How can I practice my design skills in a more motivating and engaging way?

Finding work (as opposed to a job) is part of the motivation in (and reason for) creativity.

Any couch potato can think of a design job — a tee-shirt with four descriptive words that begin with the letter 7, or something. Big Deal. No wonder you’re not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Finding work means that you have found a reason for your intervention.

For Example: I once asked a professional window washer how window washers found work. I was asking because I wanted to find out how a manual worker found employment in the growing computerized job market.

The answer was, “I look for dirty windows.”

That changed my life. I began to look for dirty windows. When I saw a hand-made correction to a restaurant menu, I knew that the restaurant needed new menus printed. If I could see that they needed new menus, they certainly knew that, too. All I had to do was figure out how I would design the menu while I drank their delicious coffee, and give the manager my coordinates when I got up to pay for the meal. I found some dirty windows.

If I notice anything, it’s because there’s something that was perceptibly within my ability to affect change. The window was dirty.

The take-away is that what I do to motivate myself and stay in good practice is to continually work. I work on the real thing. I look for dirty windows. Look around. There are a LOT of Dirty Windows.

Here’s a little secret I learned. The more creative and motivated you are, the more dirty windows you’ll see that need your ability and talent.