I've been thinking about some things that have helped my productivity. I'm still trying to get better, but I figured maybe I should offer my experience to others, in case it's helpful:
📱 I got rid of all the social media apps on my phone a while back. Eliminating the push notifications was really a really good thing, because they're distracting, and it's too easy to get drawn into idle browsing. If I want to look at one, I have to use the browser, which is a small extra step that gets between me and wasting time.
📧 I went through my email account, deleted pages and pages of messages, and unsubscribed to all of the junk I was getting. Having a more minimalistic inbox makes it easier to find messages I actually need. I also think about the immense amount of energy that's wasted through spam emails. Some of those I can't control coming in, but the ones I could, I did get rid of. (I made a "No Junk Mail" sign for my mailbox, for the same reasons.) I also created better filters and labels to make it easier to find and categorize emails at a glance. For example, all of my Picarto and Piczel notifications get filed under a "Streaming" label, and that makes it a lot easier to delete them.
🖥️ It's a running joke that artists are really bad with organizing their files, and give them names like "whefhuilwlfhr.png". Not me though. I made sure to adopt an organizational structure that works for me, and I stick to it. I organize my projects by Year > Client > Project Name — even for work I make for myself. They're all in appropriate folders, and have clear names with dates, like "Ransom - 2023-07-25 Example Name.png". I've been sorting older folders too from when I wasn't as strict with that convention. This generally makes it quick and simple to track down whatever image I'm looking for. I also have both my computer and phone looking minimalist, with everything tucked away in folders; the only icon I have on my computer desktop is the Recycle Bin.
📝 Trello has been a helpful way to stay organized. Sometimes projects or their details slip my mind, so I write them into my Trello to do list as soon as I can. It makes it easy to shuffle items around on my to do list, and there's a sense of satisfaction in dragging one of the projects into the "Completed" category.
📅 I put a whiteboard calendar on the wall by my computer. I of course have a calendar on my phone, but the whiteboard is an omnipresent reminder of what I've got coming up. Sometimes before I'm going to bed, I write on it a few tasks to complete the next day. That way, I don't have to waste cognitive power remembering them, or trying to figure out what to do later; I just look at the list, pick one of the tasks, and go at it.
🧹 I clean and declutter a lot! It takes time and energy, but by reducing the excess junk I've had in the house, and making sure that everything that I am keeping has a place where it belongs, it makes just general living outside of my work a lot more pleasant. If I'm in a room that's filled with clutter, that doesn't incentivize me to stay there and work. And if I'm wasting time looking for whatever item, then that's time that I could be using for work or rest or leisure. This one's been an uphill fight for a long time, but has gotten a heck of a lot easier since I started living on my own.
I guess it's basically just clean stuff, remove distractions, and make the work environment more pleasant. Maybe I'll make another version of this later, if I figure out more how to do even better.