Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you :
Creative-corporate hybrid. Proud reality shaper.
Your current job :
Lead Designer & Video Content Strategist
In which city are you located?
Brussels
A word to define what kind of worker you are :
Life Hacker
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
Pen & paper, my , Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, ️ the Sun
What does your office space look like?
I’m a bit of a nomad, in the sense that I like to move around a lot when I work.
Sometimes I work from here:
Other times (when I can do without my mouse) I work from here:
What kind of music do you listen to when you are working?
I try to listen to audiobooks while I’m working, because stories inspire me better than music does. When I DO listen to music, it’s mostly very upbeat, workout-style music.
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work ?
Yes. I make a to do list in the morning, placing everything that is quicker to do at the top. That way, by noon, I mostly have 60-75% scratched off the list, which encourages me to finish up the larger / scarier projects of the day.
What tips would you give to improve productivity ?
Work smarter, not harder. Put a lot of thought you start the actual work. Sometimes, you come up with quicker and a lot more efficient ways of finishing the project just by questioning what needs to be done. Do not take any brief for granted, think of what the needs and resources are and then try to focus most of your energy in the part of the work that creates the greatest impact (see Pareto’s rule for more on this).
You’re better than your colleagues to :
Find hacks and shortcuts; tell the difference between colours.
What is the best advice anyone has given you ?
My dad always told me to never follow the crowd and think for myself. It worked out pretty well in the end.
What is your best tip for saving time ?
Be creative about how you approach the task.
I recently had to do an based on a Powerpoint presentation. The only trick was that I had post-poned the task so much, that I only had 10-15 minutes left to deliver it.When you get into that much trouble with time, you panic and it activates your lateral thinking. So I very quickly animated some elements in the presentation itself, added some transitions between the slides, popped it open on fullscreen and recorded the screen while I was going through it. I then chopped off a few seconds from the beginning and the end (which showed the mouse pointer turning the slideshow on and off and ending the video capture) and added music.
The result was not my best work, but it duly served its purpose.
To be fair, this was a nomination video for employee of the month, so it was internal, and the story would have always held center-piece.But had I not been so constrained by time, I would have never thought of this solution.
It not only worked, but it won against 2 other video nominations. Needless to say I was very proud of my hack.
What is your routine start and end of the day ?
I’m not sure I’ve managed to make a routine out of it yet, but I like to annoy my boyfriend very early in the morning and read right before I go to bed.
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not you go without?
I have a gaming mouse which I never let go of, it’s super sleek and useful for my work.
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