Everyone, and welcome back, so we're going to be learning about inspiration and inspiration is a pretty
tough topic because I always get the question of like, how do you stay inspired?
Where do you find your inspiration and things like that?
I mean, it is a tough question to answer.
And, you know, we're going to get right into that.
I often get the question, how do I stay inspired in the you know, it's easy to go to a site and find
like a mobile design and, you know, you may get excited about that.
But, I mean, that just kind of burns out eventually.
And you don't know where to go from there.
It's tough to stay inspired.
And this is what we're going to learn right now.
So it's not a secret that being creative like you can get trained of ideas.
You know, it could be like you're working at work and you're on a single project and it's just like
it's draining the life out of you.
And that does happen.
And it's hard to stay inspired in moments like that.
So creativity is kind of like a muscle.
And, you know, if you don't use it, you kind of lose it.
I mean, well, not entirely, but it may get weaker.
You must constantly stimulate your creativity so that whenever you're asked for, like, a great idea
you like you're just ready and you're on the ball.
That's the goal.
This doesn't mean that, like, you're hanging out on, like, dribble or Behance or any sight like
that and looking at pretty screen shots.
There's a couple of things that I do in a couple of things that my coworkers do a lot of.
So you want to learn?
Let's jump in number one.
This may kind of seem obvious, but I mean, talk to the people, you know, your peers.
I mean, having engage in conversations with the super smart people you work with is going to be amazing.
If you're not doing this, you should.
Some of the most inspiring conversations I have had have been with my peers over lunch or coffee or
a walk.
Sometimes these chats end up with you maybe helping out with the design challenge of some sort or just
understanding what they're going through may make you think about your problem a little differently
or may inspire you to do something differently.
So definitely talk to your peers because they are where you are.
They're smart like you, and they have a lot to talk about and they have a lot to share.
So tap into their brains next to study others.
This is another big one.
So I kind of lied a bit when I said that, you know, you should be studying your peers and what your
peers are doing at all times.
I mean, it could be honorable or something like that, but it's important to study their work and break
down their solution to discover how they thought about it.
It's not just about looking at what the solution is, but it's also about dissecting it, understanding
what their solution was for what the problem was.
I like building little collections of the solutions that I can always pull from as inspiration.
So if I'm thinking about like a certain design pattern, like social login or something like that,
I may have like just a collection of screenshots on how people solve that that I really like.
I think you should collect examples of great techniques, don't copy, but learn from them so that it
can inspire better solutions for the products you build.
The next one is you should surround yourself with great design.
Try thinking about how you can surround yourself with that inspiration.
You know, it could be your home.
It could be a desk like this, you know, it could be digitally if you have like a dribble collection
or something like that and keep on going back to dribble.
Keeping inspiration around you allows you to pull from whatever you need to.
It also serves as a great reminder for what you want to achieve.
I also find that even making like your workspace just very comfortable and very much attuned to how
you are as a person could really help you.
Just your workflow in general, like a desk like this is really nice.
And, you know, it may not see all of us.
I have a really nice desk at home and I really love just sitting there and working there.
You know, there's some plants on the desk.
There's some lights just to have less strain on my eyes.
It's just a more comfortable workplace and it's really Zen for me.
And I also have some paintings that I really love hung up around here.
So surround yourself with great design.
Surround yourself with things that inspire you.
I think this one's kind of it speaks for itself.
You know, you should really educate yourself and stay educated.
Reading books is huge.
I love to read.
I love to read on a variety of different topics.
I mean, not just design.
I like to learn about product management and how to increase my workflow and increase like team velocity
and stuff like that.
So stay educated on a variety of topics.
Remember to always try and learn it's huge.
Read books about your discipline, read books about other discipline, read articles.
You don't need to be an expert in terms of the different types of disciplines that you're reading about,
but you should want to learn about things like development or like facilitation or user patterns or
marketing.
This really helps you contribute thoughtful ideas whenever you discuss those types of topics.
And sometimes it's good to have that extra context so that you can approach it from your design or mindset.
So if there's a problem with, like marketing, maybe, you know, a couple of different things about
marketing, you can approach it differently.
It always helps me to read up about development and really lean on my peers who are developers to understand
how things are built.
So when I approach my design, I know that certain things are not feasible.
I know certain things that can be achieved.
So I.
Really try to learn about different disciplines, and it has made me a much better designer and more
well-rounded designer, and the most important thing is knowledge is definitely power.
So this is probably the best thing you can do is just stay educated on a variety of topics.
Sometimes you have to take some time to design for yourself.
You know, it can be exhausting designing for a client and sometimes it can get demoralizing at some
points.
You know, you may be stuck on a project for six months.
I know people that have been stuck on projects sometimes for a year, and it really depends on what
type of company you're working for.
But it may happen.
And at that point, you know, you could be, like I said, on a project for months and have total lack
of inspiration.
You may feel like your work or your ideas aren't inspiring you or anyone else.
And you should probably think about ways that you can design for yourself.
It can be anything.
It could be an app.
It could be like painting.
I sometimes like to paint on my spare time, especially with my children.
So I mean, stuff like that just really takes the load off your shoulders.
It allows you to kind of express some of your creativity and get back, get inspired to also design.
Now, this one is another great one.
I don't do this personally.
I have a lot of coworkers that love to travel.
And one thing they say is like travel exposes you to new culture.
It could be like different people.
It could be different experiences.
And by immersing yourself in an area away from your home, you kind of push yourself out of your comfort
zone and it kind of opens your eyes to new possibilities.
So, you know, travel the world if you can.
I know a lot of remote workers that love to travel and work elsewhere, so that's definitely a possibility.
And I've heard great things.
And the next one I like to do, I do this all the time, it's so easy to just stick around at your desk
and try to come up with ideas.
But, you know, scientifically, 2014 study by Stanford University found that walking boosted your
creativity.
And sometimes you just need to leave your office and go for a nice walk.
You know, you don't know who you may see.
You don't know what you may encounter.
I often like to chat with coworkers on a quick walk.
I like to go grab a coffee or something like that and just get a breath of fresh air and then come back
to a problem if I'm having a tough time.
So these are the different things that I do and my co-workers have done and they've been proven to work.
I feel inspired all the time just because of my surroundings personally and like.
I love taking my walks.
I love talking to my peers, and I'm just being educated on a variety of different topics.
Take these tips with you and do your best to stay inspired.