Ricky Diaghe
What’s your routine to start your day?
At the moment its reading 5 to 10 pages of Rick Rubin’s book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. Then I write a plan for the day. Take my vitamins, give my cats their vitamins too then start to execute the plan. Midmorning my wife will call me to make her coffee, I might pop on a podcast whilst making it because takes a good 10/15 minutes to make on our fancy new Espresso machine. The one I tuned into today was the Ikigia audiobook by Héctor García. And I popped some crumpets into the toaster because I was hungry by that point.
Where in your home do you like to work?
The second bedroom of my flat is my office/men cave. Love it. So good to have a space fully dedicated to work and set up how I want it. Over the past year, I have paid more attention to putting items I regularly use in places where they can stay permanently and I just need to turn on to get working. Eg My DJ controller has its own table. My music production desk is dedicated to music production only. There’s always a tripod stand ready to document a process if needed, I just need to pop on my phone or DSLR. This kind of thing might sound obvious but when you realise you’re not using something because it’s hidden or not easily accessible, having a feng shui environment that lets the work just flow without resistance is key for productivity.
How do you stay in a good head space when working on a project from home?
I’m generally a glass-half-full person and self-help gurus like Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Wayne Dyer even Alan Watts videos helped me a lot in the past decade so I generally feel grounded.
My sleep pattern is not the greatest but I just listen to my body and if I need to rest more I will. A regular 5k run than sauna and steam helps me recalibrate too. Long-distance running has become like meditation for me since being reintroduced to it by the London-based collective RunDemCrew 12 years ago.
How do you wind down once your working day is over?
Some edutainment on Social Media, making Mindful Chef Dinners, a run, possibly a film with my wife and then back at it with personal work. Music / Photography exploration doesn’t feel like work so I have the energy for it until the early hours. Overall I will pursue personal projects after work as that’s the type of work I will willingly stay up for. I should also note that between 6 and 9pm sometimes i need to chill to get rid of the computer screen/work fatigue.. by 10 I’m ready for action again.
What keeps you motivated and inspired when you’re not working with clients?
Ideas I want to pursue, goals I want to accomplish. Exploring where curiosity will take me.
It also clicked for me a while back that I should put as much time and effort into my own projects as I do for clients.
What have you been watching, reading or listening to that Motion Designers should know about?
I recently enjoyed The Collective Podcast by Ash Thorp and his guest Joshua Davis. I really enjoyed hearing the way Joshua sees art, his take on success and the pursuit of reinvention. Matthew Encina episode is worth checking out too, love the unique path he is crafting for himself after working at The Future.
Its worth tuning into the more obvious ones like School Of Motion and The Future. But also tuning into conversations outside of Motion Design that interest you, thats probably where you going to find gems that may feel more unique to your personal and professional practice.
