Clint and Kelsy are colleagues at SYPartners, a consultancy where designers and strategists work closely with leaders to guide their organizations through times of transformation. Clint is a typography addict, aspiring furniture maker, and BBQ enthusiast who has helped teach design at ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles. Kelsy is a designer turned strategist, synth musician, and Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast who has helped to teach brand strategy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
A friend of mine recently said, “Great memories come from rewarding sprints.”
Taken literally, the word sprint refers to one of the most strenuous and unsustainable forms of cardio, an intense physical feat of accomplishment. On a metaphorical level, the term sprint isn’t limited to just our athletic lives. I would argue that pulling an all-nighter is the ‘sprint’ of the design world. In many ways, this correlation is a simple one- design all-nighters are strenuous and unsustainable; they are an intense form of creative exercise and a mental and psychological feat of accomplishment.
For one, this is because the human brain didn’t evolve to operate for 20+ hours straight. Yet, studies also show that the diffuse attention accompanying sleep deprivation can lead to creative connections.
According to Mareike Wieth, a professor of psychology at Albion College, we are more creative when we are a little tired or groggy and unable to hone our focus, because diffuse attention allows us to think more creatively.
What occurs in our central nervous systems is where things really get interesting. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, one night of sleep deprivation increases the levels of a chemical in our brains called DHEA-S. This nero-steroid has been deemed a protector against the negative effects of stress and can also induce a cocktail of other effects, including a decrease in depressive mood, and an increase in dissociative symptoms.
Bear with me—this means that, scientifically, at 4:00 am, the average person is experiencing diffuse attention, a higher probability of creative connections, dissociation, lowered depression, and a melting away of the negative effects of stress. Is this why pulling an all-nighter can be so euphoric and captivating for those of us who do creative work?
Looming deadlines are a factor too, but a person does tend to choose this route. My colleague Clint describes it as a myriad of minute negotiations that occur in the psyche, all starting with the phrase, “If I just…”
If I just… work through dinner, that will give me a bit more time…
If I just… make some more coffee, I can stay up a little longer…
If I just… re-think this layout, that will really impress them tomorrow…
If I just… stay up a little longer, I can get this where I really want it…
If I just… take a quick nap, I can get right back to work…
If I just… stay up a little longer, I can get this where I really want it…
If I just… adjust these beziers a little bit, this will be perfect…
If I just… stay up a little longer, I can get this where I really want it…
If I just… don’t shower, I can make it to this presentation on time…
If I just… re-export now, I can go brush my teeth…
In fact, the nero-chemical cocktail of effects and interpersonal negotiation described above both play nicely with the catalyst— and creative constraint— that a deadline presents.
Performance under pressure means different things to different people and, by and large, is not a popular concept in 2022. But at its best, it can still be personally challenging and professionally rewarding—the exact circumstance needed to push past pre-existing limitations. Maybe this helps to explain why it sometimes feels easy, even natural, to continue down the road of creative pursuit or revision long after the moment where a more discerning individual might have closed the laptop and reasonably exclaimed, “This is good enough. It’s time for bed.”
Let’s return to the concept of sprints.
Sprints remain unsustainable and strenuous by nature, but they can also be exhilarating. At some point along the way, our cognition kicks into a flow state, a precious and quiet time alone to re-find and refine the edges and arcs of our current capacity. Throughout our careers, we exercise creativity, build new muscle, even evolve— and sometimes we do it in short bursts, in the quiet hours of the night when no one else is stirring. The process can be messy, rewarding, liberating, and exhausting all at once; sometimes, it’s when we do the most memorable design work of our lives.
