Monthly Bonus: A look at focus

and how to get it back after a break

I’m a member of the international group of picture book illustrators called Illoguild. Each month, we each answer a question here on Substack. For January, that question is: “How do you refocus on your work after some time away?”

My answer: Start with one small habit.

I use a planner called The Maker’s Business Toolkit. When I’m not reading, writing or illustrating books for kids, I’m pretending to be a grownup that runs a small business. The title on my official business card reads, “Jen Gubicza, Maker of Fun Things.” I design and make ridiculous stuffed animal faux taxidermy, but what I’m really selling is humor & joy that you bring into your home. It’s a pretty neat job.

Anyway, back to that planner! It’s perfect for people who make things and has extra stuff that relates to running a small business, but the best tip I ever received inside that book was this: Write down the top three things you want to get done first thing in the morning and do them. Simple, effective and it provides a structure that makes my brain happy.

I’ve made some adjustments to this over the years, but for the first year I used the planner, I just wrote down three things every day. Then I did them and added three more when those were done.

What I learned while doing this: I love checking things off lists. I’m a “collect all the coins” in a video game, read the book before watching the movie, 1000 piece puzzle playing person. But I’m also a “if something doesn’t have a designated place to go in my studio the room quickly becomes a total wreck” type of person. I need simple and easy systems to thrive. And, if I was putting off doing one of the things on my list, that meant I had to break that one thing down into smaller steps. There’s nothing worse than leaving an item on a to-do list! So, I give myself permission to erase a goal if it’s troubling me, and do a smaller thing that moves me even an inch forward to completing a bigger goal. And, once you start checking off smaller steps, you’ll quickly move on and add the next step and the next.

Leveling up the top three things: Last year, I made categories for the top three things, because I was spending most of my time on my business and I have a goal of writing and illustrating a picture book, and I want to make sure I don’t burn out taking classes and working full time. So, I made three categories and one thing for each category goes on that list. One thing for my small business, one thing for my picture book career, and one thing for my health/wellbeing/joy. Some days one or two categories had tiny goals: read a picture book during lunch, get one order to the post office, text a friend I miss dearly. But that meant that the other categories would be taking up the majority of the list for the day, and that’s ok! Progress on everything that matters to me, no matter how small, is progress. Sometimes you just need to survive the day, so writing “survive” is ok too. It’s the habit of thinking about and writing three things down so you can check them off that works (at least for me).

So, when you’re back from a break, when you’ve put your to-do lists aside for a while, a great way to get started again is to list three small things in your planner or on a post-it note and do them.

Do you do something similar? I love to add, adjust and refine my systems when I learn new ways to do things. Share your tips for refocusing after a break in the comments!