Original subtitles

‫Hey, 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?

‫And, you know, it's easy to go to a site and find like 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 drained 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're 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 site like that

‫and looking at pretty screenshots.

‫There's a couple of things that I do and 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 seen all of this, but I mean, talk to the people, you know, your peers.

‫I mean, having engaging 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 a design challenge of some sort or just

‫understanding what they're going through.

‫It 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 is study others.

‫This is another big one.

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

‫at all times.

‫I mean, it could be on dribble 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 these solutions that I can always pull from as inspiration.

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

‫have like just a collection of screenshots and 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.

‫I know I 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 just your workflow in general.

‫Like a desk like this is really nice and you know, it may not suit 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 like 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, a 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 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 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 scientifically, a 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 coworkers have done and they have 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 staying educated on a variety of different topics.

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