Stress - Friend or Foe?

Hello all,

I realize I have slacked off on my blogging duties but I am dealing with a bit of stress these days and am trying to figure out if it is helping or hurting my productivity in my professional work flow.

One of the things I am dealing with as a "freelance" design studio is the fact that clients (I love each and every one of you by the way) may not follow scheduling as diligently as I try to. The world of design is plagued with deadlines and that is a good thing because it keeps you focused on a never ending list of to-do's... BUT if more than one client doesn't turn in information in a timely manner, let's say multiple clients do the same thing it, it stacks the work, makes deadlines slip by like the wind and adds a tremendous amount of stress to a person like me that is all about hitting my marks,or deadlines.

If you are an up and coming designer this is a good post for you to read and take to heart, the things that will help you in these situations are:

1. Good Communication - this is the most important bit of advice I can pass along, keep your clients informed and explain what is going on, most clients are good people and can understand if they are informed of what is causing the delays.

2. Continue to produce quality work - if a client has selected you to the job they are going to be a little flexible because they want you to do the work, make sure you give them your best, that is often worth a little delay in production.

3. Stay focused and try to make up for lost time - The best way to get to the finish line is to stay focused, which in my case can get hard sometimes because it seems there is too much to do... stay focused and finish one thing at a time, eventually you will get caught up.

So back to my original thought about stress being a friend or a foe.... I find it to be a bit of both no matter how you look at, stay positive, stay focused, and stay happy and the rest will fall into place.

Peace - Jeff

Wanted to take a minute to thank Jules for leaving a very sweet comment on one of my posts, I appreciate the love, this quote is for you:

Quote:  A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

- Albert Einstein