All language subtitles for 19 - How To Stay I

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.