Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you :
I’m Monica, i work as an illustrator and graphic designer, i like to travel, to sing, and spend time with family and friends . Dislike ironing clothes, unkindness, and noisy music in the supermarket.
Your current job :
Illustrator and graphic designer
In which city are you located?
Tegucigalpa (Honduras)
A word to define what kind of worker you are :
Intuitive
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
pencil, notebook, macbook, tablet and markers.
What does your office space look like?
I work from home, my studio is very luminous, it has a lot red bricks. There are three tables, one for the laptop, one for painting, and the third for cutting. I keep many books around, from Jamie Oliver to Erich Fromm.
What kind of music do you listen when you are working?
Lately I’ve been into Nina Simone, Julia Holter, Vivaldi, Willis Earl Beal and back to Yo La Tengo early albums.
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work?
Yes, I write down to-do lists on my notebook, it’s a very important thing for me, I can’t get used to evernote or those kinds of apps. I check the list at night and feel happy if I accomplish everything. It’s like having daily mini goals.
What tips would you give to improve productivity?
Keep a to-do list! and if you’re feeling lazy, distracted or down, think that Milton Glaser or whoever you admire it’s probably working right now, so cheer up and work.
You’re better than your colleagues to:
Find amazing in-sale products
What is the best advice anyone has given you ?
“Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of self-surrender”, it’s quote from the Bagadav Gita that I read, when I was 19, in J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. It’s very important advice that I remind to myself when I’m feeling overwhelmed or too ambitious.
What is your best tip for saving time ?
Call before you go somewhere. Learn to use the email. Speak your mind and thoughts with respect.
What is your routine start and end of the day ?
I get up very early around 6:30 am, get ready and have a good breakfast. After that, I drive to the office, I work half time in an In-House. In my desk, I write down my tasks, and start from the most important to the less important. If I have a creative thing to do (sketching, concepts, etc) I try to do it in the morning. In the afternoon, I come back to my home studio, and work there until 7 pm, if I have a lot of work to do, I finish around 10 pm.
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not you go without?
Calculator
