I don’t know about anyone else, but whenever we get to September and the weather starts to cool and the nights draw in I get excited. I get excited not just because I’m my best self when I’m wearing a jumper, but because it marks back to school time.

I have always been a complete nerd and I still am even though I haven’t had a September term start for 7 years now (uni started in October for me). September still marks that get back down to business refresh for me, and here’s how you can embrace it too.

1. Set some goals – first things first, make sure you’re set up right by having something to aim for. I’ve written before about setting goals, but the key highlights are: make your goals something you control, something that stretches you but isn’t unrealistic, and something measurable.
2. Get a planner (or make sure you’re on top of your current one) – one of the greatest joys of starting the new school year was getting a new planner and laying it out exactly how I wanted it. That’s totally something you can do even if you’re not going back to school.
3. Feel free to pick up some shiny stationery too – few things motivate me more to get making than having some new stationery to play with – it’s sad but it’s true. Whether it’s a notebook, some pens, post-its or even some new software to play with, try changing up your practice by bringing in some new tools. Plus, you can support creatives and small business owners while you’re at it too!
4. Pick something new to learn – okay, so the real reason you go back to school is to learn. Trying and learning new things has been one of my main goals this year, and I’m ramping that up now I’ve got my September mojo back on. Join me either by signing up to some online courses either via Skillshare, YouTube, iTunes U or anywhere else, or doing something in person. There is a course out there for absolutely everything.
5. Put your best foot (and your best outfit) forward – the biggest change you can make to get your back to school on is to decide to put your best foot forward. One way you can do that, or at least I will be doing that, is putting a little bit of effort into how I present myself. Did anyone else plan their first day of school outfit the night before? It might seem super surface level, but you know sometimes you have to fake it til you make it.

That’s how I’m going to be embracing the new school year spirit even though work doesn’t take a 6 week break for summer, which, by the way, remains a travesty. Is anyone else going to be doing the same?

Wit and Delight recently did a piece interviewing some inspirational creative ladies about their workspaces, and what those workspaces say about them. I really enjoyed getting a sneak peek into their worlds, so I thought I’d do my own. 

I’m very lucky to have a semi-separate office space in my room. I did a full illustrated room tour last year if you’re more interested in that. Having that extra bit of space in London is a real luxury, and definitely helps me stay focused.

The majority of my “office” space is taken up by a desk which used to be a garden table. It’s more than big enough for me to fit everything I need on there, and then some, which means I’m in a constant internal battle not to let it become cluttered. All I really need is my laptop, iPad, journal and a few pens and pencils. But it also has my art books stacked in the corner, an extra notepad or two, and normally some kind of snack. Above my desk, there’s an assortment of postcards from travels and art galleries, including a few my mother felt were marginally disturbing when she came to visit. That includes a few pull outs from Printed Pages magazine and a new addition from Sonny Ross.

Aside from my desk, I’ve got a chair which was thrifted similarly to the garden desk, so it doesn’t really offer any support but it’s what I’ve got. Eventually one day I’d like to set up my desk in a much more ergonomic way, but until I have a proper space of my own my lower lumbar is going to continue to suffer. Something I’m sure I’ll pay for later in life. I try to make up for it with the occasional cushion though. I also have a little plant called Hector who I’ve managed to keep alive for almost a full year now – a personal record! On the opposite wall, I have a giant wall calendar from Kikki K, which covers the whole year, and my Kanban board. How I use my Kanban has changed slightly, but it’s still the tool I come back to when I have a lot of plates to juggle.

My office also has to function as a bit of a storage space playing host to my bike, clothes dryer and vacuum cleaner. There’s a full corner dedicated to cards and supplies for my store, which really should be sponsored by Muji storage boxes.

What does my workspace say about me?

While I’d love to be a minimalist and I fight off being a clutterer, I tend to live somewhere in between. My desk is tidy but I try to keep it close to my inspiration. But ultimately, I think my desk is that of a Hermit. It’s kept away from my own social space and is then a locked door away from anyone else 99% of the time. I’ve created a half wall with some shelves to truly make it feel like a safe nest where I can try out any and all ideas or just think in peace.

Okay, so we both know your laptop is filthy. There’s no shame in it, but we’ve got to be honest with ourselves at some point.

If you’re anything like me you spend almost all of your waking hours attached to a keyboard in some capacity, which at the very best means its covered in all of the grime and dust your hands have been shedding in age since you last cleaned it. At the worst, it means (as in my case) your laptop is also covered in crumbs because you haven’t learned to eat biscuits somewhere else and your screen is looking something like the most boring 5 year old’s finger painting ever.

But don’t fear, cleaning your laptop, as I found this weekend, is ridiculously easy. Plus it has the added benefit of potentially speeding up your machine’s performance or at least reducing the dying whirr it’s probably emitting.

These instructions are based around cleaning a mac, but they’re pretty similar for all laptops. If you’re unsure about anything, especially the inside cleaning, there is undoubtedly a YouTube tutorial out there made just for you and your tech baby.

So what do you need?

• A tiny screwdriver (check the screws on the bottom of your laptop to work out which kind)
• One of those pressurised canisters of air – you can get these anywhere, including poundland, or if you don’t want to venture outside Amazon has you covered
• A couple of microfibre or lint free cloths – if you own any kind of glasses you already have one of these
• Cotton buds (AKA Q-tips if you’re from across the pond
• Water – it’s best if you can find the distilled kind but no worries if not
• Isopropyl or rubbing alcohol – check the cleaning and medical aisles (this dries quickly and helps disinfect)

Get inside first

You want to start with the inside of your laptop first so you can get any dust and dirt out without tracking it back across anything else you’ve cleaned. This is the slightly trickier bit, so it also means everything afterwards feels easy.

1. Before you do any cleaning you want to unplug and switch off your laptop. Yes, shut it down properly, don’t just close the lid. Give it a few minutes after you’ve shut down if you can, perhaps have a cup of tea.
2. Flip your laptop over (gently) and unscrew the back. Make sure you keep the screws somewhere safe.
3. Give it a spray out using the air canister. Pro tip follow the instructions on the can to the letter, short bursts at a fair distance are your best friend otherwise you’ll get can juice in your laptop.
4. Make sure you pay special attention to the fan.
5. Now you’ve tackled the guts, it’s time to move to the back piece of your laptop. Mix a 1:1 ratio of water to alcohol, and dampen your cloth. When I say damp, you want to ring out your cloth so it’s as dry as you can make it, this needs to be a drip free zone.  
6. Then wipe down the back piece you unscrewed from the back of your laptop, making sure you don’t forget the vent section.
7. Let it dry. Seriously. Just wait.
8. Screw everything back together.

Polish up the outsides

With the inside of your laptop as fresh and clean as the day it was born on the factory line you want to move onto the bits you can see and get dirty with your grubby (hardworking) fingers everyday.

1. Give the keyboard a spray over with the air canister. You still need to follow the instructions.
2. Wipe down the keyboard and trackpad using your damp cloth.
3. Wipe down the outsides of your laptop using your damp cloth – avoiding the screen.
4. Last but not least take a dry cloth and clean your screen.
5. Step back and admire your work and forget about cleaning your laptop for another year*.

*Not recommended but realistic

This was initially going to be my second post on imposter syndrome, but I’m trying to set myself up into a more positive mindset, so here I am talking about faking it until you make it. Because let’s be honest we’re all making it up as we go along a little bit right?

In my “real job” I’ve just taken on a new role. If I’m honest with you all, I’ve been struggling with it. Even though it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, it’s out of my comfort zone and it’s hard to feel confident and own something new, especially when you view yourself as a junior. So, I’m currently trying to fake it until I make it my own, in exactly the same way I’m trying to tell myself (and the rest of the world) I’m an illustrator until it feels true.

When it comes to successfully faking it until you make it, there are two key elements as far as I know the physical elements and the mindset elements, they’re both about changing how you think but how you get there is slightly different.

First, let’s get physical. I feel like we’ve all heard of “power-posing” and done our best wonder woman stance in the mirror at this point. While it feels pretty silly to start with, there is something in trying to make your reflection mirror how you want to feel on the inside. There are whole books on this subject, but I’m going to keep it simple today with 3 ideas you (and I) can try out straight away:

1. Think big – stand tall and take up as much space as you can. When we’re feeling small, we act small. But you deserve airspace as much as anyone else. Being big also means being seen and heard, because you need your ideas to be heard if they’re going to move forward
2. Move slow – I don’t know about anyone else, but when I get nervous I talk a million miles an hour. Moving and speaking more slowly not only forces you to tackle the adrenaline in your system it also makes you appear in control and like you know what you’re doing. Plus, the more time you give yourself to think the more in control you actually will be. I promise no matter how slow you feel you’re going no one will think you’ve turned in to a slo-mo robot so really own it.
3. Dress the part – I love clothes, I always feel weird saying that but I do. How you look is the least important part of how you are, but it can have a huge impact on how you feel about yourself. So dress for the role you want. That doesn’t have to mean rocking a power suit (unless you want it to) or buying a whole new wardrobe, but rather just asking yourself the question “if I was [insert the thing you want to be] what would I wear today?” when you reach into your wardrobe.

Now for the tough stuff, we need to get all up inside our own heads. While the physical stuff can help you trick yourself into believing the only way ‘faking it until you make it’ really works is if you believe.

Whenever you end up doing something new, the best thing to do is to find someone who’s really great at that thing and try to mimic the things they do, even if you feel like a fraud. You have to understand you’re a work in progress, and that faking it is part of the learning process like copying great masters when you learn to paint or even just using guidelines when you learned to write for the first time.

“By viewing ourselves as works in progress, we multiply our capacity to learn, avoid being pigeonholed, and ultimately become better leaders. We’re never too experienced to fake it till we learn it.” – Herminia Ibarra

There’s a whole load of science behind the idea that if you act “as if” something is true you can make it so, which has been boiled down wonderfully in this sketchnote video by Richard Wiseman. What would you be doing if you were confident in your new role or you were a successful author? What would you be doing if you loved networking? Okay now do it – trust me I know it’s scary and awful, but it is possible and you can make it happen.

I think we’ve all suffered from the panic of feeling like you have too many balls in the air, like everything you have to do is a tidal wave on the edge of crashing over you, like you’re waiting for the Damocles sword of overwhelm. That’s exactly where I was right before my holiday, about to explode with anxiety.

Right now, I’m in a better place (we’ll see how long that lasts). So whilst I have the power of a clear mind I thought I’d share some top tips for dealing with feeling overwhelmed by work and life when you don’t have the opportunity to jet off for a week, because even though I would love for that to be the solution, it’s so rarely on the cards.

1. Step away – the first thing to do when everything feels like it’s too much is to take a five-minute breather. Go for a walk. Make a cup of tea. Just breathe. You need to give yourself space to think and to deal with the mountain ahead of you. Just sitting, looking at it (whatever it may be), and freaking out never solved anything. No matter how busy you are, you have five minutes to get some fresh air. I promise.
2. Write everything down – sometimes when you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to hold everything in your tiny human mind at once just makes it harder. So write everything down. Write down everything you have to do. Write down everything you’re feeling. Write down everything you’re worrying about. Just get it down on the page and out of your head to give you the mental desk space to work out a plan.
3. Stop trying to multitask – I know we’re told that multitasking is the most productive thing to do – kill two birds with one (time) stone, right? Well, when you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to do all of the things at once, can mean that you end up finishing none of the things and feeling even more stressed out. Do one thing at once, then cross it off your list. As you start to reduce the number of balls you’re mentally juggling you’ll start to calm back down.
4. Chop it up – if a task just feels insurmountable, chop it up, turn it into the smallest chunks of work you can then deal with those one by one. Pro tip, if you’re chunking your work into time boxes, say 10-minute tasks, build in some buffer time so if you overrun you still have time.
5. Clear your workspace – the cliche of a tidy desk meaning a tidy mind is one that’s often true in my experience. If all else fails clear your desk and have a fresh start, for no other reason than you’ll have done something productive to get the ball rolling.
6. Make yourself uninterruptable – turn off your phone, close your emails, mute all of your notifications and let yourself focus on the tasks at hand. The fewer things you have to worry about the easier it is to get your work done. All of those many important messages (and spam shopping offers that GDPR hasn’t cleared out) will still be there when you’re finished.
7. Try the one day rule – pretend you only have one day to get everything done (don’t panic). Use that hard deadline to be ruthless, only do what you have to do and prioritise that tasks that have to be done first. You’ll be surprised at what you actually end up achieving, remember the last time you had a really hard deadline I bet you managed to get it done in the end right? Well, this is the same thing. This is actually what helped me about going on holiday, it meant I got everything I needed to done before I went, which I think was just about as great a feeling as eating gelato on the beach.

I hope at least some of these help in the short term. But remember you always have the power to say no, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed on the regular start to use that power more. Don’t take on more than you want to, and certainly no more than you can handle mentally.

Breathe deep.