5 sources of workplace inspiration

Just because you go into an office every day, or because you sit at a desk or share a cubicle or were relegated to the back of a converted supply closet, it doesn’t detract from that reality.

So, maybe you’re not an artist in the traditional sense, but your job requires creativity. You are often innovating and generating big ideas to inspire people. It’s on you to come up with something where nothing once was. That sounds like artistry to me.

Perhaps you’re the Picasso of publicity, the Sartre of social media, the Kierkegaard of corporate copy. You’re an artist, and artists need good, old-fashioned inspiration—the kind that makes you toss the covers aside and go tearing into your day the moment that alarm goes off. Heck, once you’re really inspired, who even needs an alarm clock?

But where does inspiration come from?

Many famous painters and writers had muses; some people are inspired by places. For Ernest Hemingway, it was the sea and Paris. Georgia O’Keeffe was inspired by the New Mexico desert. Many of us peer out our windows and see other buildings. Depending on where you’re working, that may not be all that inspiring.