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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Mark Des Cotes, I don’t like shaving, and since I work from home I tend to have a Miami Vice look most days, and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I talk about simple ways to boost your creativity.
Today’s Fun Fact of the Day: Did you know that no matter the brand, in most print ads for watches and clocks the time is set to 10:10. They do this for several reasons, it shows off both hands evenly, it’s symmetrical which is visibly pleasing, but mostly because manufacturers place their logo below the number 12 and the hand placement frames the logo nicely. Back in the early days they used to set the hands to 8:20 for similar reasons but then someone said it made the watch look like it was frowning so they switched it to 10:10.
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Here’s What I leaned yesterday
I find it fascinating how I can be completely clueless as to what my next SILY topic will be and then something will happen to trigger that spark and suddenly I have the whole episode in my head. It isn’t always that easy but that’s how I found my topic for today. Last Thursday I started my day following my usual routine. After seeing my wife off to work I got my breakfast ready, sat at my kitchen table and listened to that day’s Stuff I Learned Yesterday. In case you’re curious, I do listen to my own episodes as well. You’d be surprised how much I’ve grown as a podcaster by listening to myself talk. Well, on Thursday Mandy was telling us about Baby Steps and the importance of a clean sink, when something clicked in my head and I found my story. So here goes.
The mind is an amazing machine. It loves routines. It loves efficiency. It loves repetitive tasks that it can do over and over. That’s how you can accomplish so many tasks throughout your day without really thinking about them. Some call it multitasking. However, when you break out and veer away of those routines you are in effect, giving your mind a stressful workout. This requires more concentration, more energy and more time, which can be mentally exhausting. Your mind prefers the repetitive tasks that allow it to refuel and get ready for the next time you break from your routines.
Now, I’m a creative person. I have to be, being a graphic and website designer. But contrary to some of my client’s beliefs I can’t just be creative on demand. It’s not something that I turn on from 9 to 5. I sometimes have trouble coming up with creative ideas during my workday. It’s like a writer staring at a blank computer screen not knowing how to start. It can be really frustrating. If I’m lucky and I don’t have a tight deadline, I can allow a project to ferment in my mind for a day or two until something emerges. Sometimes that idea will hit me at dinner or in the evening, even in the middle of the night. Now I try to avoid working past 5pm so I’ll let the new idea grow in my mind until the following day when I can sit down at my computer and work my magic. Unfortunately I don’t always have the option of time. Clients often need their job right away and rely on me to produce. In those cases when I have an approaching deadline but find myself in a creative rut I need to step back, because I know from experience that if I don’t, whatever I create will be subpar and my clients don’t deserve that. So I step away to recharge my mind.
Like I mentioned earlier, your mind loves routines and repetitive tasks. It’s how it refuels itself. So whenever I’m in a creative slump I get up and walk away from my computer and walk around the house to find myself a change of scenery. It’s amazing how changing your perspective can free your mind. Especially when you put yourself in strange and unusual situations such as sitting down on the bathroom floor or lying down on the stairs. Sometimes that’s all it takes and I’m good to go. But when I’m trying to come up with a really creative idea I find the best thing to do is occupy my brain with, you guessed it, repetitive tasks.
My go to task is usually to take a shower, which is easy for me since I work form home. I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve heard someone say they think better in the shower. Some say it’s the white noise from the water falling, which I’m sure helps, but I believe it’s the mindless routine of washing. How many times have you been in the shower and start questioning whether you’ve already washed your hair or not. It’s one of those tasks that are so routine that you don’t even think about it. It’s while working at such routines that your mind is at it’s most productive. I can’t tell you how many aha moments I’ve had in the shower that have turned into great designs.
But, I’m a shower once a day kind of guy, so what happens if I’m already squeaky clean? This is where Mandy’s clean sink comes in. You see, I’ve learned over the years that any repetitive chore, such as washing the dishes, folding clothes or sweeping the floor is usually enough to get my creative juices flowing again. They also have the added benefit of giving me brownie points with my wife, something no man can ever have enough of.
What did I learn?
I think everyone is creative in some way. Creativity doesn’t only apply to art or writing or music. It applies to everything we do in life. Even the simplest of tasks require us to be creative in some way. It’s what makes us human. We as a species need to be creative. If we weren’t we’d still be living in the Stone Age.
At times we need our creativity to be at its peak level. There is no magical on/off switch. I wish there was. It would make my job so much easier. Instead we need to fuel our mind, prime it, and treat it like the amazing machine it is. And sometime that means quietly stepping back, and letting it bask in the simple, repetitive routines it loves so much. After all, aren’t there always chores that need to be done?
I’m Mark Des Cotes and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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