Thanks, Jina, for a very nice article. I find that when you’re working on a project you love (for example, when I worked with Scott Boms on a recent project), no matter how late it was or how intensely we were working, the time just flew by. Although it was a “side project” it made me feel nourished and more enthused about other “real work.” You covered a lot of points in the article that one would think are common sense but are exactly the things we lose track of during these busy, busy days. I think momentum is one of the most difficult things you mentioned—many demands and requests from many different directions can be interruptions, they keep you out of that state of “Flow” no matter how enjoyable or engaging they may be. There are times I’d like to lock myself up somewhere and Just. Work., yet networking and making some kind of attempt to “keep up” seem to be absolute necessities in the web world—whether you’re a writer/content/ux person (my main thing) or a designer (my secret love) or a developer.

By the way, I was just looking at the Crush + Lovely site the other day and I love it. You’re doing beautiful work.