Hello, fellow creative!
Maybe you can relate.
I barely took time off in the last couple of years. Even though New Zealand wasn’t affected as severely as other countries by the pandemic, we still couldn’t leave our country and hoped to come back anytime. So I started to feel the ‘island-fever’, which I didn’t believe existed. I live in Wellington, and although New Zealand is regarded as one of the most beautiful countries on the Earth, I still would like to leave and discover new places from time to time. And when you are not allowed or can’t get back to your country, it’s hard. It makes you rethink why you live here.
So in the last two years, I’ve been hustling. I added so many new channels to my mini business…because this is the game we need to play. It’s not enough to pick your niche, and you gotta be everywhere on social media…because your people are also everywhere. You need to be on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit. You need to join Facebook groups, and you have to join Discord and Slack communities. You need to write on Medium, Substack, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You have to have a blog. You need to have a YouTube channel and also have a podcast while you’re at it. You need to create shorts, reels, tiktoks. Short-form and long-form videos. You have to engage with your community; otherwise you cannot build anything. Well, it’s a lot. I felt it was a lot.
I barely took time off in the last couple of years. I kept hustling along with my full-time job and side projects. I mean, I am building something here. I have a huge plan with the profit I make (stay tuned what it is…not sure when I announce it. It depends when I reach the goal).
So, it was time to take a rest. I felt I had to prioritize my mental peace. A break was needed.
As a good Eastern-European family, we never went on holidays when I was a kid. So taking a break, a real break, is not something that comes to me naturally. But I needed it in December last year. So I took four weeks off of work. Technically, I was still employed in January. However, I only went back for a day to sort out some administrative things and handed over my hardware. The break was much needed. But have you felt that you are not really on a break in the last couple of years when you're on holiday? I was worried about my streak, follower counts, not posting stuff and engaging etc. I was also recovering from my previous work and mentally preparing myself for the next challenge in my professional life. But I was worried about numbers and statistics. I had to ask myself, do I want to live a life with that much pressure from outside? Or did I put this pressure on me, and no one expects these things from me, except me?
I think I put things into perspective now. It helped a lot when I temporarily disabled one of my Instagram accounts…thousands of followers. If you’re one of them, you might have noticed. I might come back at some point.
Anyways, I'm excited to be back in February with some great content for you.
Videos I created in February, check them out!
15+ Tips to design FASTER & BETTER in FIGMA | Speed up your design workflow | Figma tutorial Link to video
15+ Figma tips and tricks to make you a faster and better designer. I put together a list of my favourite shortcuts to speed up your design workflow in Figma.
🙌 Link to Windows and Mac shortcuts
There are a few differences in shortcuts on Mac and Windows, so make sure you check out this link, especially if you're on Windows (I'm a Mac user).
Are you a 10x designer? The ONE thing you need to do to be a better designer. Link to video
Are you a 10x designer? If you'd like to be a better designer, here's my best tip you can apply immediately to your design process — the ONE thing you must do to improve your design skills. Success is guaranteed.
Website design in WEBFLOW | bug fixes 🪲 | Mailchimp & Webflow integration Link to video
Episode 2 of my webdesign process (website redesign process): bug fixes in Webflow, styling, adding new colour and fonts, creating pages, integrating Mailchimp with Webflow. Watch how I worked through the challenges.
How to get better at UI visual DESIGN | Copywork to improve design skills fast | Level up! Link to video
I spill the SECRET. The only secret you need to get better at UI (user interface) visual design is copy work. Learn how to apply copy work in visual UI design to improve your design skills.
I curated a great list of Design blogs for you. Take a look and see if you like them too.
By the way, I’m a writer for two publishers on the list. You might have come across one of my articles on Medium before. Feel free to say hi to me there.
I’m closing this newsletter with my most popular tweet in February (the idea is from Tim Denning). Did I just become Twitter-famous for a couple of hours? LOL.
As always, if there's anything you'd like to see me cover in future newsletters, don't hesitate to let me know. You can always message me. I read all of my emails and messages; and I reply to them myself.
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading. See you in March.