Preserve your mind

When you work as a freelance illustrator, things can get stressful very quickly… But what’s great is that you can put some measures in place to make sure your mental and physical well-being are being looked after properly. You’re in charge of everything when it comes to your work life and this is great, because it means you can put yourself first and listen to your gut. You’re free to create a schedule that works for you and say yes or no to projects coming your way. The thing is, when you’re building your own career, it will feel harder to stop and breathe sometimes, but it’s essential that you find time to recharge your batteries and preserve your mental health.

You can listen to the lesson…

Or you can read it!

Set up boundaries

The first thing you want to do is make sure you set boundaries for yourself. Don’t let people define the way you work. You’re your own boss, so no one will be demanding that you work 9-5 everyday, but you might still want to set up a routine for yourself. A routine may help with your productivity (I know it does for me). What’s great is that you’re the one defining that routine, so if you work better early in the morning, you can do that and finish your workday early in the afternoon. If you’re a night owl, you can switch things around so that you can work whenever you’re the most productive. When you run your own business, it can feel tempting to always be looking at your emails, your social media and anything else related to work. Please refrain from always being on your phone or computer and make sure to set up boundaries. Don’t answer emails after 6 or 7pm unless it’s urgent-urgent (and no, not everything is urgent!). Don’t aimlessly scroll on social media in the middle of the day or night (I personally leave my phone downstairs, far, far away from the bedroom). Don’t work on weekends unless you really need or want to. These are some of my rules, but of course, I encourage you to create your own set of rules to remain sane and healthy because no one knows you better than you do.

Learn to say no

An important part of preserving your mental health is that you should learn to say no. You can’t be working all the time and you shouldn’t say yes to anything that comes your way. By now, you must know what you love and what you want to do and you should stay focused on that. If you start saying yes to all the projects that come your way, especially if they aren’t that great, it can quickly get soul-crushing. Saying no to a project doesn’t mean you’ll never get work again. It really doesn’t! Saying no shows clients that you have agency over your own career. It’s nice if you can explain why you’re saying no to them but you also don’t necessarily have to, if you don’t want to. You don’t owe them anything. If it’s just a gut feeling that tells you they won’t be nice to work with, you don’t have to write it down in the email, you can just remain polite and decline. If the brand is cool but for instance, you’re trying to work with eco-friendly brands and this one is lacking good eco-credentials, you can voice this out in an email to them. You could tell them that if they become more sustainable in the future, you’d be interested in working with them. There are multiple ways you could say no in a non-offensive manner. What’s important is that you carefully select the jobs you say yes to, because your mental health will depend on them! I want you happy and healthy when working on projects you’re truly passionate about.

Don’t work with assholes

The biggest tip I could ever give you is this one. Don’t work with assholes. No amount of money will ever make up for a horrible client treating you badly. You’re worth more than this. You deserve all the respect in the world and you shouldn’t have to deal with assholes on your path to happiness within your career. So, how do you spot assholes? It’s not easy, especially in our digital age. And the thing is, you have to spot them early…so you can say no to them. If we’re being realistic, you will probably encounter some assholes along the way, it’s almost inevitable, but it will teach you about yourself and it will help you spot them next time. The first and most efficient way to spot assholes is by listening to your gut and understanding your first reaction from their first contact with you. It could be an email, a phone call, a DM. No matter how they got in touch, you can tell a lot from the first message a client sends you: look at the tone, the grammar, the punctuation, the way they express what they want. If they aren’t polite, mispronounced (or didn’t write) your name, want things done asap, aren’t sure they have a budget, want you to show them what it could look like first…etc. All these things could be signs that you’re dealing with an asshole.

Block out the noise

Don’t get distracted by what other people are doing or saying. Stay on your course, your journey is unique to you and you don’t need to worry about other illustrators. Of course, it’s lovely to grow a community and see what everyone is doing but try not to compare yourself with other individuals. I’m sure you already know that comparison is the thief of joy…but I think it’s also the thief of productivity. Do your own thing and block out the noise as much as possible.

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