Tips to Keeping Your Creative Juices Flowing this Summer

By Michelle Voznyuk, Marketing Specialist at Heinz Marketing

Summer is here!

If you live in the Greater Seattle Area, you know the weight those words hold. We’ve stuck it out through the rain and have waited approximately 8 months for the sunshine to reappear. With that, we migrate outside any chance we can get.

But whether you’re wishing you were soaking up the sun or daydreaming of your next outdoor activity, it can be hard to stay focused. Not only so, but our collaboration and creativity can suffer if we aren’t careful.

Here are some tips that can help you stay on top of your game as you step into the summer season.

Start Your Day Early

For all of us night owls, this is hard one! But with the sun rising early in the morning, there is so much to take advantage of. Rather than sleeping in and being rushed to start your day, try incorporating a new morning routine. Do something that inspires you – read a book, get a workout in, meditate, make breakfast, etc. Not only will this help you to accomplish more in your day, but it will allow you enough time to really get into the right headspace before hopping into work.

Take Breaks

Sometime you just hit a wall in the middle of your day. Instead of chaining yourself to your desk and trying to push through it, go take that break! Head out for a long walk during lunch or take a quick stroll around the block. Depending on how you recharge you can just enjoy nature, or do something productive like listen to a podcast or take a call. Or, if food is more of your jam, you can whip up a fun snack. You’d be surprised at how taking your mind off of work for even just 10 minutes can help you get back into the swing of things.

Keep Collaborating

Around here, most people take their PTO during the summer months. With so many people out of the office at different times, you can accidentally silo yourself. Schedule a working or brainstorming session with your teammates to foster culture, collaboration, and creativity. This will positively impact your team in more ways than one – keeping clients happy with your output, continuing to improve upon systems and processes, and uniting your team as a whole. And guaranteed that whatever work you put in now will reap the benefits later on.

Explore and Take Time Off

Speaking of PTO, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to actually use your vacation time. It’s so easy to hoard it and “save it for a rainy day”. But it’s also one of the quickest ways to experience burnout. Short breaks throughout the day are nice, but there’s nothing like completely unplugging for a few days. Even if you have nowhere to go, take time off (staycations are super underrated anyways!). I’m a firm believer in finding a workplace (shameless Heinz Marketing plug) that encourages you to step away for a bit because everyone deserves it! (Oh, and did I mention we were rated one of the 100 best places to work in 2021?).

Anyways, I hope you found these tips helpful as you work hard and play hard this summer. Now, get outside and have some fun!