Reboot Your Creative Dream Energy

Last updated on April 2nd, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Everyone needs a dream break occasionally. Without a reboot of creativity we can easily start to lose our minds with the simplest tasks. Running along the entrepreneurial path this week I realized this can show up in many forms.

Those of us burning the candle at both ends – until it meets the middle — knows pursuing our dreams is exhausting. My ever-helpful touchstone/business coach Remy reminded us in our meeting this past week:

Get out of the office — even if it’s for one hour.

How right she is. Catherine and I took a whole hour and a half to go to one of our favorite places, Borders books. Comfy leather chairs, new books and magazines, fresh coffee and was the start of finding my creativity once again.

Living and breathing your dream work it can take a toll. When you depend on your creativity, being able to tap in is vital to continuing.

That little break was just the start of my reboot experience for the week. On Friday evening I escaped the office with a fellow graphic designer, all the way to San Francisco.

The Cut & Paste event was held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Friday night. The competitive design tournament tour was at its 2nd stop in the City on October 8th on its way around the world to work up to the Global Championship in New York City on February 5, 2011.

What the heck is Cut & Paste all about?

The 2010 Digital Design Tournament, a live action battle in 2D, 3D and Motion design facing off the best of the best across ten cities worldwide. Once again the finalists from all international events will converge in New York to conclude the tour with the Global Championship, where one winner in each field will be crowned the victor. This is a design battle royale to launch designers into the spotlight and offer the audience the unique experience of sharing the creative process.

What’s it like being there? Imagine a huge tech dance party, thudding music, and everyone standing around staring at huge screens, watching design take form.

You may have to be a designer of some sort to really appreciate what the whole excitement of watching someone else work. First of all, they have 15 minutes to complete an assignment using any Adobe CS5 tools they would like.

I found it interesting how many chose PhotoShop to work in, since I typically use Illustrator or InDesign for layout. But the way they used the tools (keyboard shortcut vs. menu selections) and the interface tools (mouse vs. tablet) was fascinating.

Did they start on the background layers and work their way to the foreground? Or did they do all the little details first and then pull them all together at the end?

I have to admit — it was pretty cool! And so did the rest of the 20-something crowd packed in to witness the competition. I felt a little old walking in, but quickly spotted an adorable grandma sitting in the back enjoying the show on the big screens.

I watched her leaving later on in the evening with what looked like her daughter and grand-daughter, who was definitely  20-something. I got a kick out of the multi-generational experience and watching them all enjoy the scene.

Watching these designers kick out ideas at lightning pace, while hundreds watched and cheered them on over the pound of the bass made me think. Designers typically are asked to be creative on the fly, under a microscope and usually at the drop of a hat. Ready, set go… Be creative!

I know I’ve picked an odd way to make a living, but after the energy on Friday night, I am definitely ready to rock out design for a while. They are heading to the East Coast and Europe – check out the tour dates to see if they are headed to your city.

What do you do to reboot your creative dreaming?

Share your thoughts in the comments . . . I need ideas for next weekend!

~ Heather

Heather’s dream is to have multiple streams of income and train other entreprenuers how to have more than one income stream. Heather’s post day is Friday.