New Year's Creativity Resolutions

Whether you're a firm believer in making New Year's resolutions or not, the start of a new year is always a good time to reflect, and think about the future. And hey, don't think New Year's resolutions are just for your personal life! Resolutions and goals can have a positive impact on your work environment, as well. My biggest job-related goal for 2013? Find time in my daily routine for creativity to seep in.

For me, this means spending 15-30 minutes a couple days a week to diverge from my daily grind and look for inspiration elsewhere. This could take the form of a walk outside on my lunch break to get the creative juices flowing, browsing blogs or publications that I find to be written well (I do a lot of writing and editing as part of my job), or even trolling Pinterest for some visual stimulation. Why? Because when your brain is focusing on something stimulating and not necessarily related to work, ideas can seep in that affect your work or process that you otherwise might not have stumbled upon. It's all about mixing up those brain pathways, folks.

This need to unplug from day-to-day tasks something I've been thinking about since I attended the panel "Real World Creativity" at the 2012 Communicators Forum Conference. The panelists (Beth Perro-Jarvis and Mary Van Note, two delightfully sassy women from Ginger Consulting) suggested (or rather, forcefully encouraged) we find a small window of time, whether it be daily or weekly, to get creative.

What are your work-related resolutions or goals for 2013? Do you find time in your work life to look elsewhere for inspiration?