This is the second post of our series “Life in a Digital Agency”. The first article on the series covered the role of a content marketer.
9:00 – 10:00 AM – Each Morning comes with the excitement and freshness of new ideas and concepts. Unfortunately, old designs also tend to resurface at this time with requests for multiple changes.
Why do I so hate multiple changes to a design? Aside from the monotony of the task, a design loses its joy for its maker after the third revision. It has now lost the essence of what he created and mutated to an ugly and unrecognizable hybrid of his own imagination and the clients demands. But I digress.
I start the day by reading my emails and engaging in some playful banter with the office boy Kamlesh. I then list my tasks on paper (my notepad is now almost full!). If my workload is relatively light, I surf through the Internet for inspiration and then complete a small task before the end of the first hour. On busy days, I stifle my urge to procrastinate and begin immediately.
10:00 – 11:00 AM – By the second hour, my mind is fairly into the task that I am performing – either creating a graphic for social media or working or UX-UI for a client. I block my mind to external distractions, which however, is an exercise performed in vain.
11:00 – 12:00 AM – Second breakfast time! Yes, I have a hearty breakfast at home before leaving for work. But as colleagues begin with requests for mundane tasks, I do something exciting to liven up what I find it the dullest hour of the day.
It reminds me of the days I used to spend studying for exams. The mind just refuses to focus on tasks it finds trivial!
12:00 – 13:00 PM –Before lunch, I’m usually in a rush to finish at least half of my tasks for the day. Creativity is a sly mistress and it tends to retreat if you push it too hard. It needs to be coaxed by reading about art, by learning about new techniques and new projects, and most importantly, by observing the world. Unfortunately, I’m a graphic designer for an extremely busy digital agency and not an artist in Paris! Due to lack of time, I moodily sit at my computer and finish my tasks .
13:00 – 13:30 PM – Lunch Time. I never ask my mother what she packed for lunch. It presents an opportunity for a daily surprise in my life- and one that’s not always pleasant!
13:30 – 14:00 PM – I begin where I left off as my task list gets longer as the hours of the day get shorter. It’s a struggle to get everything done before 6:00 PM so that I can leave the office with a leisurely evening ahead of me.
14:00 – 15:00 PM – Every morning, I wake up with a promise to do something creative. But After lunch, that resolve disappears as lethargy slowly creeps in and robs me of my will. This is the time when I fight sleep with coffee and try to get something done.
15:00 – 16:00 PM – The evening is close enough to promise relief in terms of rest and recreation. I see the same hope on the faces of my colleagues around, and we celebrate by indulging in oily, unhealthy snacks that I occasionally manage to resist!
16:00 – 17:00 PM – Crisis time! Account Managers come with panic-stricken requests and tasks, as deadlines look set to be breached.
17:00 – 18:00 PM – My final hour of the day, if everything goes well! However, there have been moments when I forget something important or someone unpleasantly remembers a task that I was supposed to perform right at the moment of my exit, and I am held back. Otherwise, I try to keep my productivity and efficiency consistent with on-time performance and deliverance.