How To Recapture Your Creativity When You're Stuck In A Rut

At least once a month I fall into "burned-out-mode", where its almost physically impossible for me to wake up early and start my work. I have a mountain of work piling up, but the pillows on my bed have molded so perfectly to my face that I just hit the snooze button for another hour - it's a freelancers blessing and curse. I've found that getting a dose of inspiration when I'm feeling this way really helps get me excited, and gives me that extra jolt I need to start creating. Here are a few resources I keep bookmarked just for these occasions. I find myself going back to the same tricks to get those creative juices flowing.

1. Focus Time - An app that helps productivity instead of helping me procrastinate, who would have thought! Focus Time is a great app that helps manage my time when I need to be pushed. The design is simple - the app gives me 25 minutes if work-time and an alarm goes off notifying me of a 5 minute break. This works great to get me in "the zone" and sets a goal I need to work towards This also helps cut out distractions for me (just 20 more minutes and I can check Facebook!)

2. Vimeo Videos by Handsome Frank - I stumbled upon these randomly (thank you Pinterest) and no matter how many times I watch them, they seem to never get old. Short and sweet, these videos are a great little boost of inspiration and really motivate me to start my day. My favorite is the Jean Jullien video - watching a brilliant illustrator talk about his process motivates me to practice my craft as well. You can find more videos by Handsome Frank here - https://vimeo.com/handsomefrank

3. Jessica Hische - Yes, it's letterer extraordinary and my ultimate girl-crush, Jessica Hische. I could nerd out for hours about how .awesome she is, but there is really no better person to pump you up like Jessica. She worked her butt off to be the best in her field, and then shares that advice at talks and on her website. If that doesn't motivate you to get yourself together and work, I don't know what will. Whenever I am feeling uncharacteristically "blah", I watch some of her inspirational talks and immediately push my self into gear.

You can find some of her talks here:
https://vimeo.com/44045435
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZbqJxQJ5LY
and more on her website - https://jessicahische.is/awesome

4. Coffee - Get some coffee and wake the heck up

Leave a comment below if you have any secret weapons that help you start your day or motivate you!