How to Spark Creativity

Since graduating from college and becoming a mother, my priorities, energy, and brain has drastically shifted from formatting academic papers and citing articles to giving bubble baths and changing diapers.  It’s thrilling to change my focus and challenge my skill sets, but I like to stay fresh and current with my writing and creative projects.  I’m happy to know that I’m not alone.  Many fellow mothers, writers, entrepreneurs, and creative explorers are constantly seeking ways to learn, grow, create, and improve.  This led me to wonder how others find inspiration to get their creative juices flowing.  What is your secret?  Yoga every morning?  Doodling in a notebook with Netflix in the background?  A shot of whiskey and a chocolate truffle?

As for me, I have found inspiration through several outlets, and I know every person is capable of sparking creativity through these exercises:

HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH STRANGERS.  Some of my most memorable lightbulb moments came from having random conversations with people I did not know– at the book store, on an airplane, and even online through a fellow blogger.  So many people walk around with interesting, engaging stories, waiting for a kind person to engage in conversation with them and move them away from their sunglasses, lattes, and cell phones.  I have also noticed that a random person imparting a simple pearl of wisdom upon me seems to stick in my brain so much more than when my mother says it (Sorry, Mom.).  Even if you never see these people again, they can touch your life and inspire you to do something great.

READ A CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK.  Other sources will tell you to read articles and read books, but sometimes busy people don’t have as much time as they would like to read everything they want to read.  So I extend a simpler challenge: read a children’s picture book.  It can be a picture book that you haven’t read since you were a child, such as The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein, or a new one that is sitting on the promotion table of the book store, like Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, by Mac Barnett.  Why read a children’s picture book?  Sure, I’m a children’s librarian and love them.  But children’s picture books can be short reads that take eight minutes out of your day.  Their illustrations can make your inner child smile.  They are brimming with humor and existential life lessons about friendship, love, family, nature, death, and other challenges and beauties of life.  There are TONS of children’s picture books out there that can really brighten your day and make you feel motivated to start something new.

ATTEND A WORKSHOP.  Look up local workshops in your area of interest, from a floristry design class at your local flower shop to a one-day business class at your local adult school.  There are also countless webinars, videos, and podcasts that can make you feel like a student again.  Best of all, you don’t take home a report card with a grade!  However, you might be able to score a completion certificate that will look stellar on your résumé.

GO FOR A WALK.  Sometimes a little fresh air and a date with Mother Nature helps you reset your brain, gain some endorphins, and forget your stresses.  It opens you up and unwinds your tight spots and anxious energy.  It gives you a break to think about random things.

RIDE A BUS.  Riding a bus or other form of public transportation with no specific destination allows you to people-watch.  It’s amazing how much insight you can get by observing behaviors and relationships.  You see sights that you’ve never noticed before.  You notice what people carry with them, what they do when they ride alone, and where their eyes wander as they travel home or wherever they are going.

VISIT A MUSEUM.  Museums are not only contemplative environments where you can learn something new, but they also tend to feature a special exhibit that highlights a time period, artist, or genre that can birth epiphanies.  In addition, being close to an artifact or work of art can ignite feelings you would not have if you saw the same piece in a book or on the Internet.

ATTEND A CITY MEETING, TOWN MEETING, OR OTHER OPEN BOARD MEETING.  Sometimes we see new additions to our city, like a statue or a line of trees, and we don’t know the story behind it  Or sometimes we wonder why no one is fixing the ten potholes on one street, unaware that it has been an agenda item for several years with no progress.  Attending a city meeting, town meeting, or other open board meeting, such as for a school district or water district, can be eye-opening and educating.  This can motivate you to research improvements, write articles, create a political piece of artwork, meet and interview prominent stakeholders, or brainstorm for a documentary.  It is always interesting to find out about local issues and hot topics, like cutting public library hours or adding a strip mall with dollar stores and cash advance centers to fit a lower income demographic.

MAKE A VISION BOARD.  An afternoon of scrapbooking and magazine clipping can be easy, fun, and inspiring.  Putting motivational quotes, life goals, and dream destinations on a board can help you to remember a passion that you put on the back burner and are willing to revisit with more gusto.  Take these ideas and run with them.

RESEARCH A RANDOM PLACE.  When one of my favorite podcast hosts and successful entrepreneurs, Jess Lively, announced that she would be moving to Ann Arbor, MI, I felt an urge to look up Ann Arbor to see what it offered a thriving businesswoman like her, and if it was the kind of environment I needed to attain similar victories.  Especially since I adore her style, intelligence, and ambition, I knew that she probably wouldn’t move someplace where her creative energies would go to die.  So I Googled “Ann Arbor” to learn more about the town, which made me smile.  Ann Arbor is full of young energy with unique shops and restaurants and an ideal cost of living.  By learning about a new place, my brain nearly exploded!  I suddenly felt inspired to look up different quaint towns in the United States that I had never visited, peruse flights, browse potential jobs and places to live, and dream about a new and exciting adventure in another place.  For you, it could be the historic architecture and luxurious gardens that inspires you.  It could be the hiking trails or the history.  This exercise can really surprise you and make you want to hop in your car and disappear for a few days, giving you the gift of incomparable exhilaration, wild stories, and life lessons that push you to pursue your passions with either a fresh perspective or a renewed energy.

What are some ways you spark creativity in your life? Etsy? Pinterest?  The local open mic night?  Please share your ideas in the comments! I would love to hear from you and I know others would too!

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How Pinterest Skills Can Boost Your Résumé

Lately, I have had the pleasure of meeting many women who stayed at home with their young children but were eager to go back into the workplace.  However, most of them expressed anxiety about their résumés, trying to polish off “old skills” and embellish time off.  My first point of action during these consultations focused on affirmation: Being a parent is a full-time job that requires no explanation or justification.  Making the choice to be home with the children is a blessing, but is too often viewed as a privilege, not a career choice.  This makes many mothers feel rusty, out of the loop, and self-conscious.

Because of this, I feel the need to empower mothers (and fathers!) who need a little push.  In this post, I focus on the power of Pinterest.  While friends used to tease me about spending hours on Pinterest, browsing and pinning my favorite sites, tips, and items, I realized that using Pinterest has many valuable assets.  Some people might laugh, but I think it is important to highlight your attributes as much as possible.  When you send in a résumé, the human resource specialist has only so many minutes to spend in perusal, hoping to narrow down the most qualified candidates.  In a job interview, you have only so many minutes to give your elevator speech and impress your panel.  I am especially passionate about this subject because I realized that there were so many duties I fulfilled and projects I accomplished at several jobs, but they went unnoticed or there was not enough space on my résumé to boast without losing my succinctness.  It is a disservice to yourself when you do not play up your best assets and attributes. This includes your skills with Pinterest and other social media.

So as a “Pinterest Entrepreneur,” “Pinterest Specialist,” “Social Media Specialist,” “Social Media Community Manager,” or whatever title you choose to use as a skilled individual, I encourage you to consider these skills that you have acquired by using Pinterest:

CATALOGING AND CLASSIFICATION.  Most people might not know what these exact terms mean because I took them from vocabulary I learned in librarianship.  Cataloging refers to creating metadata for your pins– that is, the keywords you use to describe your pins, such as “style,” “minimalism,” “fashion,” or “baking.”  Classification involves grouping your pins appropriately.  If you’ve pinned anything or put that pin on a board, you’ve cataloged and classified!

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT.  This is another library term that can be used in several fields.  Typically in librarianship, collection development means developing the print (i.e. books) and digital collection to suit needs of the patrons who visit the library.  By developing your collection of pins, you are procuring and curating helpful pins that your followers will value.  This can either be coincidental, since they are pins you enjoy and want to bookmark for yourself, or on purpose, since you know what your followers like and what they seek, so you pin accordingly.

TREND FORECASTING.  Again, either deliberately or coincidentally, you can detect and promote trends in several areas: lifestyle, home decor, fashion, finance, and countless other areas.  This is a strongly desired and marketable trait that any employer would appreciate.

SOCIAL NETWORKING.  In this digital age, any experience with any and every social media platform makes you current and capable of contributing to marketing and relationship building.  Don’t forget this important skill!

TECHNOLOGICAL PROFICIENCY.  Not every employee is going to be proficient with technology, so if you are capable of using a computer, typing, navigating the Internet, sending emails, and engaging in other online activity (which you are already doing), then you have more skills than some veterans in the company.

ORGANIZATION SKILLS.  As mentioned with cataloging, classification, and collection development, your ability to organize pins and group them in appropriate sections should not be left out of your résumé.  For more ideas on staying organized in the workplace, check out my prior post about minimalism in the workplace.

RESEARCH SKILLS.  Your experience with online searching is considered RESEARCH!  Think about it: if your employer asked you to look up specific demographics, locate and compare vendors, or gather information for a presentation, you would probably visit a search engine and exercise appropriate judgment to extract data from a credible source.  You are researching.  Not everyone knows how to do this, but when you researched how to meal prep or create a capsule wardrobe, you can thank Pinterest for those skills.

I hope this article has encouraged you to have confidence when building your résumé.  If you like this post and have other suggestions for me to discuss, I would be happy to write more articles on the subject or answer any questions.  Please add the above skills to your résumé, even if it is a different social media platform or a revamping of your skills from Kinko’s or Walmart.  If you have a specific job or volunteer opportunity where you need help listing skills and preparing for an interview, please email me so we can set up a consultation! I look forward to reading your comments!

Minimalism: Accomplishing Goals

Many minimalists boast of many perks they experience after purging unnecessary things from their lives: a wealth of time, more peace of mind, clarity in decision making, and a cornucopia of other riches.  In my case, I have certainly noticed all of these new blessings, but I am especially excited about a heightened sense of something else:  my ability to accomplish goals.

Minimalism has enabled me to accomplish goals because:

1.  I have fewer chores and more time for creativity.  Instead of spending hours cleaning and maintaining my piles of junk, I have more time to spend reading, writing, researching, and enjoying hobbies that inspire me.

2.  My brain can focus more on what I AM DOING IN THE MOMENT instead of all the little things that need to be done.  One of the hardest parts of sitting down and writing, especially at home, is honing in on the one task in front of me without suddenly remembering tasks I need to do later.  Before I know it, I have ten new Internet tabs open, a scrub brush in one hand and a baby crying in the other.  When I prioritize minimalism in my schedule and commitments, everything has a time and a place.

3.  I’m spending less money on STUFF I DON’T NEED and directing that income someplace more meaningful.  This is one of my bigger picture, more long-term ideas that is harder to see at the beginning, but truly feels rewarding later.  When I spend less money on daily shopping trips, buying disposable things that don’t bring me joy, I save my money and have more to invest in bigger goals I strive to accomplish, like family vacations or student loan payments.  In a few years, I won’t remember all the little things I bought at Target, but I will always remember and appreciate the trips I took with my family and the feeling of victory when I paid off 4 credit cards.

I have mostly noticed that saying “no” to excess has boosted my productivity: declining invitations every weekend, refraining from buying things I don’t need, and saying goodbye to everything that clutters my life and distracts me from true vision.  How has minimalism helped you to accomplish your goals?