody tells you that something will work for you and you've already tried it but it didn't work, just tell them that; if they keep up, then tell them the screw off. You should always be tweaking things just to see if you can make things better; sometimes you'll find it a little bit of a change will actually make your efficiency go up. 

So find something that works for you. Eliminate as many distractions as you can. Establish rituals. Do that and you'll find that your writing time will be that much more fruitful.