Last Updated on September 2, 2024
This content was sponsored by Audible.ca
You’re feeling rested, you’ve got a fresh cup of coffee, and the sunlight is streaming in the window as you sit down at your workstation, ready to begin a new day. You check your email, scroll the headlines, and consult the list of tasks you’re hoping to accomplish before your eleven o’clock meeting. Your tingling with ideas, and you can’t wait to get started.
By mid-afternoon, however, things are looking a bit different. You got bogged down in responding to emails, the meeting went longer than it was supposed to and wasn’t as productive as you’d hoped, and it’s starting to feel like another wasted day. How can you recapture that spark you felt in the morning?
For many of us, the challenge is not so much getting inspired, but staying inspired even when the nitty-gritty of the daily grind starts getting you down. If you’re looking for ways to keep a sense of creative possibility going through the day, here are three tips that can help.
1. Do Some Exercise
Humans are, by nature, active creatures, and a lifestyle that requires us to spend large amounts of time sitting is not a natural one. Our minds work best when our bodies are stimulated as well, and breaking up desk work with little workouts can be a game-changer.
This doesn’t need to be long or intensive — even doing simple exercises like stretches, knee-highs, and push-ups can get the blood flowing and help you feel mentally rejuvenated
2. Take Inspiration Breaks
Nothing kills inspiration like getting bogged down in a task, and sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is unplug for a bit and spend some time away from your work. Short “inspiration breaks” spent meditating or listening to an audiobook can help you recharge and reconnect with your creativity.
One of the best ways to do this is by sitting down with listens to inspire self-care and audiobooks that help you to get you back into a creative mindset. Listening to audiobooks doesn’t just give you food for thought, it also helps you slow down and refocus.
Getting a membership with an audiobook service like Audible.ca is a great way of accessing hundreds of inspiring titles that will give you the lift you need when you’re looking for that magic spark.
3. Have a Shower
No, seriously. One scientific study found that 72% of participants got creative ideas in the shower and that the relaxing and solitary environment of the shower was extremely conducive for those generative sparks that play such a crucial role in inspiring us.
Of course, not everyone has the luxury of taking a shower in the middle of the day, but a mid-day shower — especially a cold one — has numerous benefits. The simple act of taking a period of time to daydream and let your thoughts wander without feeling like you need to be on-task can be enough to bring on the creativity.
There is no sense of joy and excitement quite like the charge you feel when you’ve just had a brilliant idea or a creative breakthrough. Nurturing that feeling and staying in the flow over a longer period of time can be a challenge, but by taking time to exercise, introducing inspiration breaks into your day, or even just having a shower, you can keep your inspiration alive all day long.
