Take Time to Play.

This morning, I took some advice. Instead of jumping right into work, I played for about ten minutes. I opened up my illustration program and found some filters I didn’t know existed. The results were varied: some subtle, some wild. And even though none of the stuff I created is going to show up in my next project, I now know those filters are there to use. Right now, I don’t even know what I’d use them for, but I could imagine creating an interesting background or pattern.

I have a couple subscriptions to online skill sites. You can learn how to build a website, sew a pillowcase, hand-letter a headline. It’s amazing what’s out there. These skill sites come in handy when you need to know how to do something in quick order. Some of the tutorials are better than others; you can tell the folks who took time to practice and have the presentation packaged neatly. I wish I took more time to do these things, but it’s like anything else. You have paying work that has to get done. You have last-minute requests from clients, bills to pay, a house to clean, etc. Play gets put on the back burner. It’s just very refreshing to learn something new.

Take time to play. It’s fun, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s only ten minutes.