Staying Constantly Motivated as a Creative 💪🏽

Reading time: 4 minutes

BTW I renamed the newsletter. Design with Intent is now The Panda Files.

New name. New logo. Same purpose.

As a designer and generally as a human being it can be difficult to stay motivated towards your goals. I’ve had messages in the past asking how I personally maintain motivation when it comes to my work, so I thought to compile 5 of my personal methods and share it with you all, in hopes that it may help someone who needs it.

But first, here’s a design meme:

Let’s begin.

1️⃣. Notes to the Self. ✍🏽

I’ve always had a habit of writing notes which I often read and remind myself why I do the things I do. These can be anything from Deen related reminders to my personal ambitions or goals.

I first started this while I was studying Graphic Design at University in order to get me through the deadline periods. Below you’ll see a photo of my desk from 2012 where I had a piece reading “Dream. Believe. Achieve.”

Now, every week I make a new note in my planner so each time I open it up to look at my tasks I find a message that I need at that moment in time. Here are some of them:

I call them Notes to the Self and it helps me stay focused and also reminds me to keep pursuing this creative journey I’m on. This could be useful if you feel like you don’t have others to encourage you. Sometimes you need to be your biggest motivator. I’d like to see some of your notes if that’s what you do too.

2️⃣. Use Pain to Progress. 🌠

We've all faced ups and downs and I often remind myself of the low points in my life to stay grateful for what I have and to avoid certain events from occuring again. One significant experience was when I was living in Dubai in 2018 with only around £900 with no other source of income and still had expenses to pay for in the UK. Watching my bank balance drop every so often had me feeling anxious (but the sunshine made it better). And all of this was happening whilst trying to survive in my new home. But I was determined to get myself out of this situation and told myself I can’t let this happen again. This incident is one of many that I use to motivate myself to grow.

The bad times can either hold us back or fuel our drive to do better.

Personally I like to turn my pain into progress. And I think you should too.

3️⃣. Look At Those Who Have Done What You Want To Do. 💭

Think of where you want to be with your goals and business. Does it feel out of reach? If it really was impossible then your creative and design heroes wouldn’t have made it. Remind yourself that if they can do it, YOU can do it too. Especially with our deen on our side. There’s no excuses.

Each time I look at my creative heroes I feel excited and eager to gain a win like their’s. You can look at someone’s success and think “wow, that must be nice.” and get on with your day. Or you look at it and tell yourself “Let me try and do that too”. A lot can happen when you just try.

Be bold and adventurous because you’ll never know what awaits until you take the first step. Don’t focus on “what if something goes wrong and I fail?” Instead, ask yourself “what if it goes well and I win?”.

So what are you waiting for? Go and do your thing.

4️⃣. Keep This Formula In Mind 💭

I shared this post in 2018 on my Instagram and it’s a emoji-infographic of how I view my goals:

Correct actions and faith (through du’aa (supplications), tawakkul (trust in Allah), rajaa’ (hope) is a bridge between you and your goals. And I sincerely believe that when you implement this formula you can unlock greater things (through Allah’s permission).

So tie your camel and have tawakkul. 🐪

5️⃣. Surround yourself with people who see the best in you and support you. 🤝🏻

The people around you can make you feel like you’re unstoppable like Super Mario once he grabs a Power Star…

… Or they can make you feel like you’ve been burnt by Bowser’s fire breath followed by a “Game Over” screen.

So having people who want to see you win or those who are equally ambitious will help you too. Sometimes we get burnt out or we face hurdles along the way, it’s inevitable and it’s easy to lose our drive and focus. So hold onto the right people who encourage you to keep your head up and keep going. Here’s a little message that left me feeling super pumped from a close friend of mine when we were discussing our current challenges.

Good company and good words are contagious.

If you’re a creative reading this, I hope it helped. And as always, if you need some creative motivation feel free to reach out. We’re in this together.

Have a good weekend and Asalaamu alaikum.

Samee