For many people, success means having the biggest office with the fanciest desk. Hidden drawers, rich wood grain. A tray for erasers and a cup for prestige writing utensils.
But for those of us who rely on creativity for our trade, climbing that ladder and having the keys to that corner office can sometimes clog up the creative juices. Whether a career in writing, content creation, or design, this is a big problem. (I believe most business endeavors also require plenty of creativity)
It may seem counterintuitive. It’s what we’ve worked towards our whole lives, a comfortable place to conduct commerce. It’s a grand monument to our accomplishments and hard work. But when we reach for inspiration from our mahogany edifice, sometimes we keep reaching. Why is this? The ideas that have carried us here suddenly run dry.
The View from Your New Desk
It seems like the more professional the surroundings and the more comfortable you’ve made yourself, the more easily the ideas will flow. But some will find that a more expensive office, a big promotion, a best-seller, don’t always lead to the next big concept.
It has to do with the nature of our brains.
We think that if we give our brains beautiful surroundings and comfortable environs, inspiration will appear. Yet, I believe the opposite can be true.
Perhaps the bigger, more stimulating the surroundings, the less the brain has to account for, create.
It may be that the brain sweats out more raw creativity when it’s compressed, boxed in. The tiny corner of your apartment. The dingy cubicle at the end of the row. The environment is smaller, less majestic, so focus turns inward, and the brain must create its own majesty and wonderlands.
Two Offices for Creativity
Monuments are erected for the past. A desk should be a bridge to the future. A functional construct in a facilitating office. Whether spartan or ornate…consider the best fit for the cerebrum.
But before you burn your desk in a bonfire. Take heart. You can still utilize even the most modern of office furniture. Just remember to reserve a quiet, less obtrusive place to gather inspiration.
It may be a man cave, a she shed, a nook, a coffee shop booth, or a visit to your old haunts for short bursts.
Perhaps your choices for your work life can also be applied to other aspects of your journey. Designing a new house. Green-lighting relationships. The city you choose to inhabit. Make choices that fill up the creativity tank.
Restrict and starve that brain of outside stimulation, and see what it 3-D prints to fill the void.
Cultivate Your Creativity
Of course, people can also run out of ideas for other reasons. Maybe because they’ve suddenly stopped having life experiences. Maybe they’re stuck at work 70 hours a week. Traveling on business.
There are phases to it all. You might have to take a road trip, stroll through an art museum, or return to your roots to rebuild your storehouse of inspiration.
Retreat to your personal Badlands when you need inspiration. A place that others might avoid, but where you thrive.
Don’t expect immediate results. Your brain will have to mull over these new locales, new people. Then one day, as you sit in your glamorous office your brain’s inbox will suddenly show a waiting message. Your brain has found a new nugget of wisdom or planned out a new direction for your business.
Don’t be ashamed of that epic office you’ve worked hard for. The one earned with your time and perspiration. Just know that a dark wood desk, or an office that looks like an Apple Store, may not be the best environment for raw creation.
You may have to sit and stare at a blank wall instead of a trophy room of your accomplishments. You may have to compress your surroundings to encourage your mind to expand. END
I also wrote about a natural system of calming the mind. Waiting until ideas float to the surface of your brain, and then snatching them up. It’s a method birds use on the tranquil surface of a pond.