Need Inspiration? Get Out!
There’s been much back-and-forth about telecommuting vs. working in a cubicle. One of the arguments often cited by people who work from home is that they’re free of distractions at the office; they are able to focus more and produce faster.
So “they” say.
I know that when I’ve worked from home full time, I’ve experienced creativity block. I think that often has to do with the lack of interaction among co-workers. But there are other ways to be inspired, and they involve stepping away from your home office.
Outdoors
The best inspiration is often free. How much better do you feel when you step outside for a moment and take a deep breath of fresh air? If it’s a beautiful day, you might wonder why we tend to work indoors. Make the effort to get outside every day, even if it’s just for a jaunt around the block. When you can, go for a hike. Take your laptop to a park. Don’t fail to look all around you, soaking in your surroundings. As a graphic designer, you might find color combinations you didn’t think go together. As a photographer, you might come across a subject for a future project. As any creative professional, you’ll likely clear your head of backlogged invoices and badgering clients and instead be left with serenity.
Cafes
Cafes offer a similar concept to offices: They both feature people bent over their laptops, slurping coffee and typing rapidly. But cafe customers aren’t your co-workers, and they likely aren’t going to interrupt your work. There’s a reason home-office folks don’t always work from home: They crave other humans, even if they don’t chat them up. One can go crazy wandering around the house alone – haven’t you seen “The Shining”? That may be an extreme example, but a change in surroundings can recharge your brain and inspire more than “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” over and over.
Conferences and training
Just because you graduated from college and landed a job doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to learn. New technology is constantly being introduced, and new ideas are developed. Check out local events in your area offering trade shows, conferences and training seminars. Not only could you learn something new, but it’s also an excellent opportunity to network. You can land a new freelance gig, meet someone to interview or find out who has that antique Leica you’ve been tracking down.
Public speaking
While I just stated that there’s always something new to learn, you might have valuable information to share as well. Get in touch with your local Chamber of Commerce as well as clubs and organizations and see who regularly has speakers at their meetings. There are lots of small-business gatherings where people network and draw inspiration from each other. Perhaps you have a success story to share or you know some photography tricks. During a Q&A, you can learn from your audience and come up with ideas for your future work.
Volunteering
There’s a reason a big volunteering organization calls itself Do Something. That’s because often, all it takes is one act to make a change. Getting your hands dirty for a good cause can be the source of more inspiration than you’d ever imagine. When you volunteer, you might feel humbled – your own problems all of a sudden seeming minor; or just performing real labor can be invigorating. There are so many options for volunteering, whether it’s sticking to what you know with creative arts or cleaning up local parks and roadsides.
Working from home offers plenty of perks: You can blast heavy metal; you don’t necessarily have to wear pants; and you can keep warm with a dog at your feet. Of course, you can also catch cabin fever and find that you’ve wasted away hours staring at a blank computer screen. As a creative professional, you might not want to take “working from home” quite so literally – rather, make a break for the front door every so often.
Suggested Reading
If you liked this article, head over to the PS Print Blog and check out part two where Britt gives you 3 Ways to Energize Your Freelance Routine. These are some easy ways to re-energize your freelance routine and get the energy and inspiration flowing.
Jennifer Moline writes and edits for the PsPrint Design & Printing Blog. She’s been blogging about small business, technology and graphic design for several years yet still finds herself racked for inspiration on occasion. You can find PsPrint on Twitter and Facebook.
Grab the Feed
This is what I’m talking about. It’s good to see other people embracing the simple pleasures of life. The best way I’ve found to find inspiration is to not go looking for it.
All of these points are so completely true. I find myself most invigorated and ready to create after a visit with nature, attending a geek conference, and/or volunteering with my community. Being involved motivates the creative spirit and breathes new life. Thanks for this article and the reminder of the things that drive many of us creatively.
You’re welcome! I’ve often found that the longer I sit at my desk trying to come up with an idea, nothing happens. Yet when I’m at lunch or simply doing anything non-work-related, inspiration strikes.
Great article Jennifer! I usually find myself getting bursts of inspiration while I’m driving in the car. And yes I swear I’m paying attention to the road :)
Thx for this nice and comprehensive article, Jennifer!
Keep up the good work.
Eva
@friendsofdesign
It also helps to have a good selection of inspiring books on your bookshelf and a number of “creative” websites bookmarked.
nothing like the great outdoors for me to shake off the office and get the creative juices flowing!
Cafes and outdoors are irreplaceable. A good shows on History channel or National Geographic also works fine for me.
Too true, Janko — when the weather won’t cooperate, a nature channel does a decent job of providing inspiration.
Road trips are an ultimate experience for visual experience, we are very fortunate here in the US to have such diverse landscape, geology & people. Thanks for your post, great article.
About inspiration you are quite right but about work… I don’t think you are right Jennifer. One need concentration for work which is usually not possible in case of home, park or some cafe. So….
Need Inspiration? Get Out!
but
Need Concentration? Get In!
I wholly agree with you, Imran. I can rarely do actual work in cafes or at parks — too much people watching! But when I need a burst of creativity, it doesn’t do me any good to sit at my desk. Sometimes a 10-minute stroll and a couple of deep breaths of fresh air are all I need to be inspired.
For me a mix max of everything helps. It might be a small thing, even an ant or anything big like the Himalayan range as well.
I couldn’t have said this any better. I work remotely and from home. I often work at cafes or anywhere there are people. The park is good, if you can find shade for your LCD screen.
I find that just being around others helps my creativity. I can take a break have a conversation with someone and then get back to work.
Getting “out of your head” is important too. If I’m at home working I will sometimes just stop what I’m doing and change focus to something completely different.
I completely agree with you. I work from home and from an office. I like both of them, but i love the balance I have between the two. Actually from just taking my laptop to a park bench, I got creative and found a company to ship 3 cars for me to Portugal. Thank you Auto Shipping Network and thank you mother nature!
Just when I am experiencing the proverbial freelancer’s ‘isolation’ syndrome, I’ve come across this blog. Thanks for this wonderful sharing, Jennifer. I guess I will have to go outdoors to get a fresh dose of creative juice back into my freelance life.
I have been a freelancer since the days of wax and ruby. As a life pattern I often I get lost in a project and easily isolate for days..and daze…until suddenly I realize I am kinda depressed or blaah…about 5 years ago I took up yoga, Budokon and recently zumba…the classes are so much fun and make me want to leave work behind to exercise and be around people while being good to myself.
http://www.tinyurl.com/julieannstricklin
Thanks for this reminder. I’ve recently started working from a home office as opposed to my couch. When I was working from my couch, I would allow myself certain distractions or a change of position – even trips out of the house to work. I thought working from an office would give me more concentration and better productivity… but I’m starting to feel disconnected from my work.
Your post really helped remind me that it’s okay to seek out other opportunities to benefit my work life. I’m going to be working on bringing the outside in to my office but also allowing myself the occasional cafe work excursion!
Thank you for the excellent ideas! While I too am often distracted by people-watching, it is nice to take the laptop to a park or coffee shop for a little change of pace. I don’t know that it “inspires” me, but it does mix it up enough to rejuvenate my work!
hi there Jennifer: I totally agree with you that the best inspirations are often free. I usually take a walk around the neighborhood and try to get ideas from what I see. But I’ve never really thought that conferences and seminars are good for this too. There is a writer’s convention next month, I will sign up for it, thanks to you!