Below are important things for creative folks, and for motion designers in particular
I've decided to drop subjects, that will be interesting for the audience and estimated the percentage from 0 to 100, of how interesting it could be for them. Then I've tried to select the topic that will be the best, so I'll be able to research it and write some interesting post about it. Later I've thought that each of these topics are important or a regular basis. And if we takes these subjective percentages and use them as minutes for repetitive tasks, it will be good starting plan for anyone, who seeks for ideas of planning routine.
I've calculated that here's around 1200 minutes. Looks impressive. But in hours it's just about 20. If we'll take a week, with 168 hours, let's remove 9 hours of sleep each day (who sleeps less - good boy, I'm bad). Roughly 100 hour remains for everything else. let's take out 3 hours per day for eating time. it's 80 hours left. and if we will spend 20 hours, for this plan, there will be 60 left for other things, 40 could take a full time job (if you have it) and still 20 left for evening time or leisure.
But it's just a rough estimation. The time I don't mention here is the time to switch between tasks. Usually I spend time for nothing, because I don't know what to do next, after I complete some tasks. And at this moment pops up some messengers, YouTubes, news, random readings.
By making own personal tracks of development I can make progress in each direction without spending time for finding tasks I'd like to do.
I just can open the file for each track and continue the work for this track, by spending maybe a minimal 2-5 minutes to setup everything. Everything starts from noting, sketching and developing own ideas or vision on the subject.
After preparing a substantial base for thoughts, it may bring an inspiration to make something practical, interesting, and valuable for you or someone.
But until you feel comfortable with this subject, it will be just an uncomfortable feeling of unfinished thought or task. And these tasks could be so many, that such feeling of losing everything, not finished tasks, jobs list will be following you everywhere.
Not finished tasks and jobs is OK. But Forgetting about them is much worse thing. It creates a stress on a subconscious level. And later you don't know the reason of your worries. Basically there's a lot of small reasons, collected during many years.
work for the clients 70% - animation is the top 5% of work that needs to be done by clients among the mountains of work they should do for their projects/businesses. Most of the time they need to solve some business things, work with webmasters, coders, marketers, designers, and maybe if there will remain a couple of hours and coins - then it will be paid for animation. That's the problem of this field. There's not so many companies, that can afford additional, unnecessary things like motion design. But video and animation is an attention winners, so don't underestimate the price of such work, just because a client doesn't have a budget. it's a laborious process, next time then. Improve personal brand. Do own projects instead. New clients will come instead, but still don't forget to look for them, just in case.
workspace 30 - making everything comfortable, not distracting is much more important than the fastest hardware. Some tasks are limited just by the ability to work normally. Fast computer is maybe 20% improvement in comparison to the proper work place. Clean, fresh, organized workspace is essential.
coding 10 - outlining the task and the goal very thoughtfully, building and optimizing the route to the goal. With the internet and AI it's much easier to do now. Coding is important for everyone, don't turn off your head. For someone 10 minutes each week is funny, but you can add more later, no problems.
drawing 40 - sketching frequently, training. it simply shapes your ideas more clearly.
color 40 - experiments, combinations, trained eye. Bad color combinations, I don't know, it looks ugly, and unprofessional.
productivity things 50 - no easy ways, it's needed to work hard, but what can be changed is the time spent on task. dedicating additional hour for the task that normally takes one hour makes it possible to accomplish it calmly, more attentively, on the higher level. Productivity helps with it, to save that 1 hour, by doing 4 routine tasks faster, saving 15 minutes each time. Yes, 15 minutes it's a lot. It's 90 defused bombs in CS:GO. Just kidding. But still it can be a lot sometimes.
personal projects 35 - from the script to the final render, it provides the chance to grow, and understanding of own real possibilities.
explainer videos 70 - simple animation, but complicated process. just as sketches, but animatics. Light personal project
a process learning 70 - research beautiful ideas in details, deconstructing project files of other motion designers
seasonal changes 40 - it happens, new year, summer time is not really the best time to look for new projects, better to do what's collected before or just to have rest if nothing is available. for a month or two. it's needed to plan accordingly, so this is the time to think about what you can plan for these Empty months. Learning something new seriously (taking some course) is also a good idea.
market 60 - it's big. especially for a just one freelancer. working with several clients already requires very high dedication, a lot of time. working only with the right clients is ideal for own growth as a motion designer. for improving portfolio, fight for good clients.
new clients 75 - portfolio, reels, new approaches in communication, tracking their reaction on what you propose or tell, ask for helping someone more experienced, maybe from other departments. For example Sales, Support, marketing team.
old clients 30 - just being good with any client, to return them much easier.
new level projects 45 - doing something small but complicated, advanced based on your previous experience.
experiments 30 - making cool things to replicate some designs, or shots from advanced projects
developing, preparing reusable assets 20 – something that will be ready for the use in next typical projects, templates, rigs, examples, projects, plugins, scripts. Collection folder.
searching for nice ideas 50 - finding good things after research and improvement
progress for the necessary result 25 - ability to finalize each important thing, spend 25 minutes more on some task to make it perfect.
creative inspiration 20 - best resources, archives
US and non-US freelancers 80 - agreements for collabs with other freelancers, presence in some local freelance communities, chats. MDA community, School of Motion Square, Lunchclub. And you can find more here: 12 Online Networking Apps to Make Professional Contacts
junior mid and senior roles responsibilities 50 - video companies, small clients. agencies difference. Learn own possibilities, work on the resume or interview communication. It helps to find the right company and discuss payment questions much easier.
business niches 60 - finding revolutionary tech niche or something that you like to learn, can be advantageous
work without clients 80 - social media, work with the crowd, own YouTube channel or making posts in other networks.
educational projects 30 - for your learning and discovery, for your channels, own ideas.
events 40 - personal brand, new connections, new knowledge, video calls, some exhibitions. Can be skipped for some weeks, but merged together during bigger events. Let's say once in 10 weeks, 3 days of traveling, visiting some conferences. 2-3 times a year.
competitions 20 - trials, challenges to boost the level. 1 hour once in a month.
design skills 40 illustration. Improving the design skills can't be a bad idea.
