How to stay remotely creative

The first bullet point on most of these lists of how to keep your creative edge is to leave the office.

Bam! I am going to be the most creative person ever. Oodle, my new company, doesn’t even have an office. Like many companies, COVID hit, and they never came back. There are two casualties here: one I’ll address, the other I’ll mourn.

Let’s tackle the latter first. Restaurants have taken a death blow now that their lunch crowd has disappeared. It stinks. I’m not sure they’re ever coming back. RIP

Alright, how to stay creative while working remotely. It’s really hard. I’ve struggled. Due to the pandemic/economy, my old agency went under, and I’ve since joined Oodle. I went from meeting with my creative partner every day to that going away completely. 

My new routine to keep the creative juices flowing is as follows. You do you. But this is working for me.

1) Coffee. Always start with coffee. I’m an AeroPress, Inc. brand advocate.

2) Get some morning exercise. I take the dog for a walk. Sometimes it’s around the block, sometimes it’s 3 miles. 3 miles is always much, much better. 

3) Podcasts/Books on the walk. ABL - Always be learning. Every couple of months, I ditch most of my favorite podcasts and listen to a new set of completely different ones. This might be my favorite tip.

4) Follow the sun. I’m not a fan of the dedicated home office, though our tax accountant thinks I am. I move around a lot. A change of scenery works wonders, even if it is only in your house or apartment. I also go to a shared office space once or twice a week.

5) Every creative session begins with discussing anything unrelated to the brief. There’s no reason you can’t still do that. Video chat with one of your creative friends. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll be talking about movies, TV, music, or food. It’s also good to keep those relationships alive.

6) Lunch - go out to lunch with someone. A creative director in Cincinnati invited every CD to meet for coffee or lunch on his dime. But he’s going to come out ahead on this deal. 

7) Earbuds/Headphones - for whatever reason it helps me stay focused. 

8) Late afternoon coffee and workout. This helps me feel alive for the rest of the day/evening. You can tackle dinner/timesheets or busy work.

That’s all I got. Share your tips on how you keep your edge. And hit me up for lunch; I’ll buy.