Talking heads...with Kate Mendez
During lockdown self reflection was key, so what’s next for creativity?
If you flick through a dictionary for the definition of self-reflection, you’ll find words such as ‘meditation’ or ‘serious thought’ and considerations on personality, actions and motives. In simpler terms, it’s a way of helping you figure out what the hell is going on, both with yourself and society.
With the immediate space around us changing its parameters constantly, self-reflection can be a blessing in disguise. How often would you sit down and properly think about the last few months? In London, and we’re all guilty of it, we blur boundaries of days, weeks, even months without much thought and before we know it, we’re in October. But, in this time of crisis, our first thought is that self-reflection should instead be used as a superpower — as a tool to cheer us up and remind us of how well we’re coping in the time of Corona.
We’ve all been doing it subconsciously for years. But, with more time on our hands, we’ve got more opportunities to dwell on our achievements. Cast your mind back to January. In the PR world, we were hurriedly hatching plans for the year ahead. We were challenging ourselves to create exciting, innovative ideas to make an impact for our clients’ businesses. Socially, the office was buzzing with plans for Glastonbury, city breaks and summer weddings. COVID-19 and the ongoing and changing lockdown rules that ensued allowed us to throw out the rule book on what was possible and look for creative solutions. Now really is the time to embrace the ‘no idea is a bad idea’ mindset in the brainstorming phase.
Trying to maintain your creativity when working from home can, understandably, be difficult. Exploration of new media titles, new hobbies and new ways of connecting with friends and family have altered our perspective on a) what is important to consumers, b) what will actually make their lives better, and c) what would put a smile on their faces.
It’s also worth noting that we’re moving into a time when all plans need to be adaptable. Our contingency plans even have contingency plans. And, with this new challenge, our creativity is being tested like never before. Now is the time to utilise the extra time on our hands, to dive a little deeper into understanding how we can build on what we thought was possible, and test the new boundaries.
And this is why self-reflection is needed. It shouldn’t be seen as a pastime, but in fact a necessity. It’s not something we should do ‘when we have a spare moment’ but instead something that we should build into the stages of creative ideas and launches as we enter into this post COVID-19 world.
Kate’s top tips on staying creative and motivated when working from home:
- Make your thought process visual. It may feel like a throwback to your childhood but creating a visually appealing map of your thought process for an idea or launch will help you to see where the gaps are.
- Don’t be chained to one work space. When in the office, we’re constantly on the move, whether that’s ducking into a meeting room, working in the co-working space or nipping to Pret for your 3rd coffee of the day. Treat your WFH set up like this, find a nook that works for you but don’t spend all your time there. Keep mixing it up to feel refreshed.
- Tap into the healing power of plants. Anyone who’s met me over Zoom recently will know I am very vocal about the benefits of plants. Invest in creating a small jungle in your home to not only help purify the air around you, but also help to reduce stress and anxiety.
- Mentally close the door on your work. Whilst it’s tempting to reach for the laptop and fire off a quick email reply at 8:58pm as it’s going to make your day tomorrow that much easier, don’t. Shutting down and closing your laptop at the end of the working day will not only install updates that will make your computer faster (IT will thank me), but it also allows you to switch off and take in the evening. As inspiration for a creative deck can strike at any time, make notes to jog your memory when you log back on the next morning.