Setting up Your Body to Help Your Mind Flourish

It’s been said that creatives who wait for inspiration are often unemployed. While it’s true that deadlines don’t always allow for a slow build toward that eureka moment, there are ways for creatives to set themselves up for success when the work must flow on time. We’ve got a few of them listed below.

Will these work for you every single time? Unlikely. Are there more tips than just the ones here? Undoubtedly. Should you modify these to discover what works for you? Indubitably. 

Define Your Goal

There’s an important question to ask yourself before you start nesting: What are you trying to accomplish? The throwaway answers are “write something,” or “design something,” or “draw something.” Those but scratch the surface of your intent. 

What is the nature of your creation, and how will your surroundings influence that nature? Are you writing a short blurb about your favorite beer, or a novella about an alien invasion? Is this a logo design for a famous sports team, or is it some web design for a fish supplier in the Pacific Northwest? Are you penciling art for a superhero comic book pitch, or sketches for a client’s custom wedding invitations?

Understanding the specifics of your intentions can directly influence all the recommendations below. Moodier work may call for moodier lighting. You may need to blast rock music to complete one project, while the score to your favorite film may be better for others. Recognize the way your surroundings influence you, and thus your work, so that you can ideally prepare your space. Nobody knows you better than you do.

Find Your Space

When considering the location of your workspace, ponder it as a job-specific opportunity instead of a permanent choice. Maybe you have an office at work, but is that the best place to produce this specific endeavor? Have a desk and chair you use when you work from home? That’s wonderful, but is it the ideal space for what is on today’s agenda?

Since you understand your creative goal, you can, as well as is possible, manifest the location best-suited to that end. Writing dialogue? Perhaps a trip to the coffee shop is in order, where you will be surrounded by caffeinated folk having conversations worthy of the occasional eavesdrop. Designing something modern? Plop yourself in front of the monitor while your favorite designer streams before you. Drawing some landscapes? Head to the beach, or the mountains, or the desert, or the lake… Surrounding yourself, literally, with things tangential to your work is a great way to keep your head in the game.

If you’re unable to submerge yourself in the type of content you’re developing, fake it and make it. Find a place that allows you to artificially reproduce the mood your content demands. If you’re in an office, this can be the difference of working in a closed space or a high-traffic area. If you work from home, this may help you determine if you should be at your desk or on the outside patio. And, if you’re a freelancer able to go wherever you want, well, see the previous paragraph.

Fill Your Space

For numerous creatives, this is easy: their laptop. That’s it. That’s all they require to keep focused, inspired, and motivated, but others require a bit of decoration. Once you know what you’re doing and where you’re doing it, it’s time to turn a space into your space.

Stay Focused

Distraction is the death of productivity. Do what you have to do to insulate yourself as much as possible from disturbances (there’s a whole section on one specific type of distraction at the end of this blog). Whether that means turning off your computer’s internet access to avoid social media, cranking up the tunes in your office, at home, or in some earbuds to keep your brain distracted, or locking a door to keep unwanted visitors at bay, set yourself up to avoid interference before it becomes an issue. 

Keep your distraction proofing as proactive as possible. It’s much easier to stay in the groove than it is to rediscover it.

Stay Inspired

It seems safe to say that most creative professionals have contemporaries who they respect and/or are heartily jealous of. These people either are changing, or have changed, the game. Maybe it’s not people you covet, but specific work. Either way, if you’re a writer, there are authors, books, or sentences you love. The same thing goes for musicians, artists, designers, and all other fields in the creative arts. 

All of humanity finds inspiration in some sort of art… See if you can’t find a way to bring that joy into your space. This could be a quote, a print, a musical composition, or some collateral piece you admire. Whatever it is, invite it into your work area to remain inspired.

Stay Motivated

Why do you do what you do? Why are you a creative professional? Is it because you love the work? Is it because you have bills to pay? Perhaps it’s because you’re working toward some other career goal? All of these are valid motivations, but they can be difficult to remember.

See if you can’t find a way to bring a reminder of your motivation into your space. This may be a photo or keepsake—anything that pulls you back into the work when you start to feel creatively dehydrated. Ambition may keep your motor running when fuel feels low.

Set the Mood: Lights and Sounds

Some creatives want the same setup every time they work, but it’s rare to find two people with exact tastes. At Mad Genius, we’ve got developers who want all the lights off and music blaring, and we’ve got project managers who demand bright lights and absolute silence. The balance you seek is up to you, though your goal may play a role…

Lights are, likely, the aspect less likely influenced by your intent. Those who tend to enjoy the lights down low, seem to appreciate them that way whenever they’re working, and it’s the same with those who prefer natural light, or any other illumination configuration. Still, it may be worth adjusting your go-to lighting if you’re struggling to make headway on a particular creative endeavor. There is science behind the idea that light and color can directly impact our moods. Perhaps a change in lux disposition is precisely the change you need to get your creative juices flowing.

Sounds are a far more obvious variable in the creative process. It has been proven time and time again that noise pollution destroys productivity, so most creatives have already developed a path around this. Headphones and spaces devoid of noise pollution, where the air between speakers and ears can be filled with a specific decibel, are the norm. Some enjoy white noise while they work, others gravitate toward podcasts. There are creatives who enjoy music, while others enjoy listening to movies, television shows, and video game walkthroughs.

Most productive people work for under an hour, then take a break.

Often, the flavor of content we aurally consume varies by our mood at any given time. We consider what we’d be interested in hearing and throw on a playlist. Next time you’re struggling to find your creative groove, consider the destination instead of the journey. Don’t think about the mood you’re in while you’re working, but instead, let your goal drive you. Writing some fantasy stories? Consider some heavier, epic-sounding film scores. Working on a website for a community-focused nonprofit? Try some feel-good jams or films. Coloring a horror comic? Listen to the old television show “Caillou,” or some other terrifying content.

Keep Taking Breaks

You came here for some ideas to increase your productivity, so this is going to sound counterproductive, but you need to step away. Take a break, a real break, and let your brain relax a bit. Rest allows your mind to defrag itself, sometimes making connections that you didn’t realize you were looking for. Ever had a brilliant idea in the bathtub (yes, some of us take baths—don’t judge)? Same idea. This is a scientific fact: taking breaks will boost your productivity, and likely by proxy, your creativity.

How you break is as important as the fact that you take one. Stepping away from work to scroll through Facebook is a not-so-great idea, as social media tends to increase stress, which is the antonym to rest. Instead, take a nap (even a short one), or grab some coffee and a snack, or go for a walk. Do something that allows your brain to rest and your body to get the blood flowing. Don’t spend your ten minutes off thinking about what you’re going to do as soon as you get back to work. Nobody likes an overachiever.

And how often should you take these glorious moments to yourself? Probably every hour or so. Some studies show that the most productive people work for under an hour, then take a break. Now, don’t abuse this to skip out on work, but be sure to take some time to yourself, so you can reach your creative endgame with the best product possible.

Lose Your Phone

Remember earlier when we said that “there’s a whole section on one specific type of distraction at the end of this blog?” Congrats. You made it.

If distraction is, as we said, the death of productivity, then smartphones are the black carriage it rides in on. There is science that shows smartphones directly contribute to lower productivity at work and at home. Some studies indicate that employees waste more than one day a week on activities that have nothing to do with work. Heck, even the presence of your phone can reduce your cognitive capacity.

So, after you’ve figured out what you need to do, found your space, filled your space, and set your mood, do yourself a favor: turn off and hide your phone.

One Other Solution…

Inspiration is curated. Even ideas that “just come to you,” demand a mind open to receiving them. Prepare yourself as best you can with whatever allows you to remain open. However, inspiration isn’t passive, so not only do creatives need to be receptive, but they must actively connect dots as well. To achieve this, they’ll need a space that facilitates focus. What a workstation that sustains receptiveness and instigates solutions looks like, depends on the creative—that’s you. Thankfully, we’re all very different. Find your happy place.

Make your space work for you.

Contact Mad Genius For Your Creative

The easiest way to find your glorious creative? Hire Mad Genius. We know how hard it can be, and we still love it. Take advantage of us before we come to our senses. Let’s talk today.