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Everyone, and welcome back, so we're going to be learning about inspiration and inspiration is a pretty

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tough topic because I always get the question of like, how do you stay inspired?

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Where do you find your inspiration and things like that?

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I mean, it is a tough question to answer.

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And, you know, we're going to get right into that.

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I often get the question, how do I stay inspired in the you know, it's easy to go to a site and find

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like a mobile design and, you know, you may get excited about that.

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But, I mean, that just kind of burns out eventually.

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And you don't know where to go from there.

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It's tough to stay inspired.

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And this is what we're going to learn right now.

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So it's not a secret that being creative like you can get trained of ideas.

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You know, it could be like you're working at work and you're on a single project and it's just like

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it's draining the life out of you.

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And that does happen.

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And it's hard to stay inspired in moments like that.

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So creativity is kind of like a muscle.

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And, you know, if you don't use it, you kind of lose it.

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I mean, well, not entirely, but it may get weaker.

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You must constantly stimulate your creativity so that whenever you're asked for, like, a great idea

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you like you're just ready and you're on the ball.

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That's the goal.

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This doesn't mean that, like, you're hanging out on, like, dribble or Behance or any sight like

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that and looking at pretty screen shots.

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There's a couple of things that I do in a couple of things that my coworkers do a lot of.

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So you want to learn?

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Let's jump in number one.

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This may kind of seem obvious, but I mean, talk to the people, you know, your peers.

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I mean, having engage in conversations with the super smart people you work with is going to be amazing.

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If you're not doing this, you should.

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Some of the most inspiring conversations I have had have been with my peers over lunch or coffee or

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a walk.

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Sometimes these chats end up with you maybe helping out with the design challenge of some sort or just

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understanding what they're going through may make you think about your problem a little differently

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or may inspire you to do something differently.

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So definitely talk to your peers because they are where you are.

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They're smart like you, and they have a lot to talk about and they have a lot to share.

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So tap into their brains next to study others.

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This is another big one.

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So I kind of lied a bit when I said that, you know, you should be studying your peers and what your

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peers are doing at all times.

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I mean, it could be honorable or something like that, but it's important to study their work and break

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down their solution to discover how they thought about it.

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It's not just about looking at what the solution is, but it's also about dissecting it, understanding

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what their solution was for what the problem was.

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I like building little collections of the solutions that I can always pull from as inspiration.

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So if I'm thinking about like a certain design pattern, like social login or something like that,

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I may have like just a collection of screenshots on how people solve that that I really like.

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I think you should collect examples of great techniques, don't copy, but learn from them so that it

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can inspire better solutions for the products you build.

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The next one is you should surround yourself with great design.

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Try thinking about how you can surround yourself with that inspiration.

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You know, it could be your home.

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It could be a desk like this, you know, it could be digitally if you have like a dribble collection

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or something like that and keep on going back to dribble.

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Keeping inspiration around you allows you to pull from whatever you need to.

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It also serves as a great reminder for what you want to achieve.

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I also find that even making like your workspace just very comfortable and very much attuned to how

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you are as a person could really help you.

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Just your workflow in general, like a desk like this is really nice.

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And, you know, it may not see all of us.

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I have a really nice desk at home and I really love just sitting there and working there.

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You know, there's some plants on the desk.

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There's some lights just to have less strain on my eyes.

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It's just a more comfortable workplace and it's really Zen for me.

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And I also have some paintings that I really love hung up around here.

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So surround yourself with great design.

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Surround yourself with things that inspire you.

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I think this one's kind of it speaks for itself.

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You know, you should really educate yourself and stay educated.

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Reading books is huge.

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I love to read.

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I love to read on a variety of different topics.

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I mean, not just design.

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I like to learn about product management and how to increase my workflow and increase like team velocity

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and stuff like that.

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So stay educated on a variety of topics.

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Remember to always try and learn it's huge.

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Read books about your discipline, read books about other discipline, read articles.

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You don't need to be an expert in terms of the different types of disciplines that you're reading about,

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but you should want to learn about things like development or like facilitation or user patterns or

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marketing.

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This really helps you contribute thoughtful ideas whenever you discuss those types of topics.

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And sometimes it's good to have that extra context so that you can approach it from your design or mindset.

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So if there's a problem with, like marketing, maybe, you know, a couple of different things about

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marketing, you can approach it differently.

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It always helps me to read up about development and really lean on my peers who are developers to understand

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how things are built.

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So when I approach my design, I know that certain things are not feasible.

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I know certain things that can be achieved.

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So I.

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Really try to learn about different disciplines, and it has made me a much better designer and more

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well-rounded designer, and the most important thing is knowledge is definitely power.

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So this is probably the best thing you can do is just stay educated on a variety of topics.

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Sometimes you have to take some time to design for yourself.

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You know, it can be exhausting designing for a client and sometimes it can get demoralizing at some

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points.

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You know, you may be stuck on a project for six months.

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I know people that have been stuck on projects sometimes for a year, and it really depends on what

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type of company you're working for.

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But it may happen.

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And at that point, you know, you could be, like I said, on a project for months and have total lack

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of inspiration.

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You may feel like your work or your ideas aren't inspiring you or anyone else.

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And you should probably think about ways that you can design for yourself.

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It can be anything.

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It could be an app.

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It could be like painting.

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I sometimes like to paint on my spare time, especially with my children.

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So I mean, stuff like that just really takes the load off your shoulders.

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It allows you to kind of express some of your creativity and get back, get inspired to also design.

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Now, this one is another great one.

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I don't do this personally.

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I have a lot of coworkers that love to travel.

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And one thing they say is like travel exposes you to new culture.

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It could be like different people.

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It could be different experiences.

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And by immersing yourself in an area away from your home, you kind of push yourself out of your comfort

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zone and it kind of opens your eyes to new possibilities.

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So, you know, travel the world if you can.

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I know a lot of remote workers that love to travel and work elsewhere, so that's definitely a possibility.

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And I've heard great things.

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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

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and try to come up with ideas.

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But, you know, scientifically, 2014 study by Stanford University found that walking boosted your

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creativity.

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And sometimes you just need to leave your office and go for a nice walk.

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You know, you don't know who you may see.

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You don't know what you may encounter.

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I often like to chat with coworkers on a quick walk.

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I like to go grab a coffee or something like that and just get a breath of fresh air and then come back

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to a problem if I'm having a tough time.

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So these are the different things that I do and my co-workers have done and they've been proven to work.

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I feel inspired all the time just because of my surroundings personally and like.

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I love taking my walks.

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I love talking to my peers, and I'm just being educated on a variety of different topics.

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Take these tips with you and do your best to stay inspired.