15 Dec Our 11 Favorite Ways to Recharge, Rest & Repower Creativity
Business owners and employees alike understand the frustration of hitting a creative roadblock. It can feel near impossible to overcome, leading to stress and frustration. So how do you overcome it and get back to business? In general, our team recommends doing anything that isn’t work-related. Allowing your brain to shift completely out of work mode, so that you can get back to doing what you love, effectively. Here are a handful of ways that our team rests and recharges, to help repower creativity! Feel free to try these ideas for yourself, or share them with your team.
1. Take a walk or exercise. Physical activity can not only help lift your mood and deliver a much-needed dose of serotonin, but it can also boost your creativity. You don’t have to walk a mile to feel the benefits of moving your body, do what you can regardless of how minimal you believe it to be.
2. Embrace and schedule sacred time. Scheduled “me-time” that cannot be superseded by anything else is essential. For Path & Compass owner Krista, this includes a weekly call with her best friend.
3. Cut back on social media & news. Scrolling endlessly can deaden creativity and sour your mood. Opt for thoughtful consumption, such as reading or listening to podcasts – where you won’t be jarred by breaking news. Try committing to reading at least 10 pages of a book each night.
4. Disconnect on days off. Try to set 2 days a week where you do not check or answer emails, and avoid work. This is especially important when you work from home as your boundaries can easily blur.
5. Intentional Time Off. We incorporate downtime into our work schedule – closing down for the holidays and other set times throughout the year – so that the entire Path & Compass team has time to rest. Incorporate this into your teams calendar and encourage them to respect it so that they can come back feeling happy and refreshed.
6. Spend time with your pets. Cats or dogs, getting out and spending time with your pets can help you get out of your head and enjoy the outdoors. Our project manager and designer, Shelly, likes to hit the beach with her pups. Hannah enjoys a morning cuddle with her cat.
7. Travel. Visiting new places, especially abroad with different cultures can be inspiring and grounding and fuel our creative process. Traveling can be as simple as exploring the next town over or an annual trip.
8. Sleep. More specifically, the recommended 8 hours. This is crucial to helping your brain fire on all cylinders! Set a strict schedule and try to keep to it.
9. Read a book. Books, or any other reading, can help you effectively escape your own thoughts. It’s a great way to escape when you need to wipe your mental slate clean.
10. Talk to a trusted sounding board. When you’re too in your head and overthinking everything, speaking your thoughts out loud can help you find some clarity. Even more so if you have a trusted sounding board who can nicely shut bad ideas down. This could be a friend or another business owner, as well as a business coach.
11. Find a creative hobby. It is important to pursue your creative hobbies.. This helps our graphic designer, Emily, think laterally and “recharge” her creativity – by being creative in a much more hands-on context. Check out one of her gorgeous quilts!
On a final note, we recommend stressing to both yourself and your team the idea of “done rather than perfect”. As important as it is to recharge and repower creativity, you also need to know how to preserve it. We find that balance is key in order to maintain your sanity and creativity. So when your creativity is running thin, don’t push yourself to the brink. Simply acknowledge that it’s time to step back – and encourage your team to do the same! In the long run, it will help your company produce better work and avoid employee burnout.