Happy New Year Reader! 🎉

I hope things are going well for you.

I feel like people are being crazier than usual with the January challenges and discipline obsession 🤨 (have you noticed this too? Don't let 'em get to ya.)

If you asked me how I spent 2025, I'd probably say something like:

"learning how to support myself"

or

"learning how to work in my own way"

which both sound SO vague and wishy-washy. What do these things mean!!!

I'm gonna tell you about what they mean for me.

This week, I put together a "My Working Style" document.

It was based on a couple months of recording + analysing my work and energy patterns (I used a combo of my notebook and ChatGPT to do this).

It features:

• how I work best
• what causes problems
• types of tasks (+ what sort of mood or energy they suit best)
• options for reducing resistance to a task

I thought I'd share a few key points from it here.

Not so you can copy me, because we probably aren’t the same.

But hopefully it gives you a chance to reflect on your own experiences with these things.

I'd like to think that paying attention to details like this

(rather than being like "why can't I just DO this?!")

is what will make 2026 genuinely great.

1. Structured creative work is my most productive mode

This is predictable creative tasks in familiar formats.

For example, familiar client work like copywriting.

It usually has some kind of visible measure of progress e.g. word count going up.

It's the kind of thing I can do even on days when I am tired or overwhelmed.

This is a core strength! I should aim to do more of this type of work.

The key is that it has low emotional load.

It doesn't require thinking about deeper stuff like sharing values.

It also doesn't require being "visible" i.e. where I'm thinking about how others perceive me.

2. Stacking different load types doesn't work

Days that mix:

• outreach (looking for new clients)
• business strategy planning
• visibility (e.g. social media, sending emails/DMs)
• personal tasks (e.g. chores, music or art)
• etc etc

quickly become overwhelming.

It's the rapid switching of contexts.

Sort of like holding too many "doors" open at once.

Tasks that have a high emotional load (like sending an email that I'm nervous about)

don't mix well with tasks that have a high cognitive load (like planning a new service I want to offer).

Separating tasks by type is way less stressful!

3. I build momentum through completion, not motivation

Finishing things reduces stress a lot more compared to planning things.

Once I get a sign that something is "done", I have a lot of energy freed up for other things.

Partial progress on something without any sense of completion drives me nuts.

Sitting down and planning out a whole project step-by-step also drives me nuts. (Better to just start and complete the first step.)

4. Sometimes… tasks become obligations

I had “play piano” on my to-do list for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Why?

It does sound vague.

And not that enticing.

But mainly, I’d assigned a deeper meaning to it.

Something like “overcome creative block” or “become a better version of myself”.

This makes small things feel like mammoth tasks. Really offputting.

When what I really needed was to just sit down for 15 mins and play something fun.

I've been looking at ways around this.

I’m more likely to engage with emotionally loaded areas when:

• they are optional, not required
• the task feels specific and doable
• there is choice within the task
• the outcome isn’t tied to my identity

I struggle when tasks are:

• too vague (“work on X”)
• too loaded (tied to self-esteem, possible to fail)
• not adaptable (either do the whole thing or nothing)

Things like using permission focused langauge — "try, experiment with, stop whenever".

Creating a neutral starting point so I don't have to rely on courage or willpower to start — "roughly draft the email, just do 5 minutes".

Using a picker wheel to randomly choose between a few options.

Putting this information together is very validating.

It shows that I'm not inconsistent.

When I create the right conditions, I can be fast, focused, reliable, innovative.

I'm gonna use this info from now on to plan my weeks.

Thoughts? Anything you relate to? You're welcome to reply and share with me 😊

Much love,

Damon

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