Do you read fiction? Or listen to them? Or watch them? Where do you think they are coming from? They all are just coming out from creative minds, drawn and structured before coming to the beautiful completion. It’s a process behind the complete board to be strong to make the product stronger. Every person thinks differently so the design that comes out is unique in its way, but the process that lies behind completion is yet similar. It just needs to be managed correctly.
In architecture, the projects need special attention to proceed with, starting with understanding the problem, to knowing the site, discussing and developing, contextualizing to conceptualizing, researching and implementing, getting reviews to revising the drawings, making models to understand better, making changes, and completing the work.
There are some simple ways to untangle a lot of thoughts and segregate them into small tasks and be done with it.
1. Mind Mapping; Untangle your thoughts
The human brain is a hub of tons of thoughts, ideas, emotions, tension, and strategies, tangled all together. Mind mapping is a way to pen down the intangible ideas we have in our minds. It helps in segregating our thoughts into steps, to give it a start and deadline. How in architectural design we make smaller details of even the doorknob and larger drawings of elevations, the same way what if we pen down our little thoughts and larger ones, and link them afterward.
- Defining the problem
- Collecting Information
- Brainstorming and analyzing ideas
- Developing solutions
- Presenting your ideas to others for feedback
- Improving and finalizing the design
This will help us in breaking down the big tasks into smaller ones and will show us the way to proceed.
2. Deadline; Weapon to kill procrastination
It is proved in research that an architect or an architectural student is most productive on the night before the deadline. Use it as a weapon of motivation, to kill procrastination, and reach to the end. Setting up small tasks that can be completed in the given time can bring motivation and confidence to reach the goal.
3. Feedbacks; Am I doing right?
Being in a field where the conditions are not ideal yet diverse and flexible, always try to show your design to someone, you adore the most. It can be anyone, your senior, junior, colleague, friend, mentor, teacher, or anyone. It doesn’t only take you out of the stuck situation but gives you the confidence to move further. But, do not just waste time to show it to everyone. At a time, it can become a distraction to be reviewed by multiple people at a time.
4. Satisfied, or yet not completed?
Satisfaction is a word that doesn’t lie in an architect’s dictionary. But frequent changes can divert one’s focus and lead to non-productive hours. Hence, one should be stiff while taking decisions in the change-making process; this needs confidence and passion to find a solution to the problem that is holding us in a situation.
5. Time management
Time is that limited quantity which you can’t even buy at any price. Understanding the most productive hours of our day and doing the hardest part of the job can be a strategy. In the hours when you feel low, do what you enjoy the most. Keeping an every hour schedule and being stuck to it is a tough task but everything can be achieved when tried with a most wanting will.
……Multitasking is not the solution.
Believe it or not, there are tons of things to be done in a day, and doing a single task at a time brings the most out of someone. Avoid multitasking and focus on a single thing.
6. Work smarter, not harder!
Being smarter is the key to success in any job. Taking smart and quick decisions is the basic step. One should be aware of his strengths and weaknesses. In this growing world of technology, know your tools, explore new ones, learn, and create what your mind commands.
7. Communicate
After all the work is done, do not forget to make it presentable. Remember, you are selling your work to clients; there must be something other than aesthetics and your philosophy that makes the project unique. Use easy language to explain your thoughts to clients, and do not forget that they did not study architecture nor belong to your field. Even while working on the site, know your labors, their language, and communicate comfortably. Make sure to highlight the uniqueness added to your idea and express it in the easiest language.
8. Enjoy!
Last but not the least, have fun! Listen to your brain when it says, done for today; take a chill-pill and calm down yourself. Never forget the reason why you have chosen architecture as your profession. To not run behind the result but to love the journey that takes you there.
