Working in a creative, collaborative environment is quite an interesting experience. There are many times in the day at Fat Atom where the room is filled with laughter (like belly laughter, not that quiet little chuckle, but that laugh where your belly hurts). But then there are moments (like right now) where it’s completely quiet. Surrounded by co-workers who are either deep into coding or writing or finding inspiration.
We all know what coding and writing looks like, but “finding inspiration?” What does that look like?
For some, maybe it’s going for a run or reading a good magazine article or maybe even meditating in a quiet space. But in this office it often looks like this:
How can this be? We’re allowed to be on Facebook or YouTube in the middle of the afternoon? Why do you think we are laughing so much? Everyone in this office finds inspiration in a different place. Our “in-house fashionista” is sometimes perusing different fashion blogs, our IT expert may be giggling at his desk while he’s watching his favorite episode of some weird cartoon and one of our designers might be working while simultaneously listening to some of the most electronic sounding music (and clearly rather loudly as we all can hear his music, even though he’s wearing top of the line headphones). But it’s what we do. We find our inspiration in our own way. That’s what makes us so amazing. We are a group of people who can communicate, collaborate and inspire each other and each find our individual inspiration to share.
It would have taken me forever to figure out what to wear at the last Gala event I attended if it hadn’t been for Whitney’s amazing fashion sense (thankfully she is so knowledgeable about fashion trends). I can’t imagine I would have been exposed to some of the best dance music if I hadn’t overhead Steven listening to a remix playlist about 7 months ago. I wouldn’t have laughed till I cried just yesterday if we weren’t “finding inspiration” in horrible websites, thanks to our team’s developer, Chris. And for the record, my balance and my foundation, have been strengthened by the inspiring notes, thoughts and insights given to me by Katie.
So while my co-workers were finding their own inspirations, they have inspired me at the same time. How are you inspired? Do you encourage those around you to find inspiration? What kind of work do you think could be produced if you were encouraged to “find your inspiration?”
