Podcast: Play in new window | Download

How do you navigate decision fatigue as a creative?
Especially when you’re constantly bombarded with decisions that require your attention from work, home life, and personal relationships? Well, today on the podcast I’m talking about handling decision fatigue as a creative with licensed professional counselor, Josh Berger. Josh has been on the podcast before, and today he’s back to dive into how decision fatigue impacts creatives and business owners like us. He’s the CEO of Rivers Edge Counseling and Wellness, where he supports both his clients and team members through the mental health challenges that can come with running a business and navigating life.
This episode is a powerful conversation about how decision fatigue shows up in our day-to-day lives, how we can spot the early warning signs, and what we can do to mitigate it. If you’re someone who wears a lot of hats, has an overflowing schedule, and constantly faces deadlines, this episode will help you identify and avoid decision fatigue before it becomes overwhelming. Tune in above for the full episode!
Takeaways from this episode:
- What decision fatigue is and how it manifests in our daily lives.
- How decision fatigue can affect your creativity and productivity.
- Practical strategies to reduce the impact of decision fatigue in your personal and professional life.
- The importance of setting boundaries and how they can help you regain control over your schedule.
- Self-care tips for dealing with decision fatigue, especially when you share your space with others.
Ways to Prevent Decision Fatigue
- Identify Decision Fatigue: Start recognizing decision fatigue by paying attention to when you feel irritable, avoid tasks, or become overwhelmed by daily choices.
- Set Boundaries: Carve out dedicated time in your schedule for creative work and personal self-care, and communicate this clearly with those around you.
- Streamline Your Schedule: Take stock of your calendar. Use Josh’s method of marking activities with an up, side, or down arrow to determine what gives you energy and what drains it.
- Prioritize Self-Care: Engage in active self-care—whether it’s a walk, a hobby, or spending time away from screens—to reset your energy and creativity.
- Have Conversations About Boundaries: If you share your space with others, have open conversations about your needs and how they can help you protect your time for rest and self-care.
CONNECT WITH JOSH
Rivers Edge Counseling + Wellness
Learn more about Josh + scheduling a session
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…
BSP Mental Health Series with Josh Berger
FOLLOW ALONG
LIKE THE SHOW?
IN ORDER TO PROVIDE CONTENT YOU LOVE I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRAND STRATEGY PODCAST AND LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW HERE. THE MORE REVIEWS, THE MORE I’M ABLE TO PROVIDE THIS FREE-ACTIONABLE CONTENT!
REVIEW THE TRANSCRIPT:
Please note this transcript has been auto generated and may contain typos.
Bonnie
Hey friends, welcome back to the brand strategy podcast, where today we are talking about handling decision fatigue as a creative with licensed professional counselor, Josh Berger.
Now, if you haven’t met Josh before, who actually is a recurring guest here on the podcast, if you go back into the archives, we actually did an entire series on kind of mental health for creative.
So that was fun, but I’m excited to have him back on. And if you haven’t connected with him before, he is a licensed professional counseling supervisor, and he owns and works as the CEO of Rivers Edge Counseling and Wellness based in Houston and in College Station.
Also, just full disclosure, he is my brother. So he and I have a little bit of a head start on this conversation. This is something that we’ve been talking about off and on for a while, because we both as CEOs and as business owners have experienced decision fatigue, have experienced burnout, have experienced not only walking those journeys for ourselves, but also in Josh’s case, holding space for clients who have experienced that and who are currently navigating that.
So I’m excited to have this conversation around decision fatigue, as it’s something that I know impacts all of us with all of the different hats that we wear with all of the different tasks that are on our plates day in and day out, not just in our businesses, but in our personal lives.
So I am excited for us to get to dive into this a little bit and see how, in theory, we can mitigate some of the stress and some of the overwhelm that comes from decision fatigue, and ideally how we can avoid it in some cases altogether.
So with that being said, Josh, welcome back to the podcast.
Josh
Thanks, Bonnie. It’s been great to be here. Really enjoyed what we got to do in the past. And I think this will really tie in well in a kind of more specific area of helping people, whether it’s preventing the decision fatigue or even just the early warning signs and what to do from there. So I think this will be fun.
Bonnie
I totally agree. Well, before we get into it, for those who haven’t connected with you before and are new to you and what you do, can you share a little bit more about who you are, what you do, and your incredible business that you have?
Josh
Absolutely. Yeah. So like you said, I’m the CEO and director of Rivers Edge Counseling and Wellness.
We have three branches at this point. The new one, Bernie, just opened in the past year, year and a half. And so for those of you that aren’t from Texas locally, that’s kind of north of San Antonio, but south of Austin, and it’s just kind of nestled in the hill country. And then I work primarily in the Houston branch as well as College Station. And I get to have the wonderful ability to be one of those remote people as well. So a lot of the work I do is actually just like this, being able to be across the screen, whether we’re a mile apart or worlds apart.
And so our team, just a little bit about them, we love, love, love how often you’re able to connect with a wonderful therapist and just how special that relationship can be. And so our kind of slogan is building a better counseling experience for you and your loved ones. And that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to bring amazing people that you get to walk with through whatever hard season you’re going through, or if you’re just working on things like what we’re talking about today. And so we have a wide range of different therapists in each city. And what we really try to do is help them be able to give what they have.
So we believe that if a therapist is healthy, if a therapist is in touch with how they’re doing in the world, and if they’re thriving, then they’re going to be able to better just walk with you in that and kind of spill over some of that joy and that freshness. And so that’s a big part of my job is trying to care for counselors well, and then caring for their clients by proxy.
Bonnie
I love that. Now I can imagine that with those different roles and the support that you’re offering to those incredible people on your team and with clients, I can imagine that there are just thousands of decisions that come up in your day-to-day as a CEO, right?
Josh
Absolutely. But I don’t think that’s unique to me as well. I think that’s one of those things that just, when we’re in the fields that you and I and the listeners are in, hitting the average number of decisions probably happened by about 11 AM for a person.
Bonnie
Exactly. And so it’s so easy for us, especially when we’re in these big seasons of overwork or overwhelm, or if we’re feeling ourselves, just like up against a lot of deadlines with client work and not even to mention like all the things that are happening in your personal life with maybe your friends, your family, your partners, if you have kids.
So the decisions that we make every single day add up and can lead to that sense of decision fatigue. But in your experience, what does it look like to be experiencing decision fatigue? What is that exactly? It’s kind of a concept that I think some of us might be able to piece together based on context clues, but actually, is there a clinical definition for what decision fatigue is? And if so, how might that look in the life of a creative entrepreneur?
Josh
That’s a great question. So I think there’s a lot of working definitions. I’ve not found a fully satisfying, like comprehensive, you know, like DSM-5, this is the diagnosis type thing. And so the one that I use the most is by Dr. McLean, who is a psychiatrist and talks about basically the idea that we make many decisions. And your ability with decision fatigue is the idea that more and more decisions over the course of the day become worse or harder. And so that idea of kind of the progressive area of worse and harder, I think is what I really notice with clients I walk with and with myself as well, is it’s kind of, you’re not yourself at 2 p.m. that you were at 9 a.m. And so just kind of that ebb and flow that can easily just deteriorate.
We see this a lot. And especially we see this with people that may have jobs like entrepreneurs, like business owners, teachers, anyone in the creative world, you’re probably making anywhere from about 35,000 decisions a day to even up to 70 or 80,000 decisions. And so eventually we just get kind of stuck in that pattern of just, well, really whatever ends up being our natural fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response.
Bonnie
Interesting.
So when we’re dealing with decision fatigue, to me, it kind of sounds like our capacity based on any number of the stresses, any number of the kind of internal external factors we might be experiencing can kind of put us in this place where we don’t have the capacity that we used to, you know, say like when we started the day at like 7, 8 a.m. when we were feeling like bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and it’s 3 p.m. and you might be feeling that like mid-afternoon kind of like slump, but you still have all of these demands on your time and your energy. How might that impact creativity for someone who works in a space like design, photography, who’s a coach, who is, you know, helping clients, who’s helping people, you know, through their services?
Josh
I love that you asked that, and I think that’s one of the areas that’s actually most important to note for anyone out there that uses creativity a lot.
Creativity, from what we find, is one of those areas that probably takes the most number of decisions, and so if you are creative, you’re someone that’s building something, drawing, painting, doing something that really has a certain level of just art to it, you are making hundreds of little decisions, whether it’s color, size, choice, different things that many people would have no appreciation for, and so one of the things we actually notice, Bonnie, is that so often if you are a creative person, the ability to do the creative side is going to be the first thing to go during your day, and then, like you said, if this kind of becomes a pattern of just every day is feeling like decision fatigue, it kind of piles up on you, then more and more it can get to where it’s either very difficult or even feels impossible to kind of tap into your first love, the very reason why you got into the field you are in.
Bonnie
Yeah, I mean, personally, I can really relate to that.
I mean, in seasons of my own career where I’ve been just, like, heavily burnt out, not even, okay, let me back up. I don’t even have to be, like, in the throes of burnout. Even if I’m starting to feel that I’m creeping up towards burnout, like my creative process, something that usually brings me so much joy and is so fun and kind of feels like play within my work, it begins to feel like I just have nothing left in the tank to give, and so you’re right.
Like, that is one of the first signs for me personally that, like, I’m not in the best head space, and I’m not able to give as much as I normally, you know, am able to to myself, to my clients, to the people around me, so personally, that’s kind of a warning sign that I look out for, but are there other kind of, like, tips or, you know, sort of, like, red flags that we can be looking out for that might help us as creatives to figure out, like, oh, okay, like, I might be experiencing decision fatigue here. I might be creeping up on some burnout, too, if I’m not careful.
Josh
Absolutely. Well, and I think, in general, even if we’re not talking about decision fatigue, just when you notice yourself kind of go, what’s called the back of the brain, you know, that survival component for yourself of, oh, my goodness, I just feel like I’m being really irritable. You know, that might be your fight response, or I’m avoiding things.I’m noticing that whether it’s this specific client or this task that is just not my favorite, as my kids like to say. You know, maybe that’s your flight response. If you’re finding yourself even kind of break your own boundaries, and so you’re going above and beyond, or you’re feeling like a doormat with certain people that are difficult in your life or profession, all of these things, I think, are early signs, and it’s going to be a little different from person to person, but if you start thinking through the lens of, oh, my goodness, I’m in flight mode.I’m in fawn mode. I’m in freeze. Those are really, really helpful just to be like, okay, I don’t know what’s going on yet in my mind and my body, but I know something’s off, and so those four categories are what we tend to see, and that may look like anything from difficulty resting for someone or you take a vacation and, oh, no, you get back home, you’re even more tired than when you left on the vacation.Those kinds of things are what we tend to see, but they still fall in those kind of four main categories.
Bonnie
Okay, so, you know, I think that when I am experiencing something where I’m in that kind of place of dysregulation with my nervous system where I might be engaging in something like freeze or, you know, fight or flight, I, and this is something that, you know, maybe other people can relate to. I don’t necessarily label that in my mind when I’m experiencing that as such. I’m not like, oh, right now I’m procrastinating on this project because I’m in freeze, you know, so how can we, are there kind of some tips that you like to share with clients or even things you use for yourself to kind of like build that awareness, maybe kind of cultivate that vernacular?
Josh
Yeah, I think one of the big areas as we try to figure out, okay, what’s the first trigger associated here, and that very often is something that you use every single work day. So, like, for example, one of the things I talk about with many of my clients is, okay, I want you to just pull up your Google calendar right now. What’s your emotional reaction to this?For some people, it’s exciting. They’re like, oh my goodness, I have a big area of creative space that I’ve walked away. But for many of us, especially if we’re starting to kind of say, oh, I wish I’d listened to this, you know, months ago or years ago, there’s an emotional reaction of worrying or there’s an emotional reaction of feeling like, oh goodness, where am I going to find an extra half hour to do these so important things that I need to do?It’s actually one of the first things, Bonnie, that I love to do is just try to figure out what is your version of Google calendar? Is it your daily planner? Is it your to-do list, you know, that you have written down and there’s scribbles all over?Is it looking at, you know, your kids or your family’s schedule and just noticing when you start to worry, when you start to feel like there’s just not enough to go around or that kind of survival mindset, whatever version of Google calendar is for you, we start there. And then we start to even just be mindful and aware of what we’re experiencing in that moment.
Bonnie
Well, I love how you kind of like use that analogy of Google calendar or like whatever kind of that equivalent might be because, you know, of course everyone has a different system. Everyone works differently. Are there like kind of along that line, are there some practical strategies or some tips that you like to share with people that can help entrepreneurs sort of reduce the impact of decision fatigue on the day-to-day?So things that they might be able to do to sort of ease that overwhelm that they experience when they start looking at that calendar, that to-do list, having those conversations with family, stuff like that.
Josh
One of the things I love to do is even just start to kind of have that tough conversation with yourself of non-judgmentalism. And so when we start with something like the calendar, the schedule, the plan or whatever, I actually ask people, okay, on these things, and for those of you that love Enneagram or Myers-Briggs, you’ll kind of notice some language that’s similar here, you know, of the things that you see that you need to do in the next week or the next month, which ones feel like they give you life? Like you kind of notice yourself being a little excited or looking forward to, and which things on here, again, not judging yourself, are you just like, oh, I’m kind of mentally trying to find energy for what I’m about to do with this person or this task.And so like when I’m working with counselors, I do a lot of supervision. That’s one of the main hats I wear these days. I actually have them walk through their calendar and just kind of do like, okay, up arrow, side arrow, or down arrow for things that are giving life and giving creativity and excitement, things that are fine, so-so, that’s kind of the side arrow, or things that are like, you know what, if I’m being honest, this thing that I have coming up is going to be really hard, and it is different for everyone, but just having that tough conversation with yourself about being real, and it might be things where you’re like, if I’m honest, looking forward to, you know, the kids track and feel me, I’m just not looking forward to it.There’s so many factors, and even though I love my children and I give my life for them, that’s going to be a down arrow, or versus something that you’re like, you know what, this is stressful for others, but I’m actually looking forward to it, and so we start with that, and from that kind of plus and minus type of reflection, then we’re able to start figuring out some of those strategies you’re talking about for how we actually help you thrive, because the work isn’t going away, the track meets of life aren’t going away, but there’s a way for you to still feel immensely different and more capable, more master of your own ship, and more at the helm rather than being pulled behind the boat.
Bonnie
I love that little tip of, you know, is it up arrow, sideways arrow, or down arrow in relation to how life-giving is this versus how draining is this, and that’s something that I’m definitely going to steal that and go through my calendar and do that check-in for myself, but when you were talking about some of the, you know, once you have that awareness, you’ve kind of like done that work for yourself, and you figured out without judgment where you’re getting energy, where your energy is getting, you know, zapped throughout the responsibilities that are on your plate, how do boundaries factor into that? Like, how important are boundaries in reducing decision fatigue? What are some ways that boundaries could look like for creative entrepreneurs?And if you’re new to implementing these boundaries with yourself and for yourself, how can we do that in a way that feels sustainable?
Josh
You know, I think there’s a lot of different directions we could go with that, so I love that you’re asking that question. I really start first with the abundance mindset of, okay, there’s plenty of work to do, there’s plenty of needs out there, and so the first thing I try to do is give myself permission to actually do what helps me thrive the most, and that’s going to be different from person to person. So I am someone, and this has shifted during different seasons, but in this season I’m someone that really likes kind of having some open space to start the day.Then I feel like I’m not sleeping poorly because I’m thinking about the 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. thing that I have going. I’m able to actually just feel like I’m leaving work at work when I go to bed and when I go home from work, and I’m able to pick up and then have a little bit of on-ramping in the morning. And so that’s one of the first things I try to figure out is, where am I thriving on my calendar?And then I try to kind of hold that space sacred for the creative work we do, and so I have certain spots, whether it’s Monday mornings, Thursday mornings, things that I’ve just been like, okay, this is my time to really do the important stuff, but it’s never urgent, and so that may be for many creatives absolutely just being like, this is when I get my work done. This is when I’m really able to just kind of lay everything aside. That would be the first area.The other area to that kind of plus arrow or up arrow, down arrow idea is starting to kind of even reflect on what is on there that might be grouped together. I’m actually a big believer when we’re talking about decision fatigue that we tend to be incredibly inefficient with our decisions, and so even just starting to set some mental boundaries first on when I’m going to think about things or where I start long before boundaries with other people. And so that idea of if I have my creative time in the mornings, and I know that’s when I’m going to do some of my work, then that gives me the ability to have the mental boundary when it’s the evening with loved ones or when it’s the morning and I’m doing my me time.I’m doing my prep for just me being a healthy person.
Bonnie
Yeah, that makes so much sense, and I like how you’ve kind of identified for yourself like those mornings. That is a really important sacred space. I think that when I look at my calendar, and this has taken years of kind of trial and error, but having the ability to kind of cultivate my schedule as a creative in a way that works for me and what that might look like in this season is only having certain days of the week where I’m available for calls, and the other days of the week are specifically for client work, therefore working on my own goals in the business, and having kind of that structure for myself, not, you know, as a recovering people pleaser, not being available to everybody when they need for me to be available or when they want for me to be available has actually been so powerful and kind of reclaiming that my schedule is my own and I get to customize that in a way that works for me, and that’s going to look different for everybody. Like I said, you know, for me, this was, you know, the current iteration of my calendar is not necessarily the one that I was using back in 2019, but here we are, and it’s working, so I think for those tuning in, if you haven’t yet, one easy thing to do that might kind of give you a little bit more white space and create a little bit more room for you to finally just catch your breath is looking at your calendar and asking yourself, is there a way that I can streamline this that works for my goals, that works with my energy, that works for how I want to be showing up, not just for my clients, but for myself? And that kind of leads me to another question around self-care. So, you know, we’re talking about these like practical strategies of, you know, how are we structuring our calendars, how are we assessing the tasks and the responsibilities on our plates in terms of life-giving, life-draining, the way that we’re talking to ourselves, the way that we’re carrying ourselves, the way that we’re treating ourselves, how does self-care show up in this conversation of decision fatigue?
Josh
I think one of the areas I see first is even when you’re starting to experience guilt or shame around the idea of just being joyful, especially for anyone in the creative sector, though I would say anywhere this would apply. If you are noticing that joy has now been kind of smeared over by guilt or shame or feeling of like, oh no, I should be doing this other things, I think that’s the first place to start of even addressing that head-on. And so that’s an area where absolutely a dear friend, counselor, whoever else, of just recognizing when I actually experience joy or when I rest, I feel guilty.I feel like we almost always have to at least ask that question of ourselves. Am I starting to squeeze things in on the weekend or feel like I need to multitask while I’m enjoying a moment with my show or with my friends or whatever it may be? That would be the first area.I think the second thing I would say with that too is just recognizing that there’s going to be ways to actually experience self-care that you really are able to do efficiently, that you’re able to do in a way that makes sense. And there’s going to be times like, for example, for many people, TV feels like self-care, but it’s so slow. No one just says, I just watched 10 minutes of my show and I’m good to go for the week.We say, no, I binge watched. That’s a phrase we have in our society because it’s such an inefficient and kind of passive form of self-care. So one of the things I encourage my clients to do and try to do myself is make sure that I’m actually self-caring actively, whether that is just doing something that I love, like being able to go on a walk, being able to actually do something with my hands, because my job is very much a mental one.So I like to rest by being active with my hands. And so actually making sure you set aside a good amount of time that’s pretty much held sacred. You’re not going to look at your phone.No one’s that better, but be intentional for that 30 minutes or hour rather than, well, I just kind of floated through my evening and I don’t actually feel all that much better, but there was sure a lot of hours on my Netflix account that got long.
Bonnie
Yeah, for sure. I’m curious for people who are cohabitating, for someone who maybe they live with their family, they live with roommates, they live with siblings or extended family, and they share that space, their home with someone else. What are some ways to kind of like broach that subject with the people physically in your home that like, hey, I’m needing some extra time right now.Can you kind of like help me hold this sacred? Are there ways to kind of broach that subject when you know that you need that time, you deserve that time, but they’re just the realities of people around you also want to talk to you. They might need something from you, kind of that sort of scenario.
Josh
One of the things I would at least start with there is I hope that these are loving relationships, even if it’s cohabitating roommates, someone that values you and wants you to thrive too, someone who is for you. If we can kind of assume that area, which as a therapist and marriage family worker, that’s always something that I don’t want to assume when I’m in the session, but we’ll assume it today, is even just knowing they are for you. They are for you thriving, your kids, your family members, even your pets.They can pick up and I know we are both major dog lovers and they can know in an instant, even our wonderful pets, if we’re having a hard day and they can kind of experience that. And so one of the things I do with my own kids is just be able to sit down with them and be like, hey, this is how I thrive. This is how I love things and I’m a better daddy whenever I’ve had this little bit of time here.And my kids know what my things are. They know whether it’s being able to watch my show, grilling, a walk, a video game, being able to do something that I love, like going kayaking, whatever those areas are, they can probably rattle them off as well as I could. And so you start with that with actually modeling for that loved one.This is what it looks like for me to self-care well and for me to have joy, even though I have this 30, $50,000 hour decisions to do. And so those are the areas that I at least start with is actually just having the conversation. And my hope is, especially with loved ones, then they’ll be like, that makes sense.Here’s what I love. And plenty of times it’s going to be a little bit of give and take. It’s going to be how do we both kind of help each other with those needs, but it’s also starting with you.You can’t wait until the kids all of a sudden magically give you time. You wouldn’t even see it until it was already too late or the cohabiting spouse or loved one or partner, whatever area you’re in actually just saying, no, this communication is the first place to start. And then seeing them very often be like, oh my gosh, I love that you’re doing that for yourself.
Bonnie
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And I think it’s so powerful to get to model that for the people that you share your home with.And when I think about the times that I have needed to communicate that to my husband, it has always been well-received and I’m so grateful for that. And it’s also been something that has allowed our relationship to kind of grow in different ways where you don’t necessarily think about this when you’re in the thick of pouring back into yourself and helping yourself recover from a long ongoing season of decision fatigue in some cases. But when you show up for yourself, it changes the way that you show up in relationships.And I do believe that those people that are for you that want the best for you, friends, family, loved ones, they see that and they respond positively to that. So it’s not the reason why we pour into ourselves, but one of the benefits of self-care is it can change the way that you show up in the relationships that matter most to you. And in a lot of ways, that’s an incredibly positive thing.
Josh
I think so. I kind of almost think of it like when you kind of give the hint or even the list of here’s a gift that I would love. It’s giving your loved one and the person you cohabitate with the ability to give you a gift, to respect that boundary, to be excited for you in it.And I think that area really helps with that kind of worst case scenario we can so often do as creatives and entrepreneurs. It helps us go from worrying about the future to actually anticipating the fun things of the future. And that little shift can make a world of difference in terms of our ability to overcome some of these decision fatigue areas.
Bonnie
Yeah. So obviously, we kind of have started to get into a little bit of what that looks like in your personal relationships, but for the creatives who have employees, who work with team members, who even sometimes with clients, we might need to have these conversations depending on the working relationship and the amount of availability that you offer your clients, right? We might need to have these conversations around boundaries and around availability so that we can do our best work for them.Obviously, that looks a little different for your employees versus your client, but how would you suggest we kind of approach those kinds of conversations or do we need to approach those conversations?
Josh
I think it totally depends on kind of the level of awareness on that. I think you start even just with the schedule, right, of just like, I know myself well and so this time in the morning is the time that I need. But when you have the client, the employee or the employer, right, that you’re needing to have these conversations, I think it’s going in a little confidently and also just self-aware of this is how I thrive.I really love this old scene from the movie Darkest Hour where Winston Churchill tells the King of England right after he’s been made prime minister seconds before, I nap at this time, sir. And so he actually is asking the King of England who is not a fan of him, this is what I need. He even says, this is necessary for me.And so I love that just kind of tenacity. I’m sure most of us would be kind of quivering our boots to say that even to someone that’s not a royalty. But even just knowing that this is what it means to actually treat myself with that type of dignity and honor of being self-aware and being able then to make the statement and the ask as best as is reasonable.This is how I function best. And I also try to then kind of give the benefit of the doubt. I try to hope and expect in a healthy way that this employee, employer, client, whoever actually really wants the work to be good and therefore me to be able to be good.And especially with creativity, you cannot give creativity if you’re not feeling creative, if you’re not overflowing. And so for healthy individuals in those areas, I’d say that’s almost a given is that these conversations tend to go much better than you expect.
Bonnie
Absolutely. And I’m grateful that I can attest from personal experience that that is the case when I’ve had conversations like this with a team member or with a client, just kind of communicating expectations, communicating availability, that’s always been well-received. And you’re right. I do think that the way you enter it kind of can dictate in a sense, the way that that might be received. And of course there are exceptions. Every person’s different. Every person is going through something different at any point in their life. So your mileage may vary, but I do find that if I am experiencing a little bit of a creative drought where I’m just not bringing my best ideas to a project, like if I’m doing, if I’m working on logo concepts for a branding client. And I’m just not getting there, and I’m just not creating anything I’m excited to present to the client, I have gone to the client and said, hey, I’m so excited to be playing a part in this journey for your brand! That being said, I need to update you that our timeline is changing a little bit. I’m excited to present to you what I have then.
I think that’s a very specific example for designers, but framing it from this place of “Oh, I’m so sorry I can’t meet this timeline!” to, “Here’s what I need to do my best work for you, my incredible client.”
leave a comment