Staying inspired

It's one of those days again.

Not everything went well today.Had some personal issues bog me down and I feel creatively burned out.
Every artist must experience on some level,but it's got me thinking how staying inspired really helps from being down in the dumps for to long.
Since looking into the blank page of death can have you mesmerized,I did more reading late in the day and searched about the thing that inspire me to get the juices flowing.

A very wise man(Rune Spanans) said.

"Don't sit up late nights fighting problems."

Too many late nights struggling with some drawing detail, render bug or other problem is destructive. Leave early, get some time away from the screen. Then your mind will be more relaxed and better suited to solve whatever you're up against. Too many late nights banging your head against problems will eat you up inside out. If this means losing a deadline or milestone, so be it. There's more to life than milestones. It's more important that you have energy to work, than for you to reach every single deadline.

"Leave when you're on a roll."

You've just solved a major problem, you're feeling great and have energy for a couple more hours of late evening work. That's the perfect time to get away from your desk and leave for the day! Then you'll leave your desk with a positive memory of working, full of extra inspiration that is better used the next working day.



"Identify the things that inspire you."

Whenever you get a rush of inspiration, make a mental note of what is causing it. I have a very long list of things that give me inspiration; good music, films by Pixar, my Gundam robot instructions, Star Wars art books, lego sets, good literature, walks in nature and so on. I've even made a little book of pictures and photos that give me an creativity boost. Whenever I feel exhausted and empty, I just visit the things on my list, or browse through my little book. But be sure to differentiate between feeling good and feeling inspired. For example, eating food makes me feel good, but it doesn't make me feel inspired.


"Identify what is killing your inspiration."

Just as important as keeping track of the things that inspire you, is figuring out what is doing the opposite. Then simply avoid those negative things. In my case these things happen to be people and types of projects. I do a lot of work in the advertising business, and some people there can be extremely negative and condenscending. Being smart and ironic on others expense is how some people raise their social status. I simply stay away from people that are like that, trying instead to be in the company of people that inspire and support me.


"Make sure being at work brings positive associations."

Some times work can be painfully repetitive and boring, and you only want to go home and relax with friends or your wife. You start thinking everyone at work talks like idiots, and holidays seem way too far away. If that's the case, make sure you identify why you are feeling like that. Being negative at work is extremely contagious, and it can really hurt an otherwise nice workplace. It spreads to your colleagues, and suddenly you are on this downward spiral of negativity. If you are fond of the people you work with, it is very important you have positive associations with being at work. Remember to have fun with your colleagues during working hours and outside of work: play videogames at lunch, be social and have dinners together, make fun of clients, take time for seminars and take time to relax.


"Procrastinating?"

Some days you just can't get started with anything. Here's what I do: I just open the software and my current project file. Sometimes that can be the biggest hurdle. The empty screen looking at you can become an obstacle itself. If you just open the software and start looking through your file you may find that you slowly start working again. I had that problem with this website for quite some time. I just couldn't get to work on it, and weeks would pass with no progress at all. But as soon as I managed to open my HTML editor and started looking through the files I found stuff here and there that I wanted to fix. Now I just load up the project I'm working on as soon as I switch on my machine, and without knowing it I'm working again.


He had more to say, but I posted the ones that made good mantra for what was going on in my head early today.

With that I'm going to watch some Gurren Lagenn and tomorrow, pierce my drill through the heavens:).