It's amazing how quickly an entire quarter of a year can pass by when you are just trying to meet every day as it comes.

In the span of three months, I had worked on a few short comics, spent two weeks out in New York, started on two book pitches, reduced down to writing a treatment for one pitch, dropped multiple projects (Sorry StrikeOut!), read a bunch of books, released a book, and produced some short promos and my latest book review...oh and Kathryn and I just closed on a house this past week.

If it sounds like I'm gloating, I sure hope it does, because to me it always feels like I never get as much done as I wanted to. I always bite off more than I can chew when it comes to my ideas and projects; it has served me well in the past when that ambition made me stand out in school and during my first few stints as a spunky, fresh-faced designer. Nowadays—a little more experienced, older, and a touch jaded—I've realized overfilling my cup is more a sign of being unfocused, rather than making me appear the eclectic I thought I was then.

Any time I'm not working a desk job, I realize how judicious I have to be with my time, in order to make sure it’s not wasted staring blankly at the wall (the wall nowadays being the endless, pointless feeds of internet content on my phone).

It's comical to think I needed the anxiety of my manager breathing down my neck to keep my butt glued to the seat and my hands and fingers working at the mouse and keyboard. And for a while, I thought productivity depended on whether I worked from home or not, but you can always argue that you lose just as much screwing around at home as you do trying to stay awake after lunchtime at the office.

The real issue at work here is my resolve.

In a previous blog I've mentioned Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, a self-help book about managing your creative blocks and identifying areas of resistance. Resistance, in Pressfield's terms, refers to the self-imposed forces that we put up against ourselves; the hurdles and excuses we use to stand in our own way. It's hard to overcome these barriers of our own making—I know for me personally, I only need the slightest excuse to skip the flossing and my face-wash routine before heading to bed. This happens a lot.

I've been trying to work on my routine, and it has helped me greatly to keep up weekly stints of productivity. I'm getting better at tracking my to-do's, learning to take those tasks a few at a time, and logging the ins and outs of my days. If you ever feel that time is fleeting, you can get a better perspective of how far you've come when you leave markers along the way.

Yet, I still struggle when my routine is shaken up, like my two weeks in New York—without my work space, corner coffee spot, and my cool San Francisco climate, I was lost to my resistances.

I gave a workshop on Photoshop to a class of high schoolers earlier this week, and the moment one of the student's laptops ran out of battery, they folded up their Dell and called it quits. It didn't occur to them to grab a charger or any of the other charged computers at their disposal. I saw in that kid the way I easily fold to the slightest inconvenience or change to my environment.

Nothing happens overnight, and building habits is never easy, but a little every day goes a long way; the least I can do is try.

Yours (for real),

Josue Cruz

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⚠️ CONTENT ZONE ⚠️

This is the part I try to sell you on something.

Check out my latest book recommendation for Jeremy Sorese's Curveball! I dive more into story structure and writing in this one, with a little bit of a surprise twist in the middle.

Puppy Knights: Quest for the Golden Bones is out!! I'm super proud of the work Mike and I put into this one. If you haven't gotten a copy of the book you can buy it anywhere books are sold, or straight from the publisher here! Paper, hardcover, and digital available!