This thing is killing your creative momentum
We talk a lot about inspiration, taste, and discipline. But far less about the hidden cost of jumping between multiple creative tasks in a single day, and what happens when you reclaim depth.
Every designer knows the feeling: you sit down to work, open the file, and within minutes your attention drifts toward something else. Another idea. Another task. Another piece of work that suddenly seems more urgent, more interesting, or simply easier to start.
You tell yourself it’s harmless, part of the job even. Creativity is fluid, unpredictable, sometimes chaotic. But if you look closely, a pattern emerges: the days you move between several creative problems rarely produce meaningful progress on any of them.
It’s not because the tasks are too hard.
It’s not because you lack discipline.
It’s something far more subtle.
A lot of designers try to solve too many creative problems in the same day.
“We don’t do our best work when we’re trying to solve multiple problems at once. Creativity requires an uninterrupted period where your unconscious mind feels it has time to play.” — John Cleese
Creative problems aren’t like operational ones. They don’t stack neatly. They don’t wait quietly in the background. Each one demands its own internal temperature: a different type of focus, a different emotional state, sometimes even a different version of you.
The shift between these worlds is where momentum evaporates.
Not instantly, but gradually, like a slow leak. You start on a direction that requires bold taste and long, uninterrupted thinking. Halfway through, a smaller task tugs at you. You switch. You return. You switch again. By the end of the day, your screen is full, but nothing feels anchored. Nothing feels like it “clicked.”
It’s not the amount of work that drains you.
It’s the fragmented intention behind it.
The most productive creative days usually share one thing in common: they center around a single heavy lift. One decision, one direction, one piece of work that demands real commitment.
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” — Steve Jobs
It’s not about doing less, but about choosing one creative world to stick with long enough to let ideas sharpen. Everything else; refinements, small tasks, admin, polish, can live around that center without contaminating it.
But when you chase multiple “main quests” in the same day, your mind never fully enters any of them. You hover. You touch. You circle. And then you wonder why nothing reaches the level you know you’re capable of.
Designers often blame themselves for this. They call it procrastination, perfectionism, or lack of inspiration or even productivity. In reality, it’s simply a mismatch between the weight of the work and the space you’re giving it.
Most people don’t need more hours.
They need fewer competing creative demands inside the same day.
The question isn’t: How do I get more done?
The question is: Which problem deserves my full creative momentum today?
Not juggling more creative worlds at once, but choosing the one that actually matters and staying with it long enough to do it justice.
Because once that one thing moves, everything around it becomes lighter.
Keep designing (One creative problem at a time)
-F