Challenge Yourself

Today's Question: How do you challenge yourself?

I think it's wicked important to keep challenging myself. (Don't you think?) If I didn't I would die of boredom and my business would be at a standstill and that would just be insanely sad. I also don't think just creatives need to challenge them selves... everyone does.

I challenge myself in several ways:
• By forcing myself to work just a little bit more. Just a little overtime can be great to get a few extra ideas squeezed out. Especially if you're on a roll.
• Starting a new project. I always have a bigger personal project I'm working on in my free time between freelance projects. This keeps me creative and not just stuck conforming to my clients wants and needs.
• By teaching myself something new. I watch youtube videos to teach myself things I want to learn, such as how to make simple videos or patterns in Photoshop.
• Take a course. Many Universities and schools offer seminars and night courses. I've been to a few, but I should go to many more. There are so many great sources of information and help that one should take advantage of.
• By dreaming up new projects (even ones that are a bit out of range), and writing down all of my ideas as soon as I have them. This way I challenge myself to keep dreaming big. One day they may not be so out of range.
• By never excepting that I know/master my field. I'll never have nothing more to learn.


This Fall I'm really excited about taking a few free courses with the Swedish artist society I'm a member of. Can't wait to learn a few new tips and tricks for working as a freelancer. They've offered courses before but for a fee, I just can't say no to free this time. It's been several years since I've taken a course. I look forward to meeting other creatives and getting a little inspiration to grow my business. woo hoo!