At no point should we admit to ourselves that we have it all figured out completely. The moment we think we have it all figured out, we become obsolete. Technology and the pace of life moves fast so you have to move with it.

Ah yes, you're sitting there at your desk, minding your own business when all of a sudden you get smacked in the head by a creative block. Who threw it?? Who knows. But... now it's sitting there staring at you in the face. Great. You can't get motivated to start and it's become impossible to move it aside. Here are a few things to do to throw that block away and really get those creative juices going. (Hint: It starts with doing simple things that have zero to no pressure.)

Why even bother hiring a designer to make you a logo when you could download a pre-made design and work with that? Well, I’d like to suggest a couple reasons why it’s a good idea to hire a skilled designer. But first, let me address the already made option.

First off, I have to imagine for a minute that J.K. Rowling wrote the first draft of Harry Potter and then lit it on fire and walked away because she thought no one else would like it. Sure, maybe everything in our lives in 2020 would be exactly the same. Except J.K. Rowling probably wouldn’t be a millionaire and active Twitter user. However, we wouldn’t have a whole book series that rekindled many people’s love of reading. We wouldn’t have Harry Potter Movie marathons and whole trivia nights themed around this iconic series. Rowling took a courageous step that a lot of us are afraid of doing and she was rewarded for it.

Learning Procreate was a game changer in my design and finding my own personal style. The app has a lot of freedom and flexibility which is perfect for someone like me who just wants to play around and undo her thousands of mistakes whenever she wants. With a lot of freedom though, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with the software and quit. Which, I did at first because I literally had no idea what I wanted to do. So, with that, here are some things to consider before getting into this app.

I don’t want to just buy yogurt because it’s yogurt, I want to buy yogurt from an Icelandic man named Siggi Hilmarsson who was homesick for his Mother’s skyr (high protein yogurt) and decided to start making it in his tiny New York City kitchen. When I’m in the grocery store staring at the 800 different kinds of yogurt, what stands out to me is this fantastic brand, Siggi’s because I know their story and I want to be a part of it.

When was the last time you read a whole book? Not just Dr. Suess’s “Cat in the Hat”.  (Although that is a fabulous book). I’m talking about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows type thick. A book that captured your attention for more than 5 minutes and kept you engaged. Ironically, I’m going to share a quote from a book on this thought.

I just want to tell you 5 quick reasons why you're a creative human being. It's important that you believe in your creativity for your physical and mental health, your outlook on life and your effect on those around you. This is not only in your work life, but also your personal life too! If you have a corner in your mind that allows you to think freely, you're less likely to micromanage, stress and be frustrated in other parts of the day.

Sometimes, talking to a graphic designer about what you are envisioning can be really difficult! They don't know what you want, and it's difficult to put your vision into words. But can I just say, you reading this article means you're probably already a wonderful client because you're being proactive! Anyway, allow me to decipher the Rosetta Stone of that crazy graphic design language.

Leadership starts with humility and knowing that as a leader, no role is above you… This is what is at the core of authentic leadership… What I will tell you is while you may have known this from the start, coming out of school, it get’s lost at times in your pursuit of career goals. It is vital you constantly remind your self of this fact, and remain humble, and put others before yourself, and be willing to roll your sleeves up and do the work…

If you're reading this, I'm assuming you either just left college and are staring into the abyss of what "adult life" looks like... or you're currently working a job you don't like and want to change your career. I just want to say both are extremely normal and you're not weird. However, in terms of you being scared about what comes next or won't come next, that is completely normal and there shouldn't be any shame in that.