Keeping Inspired, Unproductive and Growing

By jimdiggitydog

There are days when I’m incredibly productive. I can sit down and wipe out project after project. But - realistically, those days are reasonably few.

There are more days when I piddle and play and wander - and those are the days when I need to keep my mind supple and re-charge my creative batteries. Being an “artìste” can be a fragile thing, and keeping inspired is important.

I’ve tried numerous things to keep myself focused, and by and large, they all fail sooner or later. So, now when I’m unfocused, I try to not just spin my wheels looking at a project on the screen or by sitting around and watching the same hockey highlights over and over again.

I suggest walking away from work. Just up and leave the desk and do something else. I’ve found that doodling in a sketchbook, playing some guitar or wandering around the house for a couple of minutes really helps re-focus my brain.

When you break the cycle of thought that you’re in, you can come back with a fresher perspective. When you forget about what you’re doing, your brain kind of has to re-set, and you might find that you have an epiphany and wind up with the perfect solution to what you’re doing.

Plus, you can cultivate other things in your life - because you do have a life outside of work, right?