How I Stay Productive as a Designer

Tips and tricks I have learned over the time to stay productive as a creative person — through rituals, reflection, deep focus, and smart collaboration

Feb 9, 2025

As a designer, staying productive isn’t just about checking boxes — it’s about making space to think, create, collaborate, and reflect. Over time, I’ve built a few personal rituals and systems that help me focus on outcomes, not just hours worked. Whether I’m deep in design, reviewing Jira tickets, or mapping out a roadmap, these practices help me stay grounded and keep moving forward.

Setting Up Daily and Weekly Rituals

Rituals are how I give shape to the chaos. They don’t have to be perfect — they just have to support momentum.

Morning journaling in Rosebud: Each day starts with a free-form journal where I write about what’s on my mind and what I want to accomplish. With AI helping surface patterns or insights, it’s my favorite way to set intentions and clear the mental clutter.
Top 3 priorities board in Notion: When I settle into my workspace, I check my Notion board. It prompts me to write down the top three things to get done — everything else goes into the backlog.
Prepping for meetings: Every morning, I jot down a few quick notes for my meetings for the day. What’s the agenda? What do I want to get out of it? Taking this time upfront helps make the meeting more intentional and actionable.
Daily and weekly reflection: I try to reflect at the end of the day (when I can!) to celebrate small wins or call out things that didn’t go quite right. But the weekly reflection is non-negotiable — every Friday, I look back on the week and ask, “What worked? What didn’t? What should I try differently next time?”

These small rituals keep me focused and help me continuously improve how I work — without getting overwhelmed.

Task Management and Prioritization

Designers juggle a lot — from feature work to cross-functional collaboration. Here’s how I stay on top of it:

Personal to-do board + team backlog: I use a personal to-do board in Notion for small daily tasks, but in team settings, I rely on JIRA to track and prioritize design work. Adding context, notes, and details makes a big difference — especially when grooming the design backlog.
Capturing decisions: After every meaningful meeting or significant progress made in the project, I update the corresponding Jira ticket. That way, the context is always available — for me and anyone else who needs to catch up.
Quarterly prioritization using Eisenhower Matrix: Once a quarter, I map out tasks using the “Important/Urgent” matrix. It helps me separate the must-dos from the nice-to-haves, and sketch out a roadmap with a clear focus.

Deep Work and Focused Sessions

Productivity isn’t just about organizing tasks — it’s also about creating the conditions to focus.

Coworking for separation: Even when working remotely, I rent a coworking space. That physical separation between home and work is a game-changer for deep, uninterrupted work.
Time blocking for hard tasks: I’m a morning person, so I block off the first part of my day to tackle hard design problems before meetings start to stack up.
Work with your energy, not against it: Everyone has different energy rhythms. For me, mornings are gold. For others, it might be late at night. The key is to plan your deep work around when you naturally focus best.

Collaboration and Iterative Work

Design is a team sport. And productive collaboration starts with structure.

Weekly project check-ins: Whether it’s with another designer or a product pod, I set up weekly check-ins. They’re optional if there’s nothing urgent, but they help create accountability and avoid over-designing in a vacuum.
Kickoff meeting for each project: As someone leading the project, it's important to share the context with everyone in the group. A kickoff meeting with the team sets everyone on the same page about the context, goal and timeline.
Design reviews: Weekly design reviews are a goldmine for feedback. It’s a great way to tap into the strengths of other designers — whether that’s visual polish, motion, or interaction flow.
Retro for projects: For bigger projects, project retros give incredible insights into how I can do better as a designer and a team leader.

Research and Thinking Work

Design also requires thinking time. Also this is the hardest part because being innovative and inspired is something that a Pomodoro method or roadmaping exercise is not going to help me get to the next level. Lately, I’ve been using AI as a research assistant and sounding board. It helps me get up to speed faster, organize messy ideas, and even challenge assumptions I hadn’t noticed. It’s like having a design partner that never gets tired of whiteboarding. Read more about how I am using AI as a designer.

Wrapping Up

At the end of the day, staying productive as a designer isn’t about being busy — it’s about being intentional. Whether it’s through journaling, thoughtful meeting prep, or carving out time for deep work, these habits help me stay focused on what really matters. Design is both a craft and a process, and the way we work shapes the quality of what we create.

And if you’re still figuring out your own rhythm? That’s okay too. Start small, try what works for you, and remember: progress beats perfection.