Did we find inspiration?

Currently, we’re sitting at Flock, a café just around the corner from where we’re staying in Ubud. After our big launch three weeks ago, we’ve been in such awe of all the responses. We are totally beyond grateful for all the kind words, shares and engagement! Our journey has never been a straight line, going from point A to B, or X to Z. It’s rather been a continuous flow of different paths – learning, growing and trying new things each day. These challenges motivate us.

In our previous story, we emphasized our own desire to work and live somewhere where we could become more inspired, more creative, and in the end, bring more value into our work. The first step to stop chasing inspiration, was to chase inspiration. Here are our key takeaways so far!

Working while travelling is different.

To start off, we currently don’t have a dedicated office. This can be good, but also bad. One perk of having an office with a dedicated setup and regular 9-5 hours, working closely in a team, is that it creates a clearer distinction between work and personal life. However, it’s easy for office days to become repetitive patterns, which can sometimes be both non-motivating and uninspiring.

For us, the mix of a dedicated office space, together with the flexibility of working in new surroundings when needed, might be the key. The important thing is to change the scenery, even if it’s means working from the bed, the office desk, or a café. Just have a ready-to-go setup, which we’ll talk about later on.

It probably sounds more luxurious than it is, since it most often results working until 4 am or not getting a single day off in many weeks. However, the big perk with having fluid working hours is that we can customize our days to what we need. Do we have a business meeting at 11 pm due to different time zones? Then we can go to the beach or explore the city during the day and start working in the afternoon.

Finally, travelling and exploring new cities, various types of nature and different cultures is not something we otherwise do on a daily basis. Getting this many new inputs and experiences has really helped us develop, both in our business and personally.

The insights

► Input equals output

It’s easy to think that inspiration is going to hit you when the time is right. However, inputs equals output. We find that embracing new experiences and perspectives, rather than continuing in our old patterns, puts us in scenarios where inspiration comes easier. If we see new things, out brain comes up with new things as well.

While travelling, it’s been a luxury to constantly get more new inputs than usual. Nonetheless, it’s good to have a couple of go-to places you know you can head over to if you need more inputs, even from your bed. Some good digital places to hang out are Pinterest, for general inspirational ideas, or Behance if you, like us, need inspiration concerning visuals or branding.

► Do things you’ve never done before

We’re all guilty of repeating good old patterns. It can be a time saver and sometimes the best way to go. When it comes to inspiration however, it doesn’t spring from doing the same things. Our journey, from starting a company to leaving home for 8 months and visiting unfamiliar places, is about learning by doing. You don’t need to travel for this, but new paths do good.

► Actualize the “bad” ideas. Remember when internet was just a passing fad?

Those very ideas that linger in our minds, scribbled on post-it notes, or even the ones our colleagues might chuckle at, could hold the seeds of something good. They deserve a chance to grow. The initial drafts might not be perfect, but experimenting with them brings us out of our hesitation and into a space of greater creativity, openness, and impact. Having too-high aspirations can block the creativity, and we know that by always chasing the ideal of coolness… Yet, if you never try and fail, it won’t be cool in the end.

► Break a leg or two

Ever wonder why some of your best ideas pop up while you’re in the shower? Sometimes, the key to unlocking more inspiration is simply by takinging a break.It’s not just a popular belief; even science backs up the idea that taking breaks boost our productivity and creativity. When we’re exposed to the same stimuli for extended periods, our brains start to tune out, leading to that familiar feeling of mental emptiness after focusing on a single task for too long. To summarize: t’s not you – it’s your brain.

For us, our breaks is sometimes a walk to the grocery store to buy more Pepsi Max (Felix), listening to this Spotify playlist, or playing Tetris on the phone (Inez). Even if you’re spending the whole day in an office, sometimes a simple walk to the coffee machine or disturbing a co-worker with small talk is enough to get you through the worst creative block.

Ps. just some nice songs that’s been on repeat last week to drain the singing from our lovely neighbor, the rooster.

/xz studios