Small batch prints | Molly Newport | Metropolitan Borough of Stockport

'Single-Tasking'

Molly Newport
Aug 25, 2023

(audio coming soon)

A busy brain jumping from one thing to the next. Walking the dog and listening to a podcast and Googling something whilst avoiding that puddle. Eating a meal and watching something on Youtube and writing a shopping list whilst watching the neighbour outside. I'm guilty of these things, you'll have your own set of favourites to juggle. Simply put, doing all of the things, but not necessarily doing any of them well.

We've become accustomed to cramming more and more into our day either by allowing distractions in or actively adding more to our list in search of being 'productive'. BUT none of that really helps our attention span. Frustration kicks in when we're working on something important or creative for longer than 5 minutes and it all seems like an impossible task.

I heard of the term 'single-tasking' in Paul Jarvis' book A Company of One and now I can't un-hear it. Where meditation is to bring your attention back to your breath, single-tasking is to bring your attention back to just one task. It sounds stupidly obvious... and it is. Sticking to it long term is where the real work is done.

Have you ever been in the car and you can't concentrate on the road names or house numbers because the music/radio is too loud? Think of the mental clutter and noise, turn it right down and allow your brain the space to think, if you make enough space, your brain can wonder off a bit too - and if you're extra lucky, you might be rewarded with an 'ah-ha!' moment.

Where do you have your best thoughts? The shower? Driving somewhere familiar in the car? Doing the washing up?

Is There A Better Way To Use A To-Do List?

Molly Newport
Jun 30, 2023

Updated: Aug 18, 2023

Ah, the humble to-do list, sitting patiently waiting for you to dump all of your mental clutter onto it before finding something more fun to do instead.

After discovering a slightly more engaging way to use my to-do list, I thought I’d better share it incase you’re suffering from the dread and distraction on your list too.

An ongoing document

Are you the kind of person who feels success from ticking everything off your to-do list? Or maybe even the type who adds the tasks you’ve already done just to get that easy win feeling? (guilty!)

What if I were to suggest that a to-do list could be an ongoing document - would that send you into existential dread or does that excite you a bit?

A while ago, I had the thought that my website is an ongoing document and that by adding ‘finish website’ to my list was pointless, because I’m a changing and developing human being so how would I expect my website to stay the same and for it to one day be ‘completed.’ Looking at it this way took SO MUCH pressure off my need to finish the task. I started to look at my to-do list with these goggles too.

Your definition of 'productive'

A ‘productive day’ to me is to finish all the things I set out to do that day - things that I’ve cherry picked from the huge on-going document to add to my static sticky note. Once everything is ticked off I consider that a productive day. Sometimes the things on my list are ‘to walk in the park’, ‘ to eat well (whatever I fancy)’ and ‘to read’- planning in quiet time or time to look after yourself is a very important task.

I started reading Deep Work by Cal Newport (no, we’re not related), what I took from the book was to separate my to-do list into a Deep work section and a shallow work section. The Deep work bit holds all the big goal tasks and the shallow work holds the smaller but still supportive tasks. I added my own 'personal paraphernalia' section too, these are outside of work time jobs.

I have three big goals in my Deep Work section: to write my blog post for the month, to write my monthly round up newsletter and to complete a page in my daily drawing journal (with the big goals to be to write more, to draw more and to share more interesting content). The shallow goals for me are usually along the lines of: buy a new drawing journal, to read book x or to find that recipe on Pinterest to share on my newsletter.

Basically, keep the big goals and deep work simple and easy to stick to with a good deadline and keep the shallow tasks simple and supportive. Work on the deep and meaningful and get yourself nice and comfy in the flow state.

Are you a digital to-do lister, a glittery gel pen to-do lister or a scruffy scrap paper to-do lister?

I'm planning on reading The Productivity Project next by Chris Bailey, let me know if you have any book recommendations or to-do list hacks! I'd love to hear them

Flow State

Molly Newport
May 26, 2023

Updated: Mar 17, 2024

a black and white illustration of a woman on a stripey slide

The Good Old Days of Concentration

I started to think about my school days. I would get home, dig out all of my art materials, make a huge mess on the floor, working away whilst scrunched up in a ball until I couldn’t feel my legs. I’d be up late working on something that I was 100% immersed in. I’d loose all sense of time, not even consider any basic needs (like sitting comfortably) and I’d be lost in my own world. I was hooked and couldn’t get enough of it!

Why do I find it so difficult to achieve this state now?

This set me off on a mission to look at lengthening my attention span, questioning social media addictions and digital distractions. This led me to find out that the state of focus I was looking for is actually known as Flow State.

A Bit More Research into it

Named by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the1970s and set out into three simple rules by Johan Hari in his book Stolen Focus, I felt like I had more of an understanding of this mystical state.

Hari explains that our task needs to be:

- Something meaningful to us

- Stretching our abilities

- Have A Clear Goal

Starting with outlining the task, removing distraction and as many friction points as possible and then... Go!

Having faith that your idea will work and then just working on it, no shame or input from anyone else.

Applying this to the studio

I've cut out distractions, set my studio up to be more flow-friendly and consider Hari's 3 rules before I set out my task. Flow state is happening in the studio again!

What projects do you get lost in?

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Interesting reads:

Edited extract from Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari, published by Bloomsbury. The Guardian

Stolen Focus book by Johan Hari

How To Do Nothing: Resisting The Attention Economy book by Jenny Odell

Losing Yourself in Flow State TED talk by Diane Allen