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February 20, 2007

Lazy Bastard

Before I moved to Orlando, I had very poor habits. I wasn’t the most responsible person in the world. In fact, I really had no idea how to handle myself, let alone my money. Of course, it wasn’t something I could see at the time. It’s amazing how much your eyes open when your get out of the boiling water.

I knew fairly quickly, being on my own for the first time without any kind of family support, I’d have to adopt some serious money-saving habits. The initial decision was quite easy considering I had no other option. Either save my money or spend it all eating out and buying shit I don’t need (which would lead to late rent). One option leads to security, the other leads to love handles and homelessness.

I wanted to share the steps I took in getting a handle on my life on a daily basis. Maybe it can help you, maybe not.

Finances. Use Quicken or something similar to log all your transactions. Or at the very least, a good system. I started using Quicken for all my financing. It has saved me hours of time and many tears. Unfortunately, money is right up there in terms of importance, so make sure you have everything under wraps. Know your numbers before spending. And always keep in mind when you eat out. That’s what gets you fast.

Saving money. First thing I did was put away 15% of my paycheck every month, no questions asked. Starting off the month with less is easier than keeping it and hoping to have saved that much. With that much saved each month I could then calculate how much to stick in my Money Market account and my Roth IRA (look ‘em up if you don’t know already). Everything else kind of falls into place once you know how much you have to spend each month after saving. Don’t forget to set aside enough each month to pay your insurance deductibles and, ahem, taxes (I learned that one the hard way). Uncle Sam doesn’t mind using the fist.

To-do lists. I tried to remember every responsibility I had before moving. When that percentage doubled in a week I knew I had to make a change. Luckily, iCal saved me. I love this app. I categorized my home and work life accordingly, and started logging every responsibility or task in the right side bar (aka, the To-Do list). At the time, I didn’t think this process would make much difference. It has. The simple process of looking at each task brings it all to the forefront, instead the back of your mind. If not iCal, write them down. All of them. Every task is important. The less you accomplish, the longer the list. I’m still hoping one day I’ll mark the day I have no tasks in my list. Alas, that ain’t gonna happen until monkeys fly out of my…

Furthermore, I adopted categories and a hierarchy. Know exactly what takes importance in your life, and work towards it first. Knowing your totem pole is important. From experience, I know you’ll have less trouble tackling the bigger things when you’re not focusing on the smaller things. The most important tasks in your life are just that: important. Do not put them off. I put off every important responsibility in my life. It made my life harder. Do yourself a favor: tackle the most difficult tasks now. It’ll pay off tomorrow. (Yeah, not that I take this advice to heart every day!)

And design. If you’re a designer just starting out, try and remember one thing: You will fuck up. No way getting around that. You’re going to miss something—a url, name, address, who knows—and it will burn you a bit. Your best bet is to take it as a lesson and never do it again. I once had the wrong url in a direct mailer. The client was cool, but the situation was not. That little mistake cost me some ground. I gained it back after taking the situation head on. Ever since then I doucle/triple/quadruple check address, names, and URLs. Yes, I am very paranoid now about that information. I’d rather be, though, then careless. Carelessness with copy leads to less clients. Proof every single word you typeset. Consider yourself a designer and editor. Blame always comes back to the designer. Nature of the job.

Also, as a designer I had to learn which tasks are most important during certain projects. Don’t flow copy first before concepting the idea. The idea is the most important. It’s rather silly to point this out, but numerous times I found myself tackling smaller design issues rather than focusing on the idea. Whatever your process is, stick to it. Rather simple, but knowing your process helps your life as a designer.

These are just a few steps I took in organizing my life. My days are filled with less worry because of these steps. They may seem silly to you, I don’t know. Everyone has their own path. Whatever it is, work towards it and keep everything in perspective.

Clamoring






    
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