creativity

Boost Creativity by Walking, Plus 10 More Reasons to Take a Daily Walk

May 1, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 3 Comments

Photo courtesy of Amy Roseveare

There are a lot of things which seem to be completely unrelated to personal finance, but still have a large effect on your finances. One of the best things that you can do to help improve your finances is to realize that you need to look beyond those things that have a direct link to money, and also consider all of the things you do which have indirect effects. A great example of this is a daily walk.

I walk virtually every morning these days. The length of the walk depends on where I happen to be, but usually it’s between 2 and 5 miles. While I don’t have a specific time I take off each morning, I try to leave before 10:00 am. I started this habit simply because I knew sitting behind a computer all day in a small room writing articles wasn’t healthy, and I thought getting out at least once a day would help. What I didn’t realize at the time was the huge number of additional benefits that it would provide, and how it has helped me financially in the long run.

Going on a daily walk wouldn’t seem like a way to better your finances, but that’s exactly what it does for me. While all the benefits that I derive from a daily walk may not apply to you, my guess is that more than a few will. It’s when you can see how your daily routines help or inhibit your finances that you can really start to begin to make significant progress in getting them in order. Here are some of the benefits I derive from taking a daily walk:

Creativity

My walks give me a chance to be more creative than I would be without them. It’s not just me. A new study by The Journal of Experimental Psychology found that students who walked were able to substantially increase their creativity (as much as 60%) after they took an 8 minute walk. I’m far more creative when walking because there is no pressure to start doing the next thing. I’m free to let my imagination run and let it go where it may, allowing me to come across new and innovative ways of presenting articles that I may not have ever thought of before. The walks give me uninterrupted time to ask the question, “What if I tried this?” which I probably wouldn’t ask myself nearly as often if I were always in front of the computer writing.

Relaxation

One of the greatest benefits of my daily walk is that it helps me relax. No matter how busy my schedule is that day or what deadlines I may have, getting out and walking a few miles takes away much, if not all, of the stress I have. Being less stressed allows me to be in a state where I’m able to do the things that I need to get done more efficiently and thoroughly. I don’t rush the projects, but simply work on what I know needs to get done. Anyone who stresses about things knows that the stress can greatly reduce your effectiveness, and taking my walk is one weapon against the stress of my job.

Preparation

Getting out into the fresh air allows me to clear my mind and mentally prepare for all the things I need to do that day. It gives me the opportunity to rank the importance of the things so that I can spend my time wisely on those which are most important. It also allows me time to consider what type of preparation I will need to do to accomplish the tasks for that day. This allows me to be more efficient when doing them, since I’ve already thought through all the steps in my head. This also helps me avoid doing things that could have been costly in both time and money because I accidentally forget an important step, which may not have been obvious had I simply started doing things without thinking through the preparation process. By giving me a time to think about the day in a relaxed atmosphere, I end up being better prepared and more efficient throughout the day.

Problem Solving

I’m not exactly sure what it is about walking, but it’s one of the times when I’m able to come up with solutions to ongoing problems that need to be solved. I think that since it’s just me walking without any of the other distractions I would have around me when I’m working, I’m able to process all the information much better. More often than not, I will return from a walk with a workable solution to a problem that I needed to solve, but was having trouble figuring out what to do about it in front of the computer. Again, being able to solve these issues in a timely manner makes me personally more efficient, and it makes things run much more smoothly than if they lingered unsolved for an extended period of time.

Focus

One of the reasons that I get so much more done on days that I walk is that I have a much better focus. The walk helps me determine exactly what I need to do that day so that I’m not stopping to constantly evaluate what I need to do next. I know what I need to do and can focus on it. Once done, I know what is next on my list and can focus on that. The day’s plan is settled and that focus helps me get so much more accomplished than I otherwise would.

Increased Productivity

Since my walks help me relax, prepare, solve problems and focus, I’m far more productive when I get back from them than I would be if I didn’t take them at all. Even when I’m gone for as much as two hours, the increased productivity will more than make up for the time that I’m out walking. It’s amazing how much less time I spend procrastinating or sitting in front of the computer trying to decide what to do next when I take a walk. In the end, this helps me get more done and earn more, while also being better organized in the work that I do.

Motivation

Walks are also a great way for me to get motivated for the day. I think about the things that I need to get done and how I will accomplish each of them, and I gain motivation to attempt as many of them as I can. I find that when I don’t walk I end up focusing much more on how much I seem to have to do, which sometimes seems like an insurmountable mountain. When I walk, I get some time to prepare, and I’m in a much better mental state to tackle the day’s list than if I simply rolled out of bed and began working at the computer. I know from experience that I simply have a lot more motivation to tackle the challenges of the day after I have taken a walk.

Inspiration

One of the most difficult parts of my job is coming up with new and interesting ways to present information about personal finance. This is always a challenge, but I find that most of the ideas I get for possible new articles comes while I’m walking. It’s time when my mind can wander and not think about other issues if I so choose, and often results in inspiration for a new take on some aspect of personal finance. It was from a recent morning walk that this particular article developed.

Exercise

One of the problems that I’ve always had working in front of the computer was getting in some daily exercise, and a daily morning walk has solved the minimum part of this issue. It helps ensure that I get at least a little bit of exercise every day, no matter how hectic my schedule may be. While it certainly isn’t enough exercise so that it’s the only thing I need to do, it’s a great minimum to have. I used to rely on a gym membership for this minimum amount of exercise, so the daily walk has allowed me to cancel this and save me the membership fees. Walking quickly taught me that I much prefer to be outside to get my exercise rather than indoors, and so I have changed my workout habits to accommodate this.

Rejuvenation

I personally find my daily walk to be one of the most rejuvenating things that I can do. My attitude toward what needs to be done is often night and day from what it is before I go on my walk. It has almost become like a trigger that tells me, “Okay, it’s time to work and get things done.” I know on those few days when I’m not able to take a walk, I am so much more exhausted by the end of the day and never seem to be able to get on a roll like I do when I do get out.

Health

Overall, my daily walks make me a lot healthier than I would otherwise be. I know that my body doesn’t feel nearly as good when I miss my walk for an extended period of time. I also find that I gain weight when I don’t regularly take my walks. Not only do I feel physically better, my anecdotal evidence seems to show that I don’t get as sick or have other health problems nearly as much when I make sure to get outdoors.

Finding Money

As an added bonus to all the above, I usually find about $100 in coins on the ground each year while walking. While this is not a huge amount of money, it’s also not something to sneeze at. Even better, on the days when I actually find coins during my walk, all the above positives seem to get magnified as there is simply something that makes me happy when I find a random coin.

As mentioned earlier, chances are that walking for you might not bring all of the benefits that it does for me. Even so, some of the benefits are likely to also apply to you, and you may very well find others that are specific to you that I didn’t mention. What’s important to remember is that activities you do on a regular basis can have a profound effect on the way your day functions, and this will ultimately have an effect on your finances. As the above shows, while walking doesn’t have a direct link with money management, it affects a lot of things that will impact my finances.

Join the 52 Week Make Money Challenge for 2014

December 31, 2013 By Jeffrey Strain 3 Comments

While talking with some friends who attempted the 52 week money challenge last year, it became apparent that a lot of them had frustration because they didn’t feel that there were many areas in their budget where they could save. They had already cut back as much as possible, and there simply wasn’t anyplace for them to squeeze out a little more savings to fund their challenge account. It soon became apparent that what they needed was a money making challenge. That is, a challenge where they could make small amounts of money during their free time each week not associated with their current earnings, so that they had the money to fund the challenge account.

Thus, the creation of the 52 week make money challenge came about. The concept is the same as the 52 week save money challenge, but the goal is to find ways to make money each week to add to the challenge total instead of ways to save. While I think most people would combine the two (looking for ways to both make and save money to fund their account), it’s beneficial for me to split these two up in this instance. Like many things in life, some people prefer to save, while others prefer to make money to fund their accounts. Participating in both a money making and money saving challenge will allow those to follow the challenge that best fits their interest. Of course, following both is also perfectly acceptable for those who are looking for ways to both make and save money.

For this challenge, I’m going to use the alternative method (click on the image for a pdf file to print out).

52 Week Money Making Challenge(Blank)-pd

I’m sure that the amount of money I make each week will fluctuate quite a bit over the course of the year. I will shoot for making the highest amount on my chart each week, but I realize that there will be weeks where I will be crossing off a lesser amount. This will give me the needed flexibility to try new and different ways to make a little extra over the course of the year.

I plan to use the variety method for the challenge. I hope through the course of the year to look at a wide range of different ways to possibly make a little bit extra here and there. It’ll also be a year to experiment and to try a number of ways to make money that I’ve never tried in the past. While some of the ways I try may apply to you, others probably won’t. My hope is that by trying a different range of ways to make money, you’ll find some that you can adopt for your own challenge. I also hope that even those that won’t work for you will at least get your creativity flowing so you might be inspired to come up with your own version that does work.

I plan to take the challenge a step further than simply telling you how much I made each week and from what source. I also plan to explain the details about how I went about making it possible. This way, if you do see something that you think you would like to try, you can learn from my successes and mistakes, which should give you an even better opportunity to make money. In the same way, I hope to hear from those following the challenge on how I might be able to improve what I’m doing to create even more income.

As with most challenges, it helps to have a support group to stay motivated and inspired as the year goes by. There is a small, but growing, area in the forums that is devoted to ideas on how to make extra money. I hope to use it as a resource to come up with new ideas. If you decide to do the challenge, it should be a good resource for you as well.

If this challenge sounds even a little bit appealing, I highly encourage you to give it a try. It’s truly amazing how it’s possible to build a nice little side income doing small things here and there to increase the amount you make. Even better, at the end of the year you’ll have an account with nearly $1,400 in it. If you end up creating a habit, the amount of money you earn going forward should only increase in the years that follow.

Articles that are related to this challenge:

The 52 Week Make Money Challenge
Make Money Challenge Preparations
Week One Results
Week Two Results
Week Three Results
Week Four Results

(Photo courtesy of 401(k))

Making a Living in the Creative Professions

June 8, 2012 By Jennifer Derrick Leave a Comment

Many people are gifted in the areas of art, music, dance, writing, and acting. However, when it comes time to choose a profession, many choose to pursue something other than their creative gift. “You can’t make money as a writer (dancer, artist, musician, etc),” they are told. Or the pressure to get a “real” job comes from concerned parents who don’t want their kids living in ratty apartments (or at home) forever. There’s a widespread perception that it’s impossible to make a living in the creative professions, so many people opt for more “sensible” occupations and forget about their creative passion, or put it so far on the back burner that it might as well not exist at all.

Despite the popular belief, it is possible to make a living in the creative professions. In reality, they are just like any other occupation. You have to work hard, aggressively pursue opportunities, and be willing to do some work to pay the bills while you work toward your big break. You also have to be flexible. If your only goal is to write a bestselling novel or sell your paintings for millions of dollars you’re going to find it difficult if not impossible to achieve that goal. If, however, you can be happy doing other types of writing or art while you work on your masterpiece on the side, you can have both money and creative satisfaction. Here are some ideas for making money in the creative professions.

Diversify Your Work

The more ways you can find to make money, the better off you’ll be. For example, you may want to write novels. That’s great but not likely to pay off immediately. In the meantime, you can write for other markets. Write for magazines or blogs. Become a technical or copy writer. Dabble in journalism. Write greeting cards. The more sources of income you can create, the more money you’ll have. You’re still flexing your creative muscles, but you’re making money, too.

This works for almost any creative profession. Artists or musicians can teach. An artist can take on commercial work. A musician can do side gigs such as weddings or parties. An actor can do commercials, teach acting, or run a community theater program. It’s great that you want to dedicate all of your time to your art, but you need money, too. So diversify your work and find the kind of work that allows you to use your creativity while also paying the bills. In your spare time you can work on the masterpiece, novel, or band that will launch you into stardom.

Aggressively Market Yourself

A creative professional has to be willing to market his or her work. People aren’t just going to trip over your great painting and buy it for millions. Fortunately, marketing is easier and more accessible today. Build (or pay someone else to do it) a professional website to showcase your work. Use social media to build up a fan base. Take advantage of any opportunities to show your work such as public exhibitions, community fairs, or local performances. Enter contests. Network with other professionals every chance you get. You can’t just hide in your studio or office and expect success. You have to put your work and yourself out there.

Learn The Business

It’s great that you’re an artist or writer, but you also have to be a businessperson. You have to understand at least the basics of your industry and conduct yourself professionally. Learn business etiquette, including phone manners, professional email composition, and letter writing techniques, if applicable. Learn the protocol for submitting your work, submit to appropriate people, learn how to make a pitch, and learn how to engage in professional negotiation. Contrary to popular belief, agents, editors, gallery owners, and other “gatekeepers” don’t like dealing with eccentric or “crazy” artists who don’t care about the business end of things. They’d much rather deal with professionals who understand the industry and who can function within it.

Find A Day Job

You may have to find a day job to tide you over while you wait for your breakthrough. You can go one of two ways here. The first is to get something totally unrelated to your creative work. Going this route can give your creative brain a rest and make you more creative when you get home. Or, you can find something loosely related to your creative work so that you’re always engaging that part of your brain. Whatever you get, find something you like, if not love. It doesn’t help if you hate your job so much that you come home depressed and unable to work on your main passion.

Look For Grants

In some of the creative professions, you can find grants to help you defray expenses while you work on your masterpiece. Some grants require you to teach or do other work, while others just give you the money for expenses. To get one, you’ll need to learn how to write a winning grant proposal and make a solid case as to why you should get the money.

Get Professional Training

Many people have a natural talent for their art and some refuse to “compromise their muse” by getting professional training. However, professional training can make a difference. Aside from improving your skills, it may make others take you more seriously. If you’re willing to put in the time for training, it shows you’re serious about perfecting your craft. It may also be required for certain positions, such as teaching or working in the corporate world. Even if it’s not required, having a degree or certification can result in a higher salary. Find out the credentials that are valued in your field and get them.

It may take years to get your big break or complete (and sell) your masterpiece and if you don’t have an alternate plan you will end up like the clichéd artist that lives in a tiny apartment and eats nothing but Ramen noodles. That doesn’t have to be you. You can make a decent living in the creative professions, if you’re willing to adjust your goals, market yourself, learn the intricacies of business, and take on several types of work.

(Photo courtesy of PaulSteinJC)

A Life Without Debt: A Debt Free Life Is a Creative Life

May 26, 2009 By Sadie Morris 6 Comments

I hear many people complain that they aren’t creative. “I can’t paint or write,” they say. They assume that creativity is only relevant if you are creating some piece of art, music, or design. But creativity isn’t limited only to the arts. Plenty of creativity is required in everything from manufacturing to accounting to the medical field. You’re probably being creative most of the time without realizing it. Every time you do something a little differently than others, or take an existing idea and tweak it to your advantage, you are being creative. Every time you solve a problem, whatever it may be, chances are you are being creative.

Creativity plays a big role in frugality and personal finance. And it is practically required in order to become and remain debt free. I know it doesn’t seem that way. Budgets are often dry and boring, reading the stock section of the paper rarely lights a fire in your belly, and living within your means feels restrictive and not at all joyful or passionate. But as someone who has lived debt free for years, let me tell you that this is about as creative as it gets.

I used to think I wasn’t creative. I never create great works of art, I don’t sing, I don’t make anything, and the most creative decisions I ever made were what colors to paint the walls in my house. I never felt like I was inspired or like I was creating much of anything. I was just living my life and doing my job and none of it was creative. Or so I thought. But then one day I looked around me and I realized that I was extremely creative and none of it had to do with the arts. It had to do with the way I managed money.

Being debt free requires a lot of creativity, largely because there aren’t that many blueprints available for how to live such a lifestyle. Since many people aren’t debt free and free spending is somewhat encouraged, we debt free people are sort of the oddballs. We have to find our own way in the financial world and make things work for us. There are few books or other resources out there that tell you what it takes to live a debt free life. You have to go with trial and error and that takes creativity.

I get creative everyday when I go out to my garage and look for ways to repair or otherwise extend the life of my things. I’m being creative when I repurpose an object for a new use. It takes creativity to find less expensive alternatives to overpriced commercial products. I have to be creative to find ways to bring in extra money when I need it. I am creative when I find new, less expensive ways to do things that I thought had to be expensive. I get creative to find alternatives when there is something I want to do but I can’t afford it. I have to be creative in order to find cheap/free sources of entertainment. I am creative when I figure out novel ways to save up the money for a purchase or tweak the budget to get just a little more out of it. I am being creative when I find new ways to reduce the costs of my everyday life. Even planning and planting a garden requires creativity.

Every decision that I make that does not involve taking on debt requires some level of creativity. It requires no creativity to whip out the credit card and buy things. However, it takes a great deal of creativity to find ways to reduce spending, avoid debt, save money, budget, and generally find ways to do things that allow you to keep more of your money. Turns out, I was creative all along.

If you’re interested in learning more about creativity and jump starting your own creative juices, here’s a list of my favorite books on the subject. None of these relate directly to finance, but once you see how the creative process works, you’re likely to see how you can use it to become and remain debt free.

Creativity Workout: 62 Exercises to Unlock Your Most Creative Ideas by Edward De Bono
Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition) by Michael Michalko
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
The Spark: Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All by John U. Bacon
Boost your creativity by Robert Allen
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield
Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day by Sark
Aha!: 10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas by Jordan E. Ayan; with Rick Benzel
A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger von Oech

Finally, I’ll throw one more book out for you. It’s not a book about creativity, but it is the most creative finance book I’ve ever read. It’s called The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. That book has some of the most creative, frugal solutions to everyday problems that I have ever encountered. It makes a great jumping off point for creating your own solutions. I’ve used my own creativity to adapt many of her ideas to work better for me.

Creativity allows you to see ways to save and make money that others miss. It opens you up to see how old things can be made new again, or used for other purposes to keep you from spending more money. Creativity helps you budget and reduce your expenses so that you don’t have to take on debt. Everything you do to reduce your expenses and your need for “stuff” is creative. A debt free life is a very creative life.

Save Money with Creative Problem Solving

December 29, 2007 By Shannon Christman 3 Comments

Creativity is vital for frugal living. No, you don’t need to be a poet or a sculptor to save money, but you do need to look at life a little differently from how most people do. One of the ways creativity comes into play when saving money is in problem solving. Trying to discover the least expensive way to solve a problem or meet a need is a great exercise in creativity.

Even if you don’t have much innate creativity, you can cultivate it. Read articles and books about how to be more creative – you will find most of the advice (such as writing down ideas immediately and exposing yourself to activities and hobbies you don’t normally enjoy) will help you become better at solving everyday problems frugally. Also look for tips from other savers, which are readily available online and in books you can get from the library. You don’t need to think too hard to find frugal solutions to everyday problems when others have already found and shared solutions that work.

When tips aren’t available, one way to save money and to hone your creative thinking skills is to ask yourself, How can I accomplish the same goal? whenever you see a product you like with a new or unusual feature. Most of the time, new products that offer “great new features” simply adapt the product to be used in ways resourceful people have been using similar products for years. Aluminum foil bags? Make them by folding regular foil into a bag shape. As an added bonus, you only need to buy one foil product. Select-a-size paper towels? Simply tear of smaller parts of regular paper towels if you don’t need them all. You get the idea.

This past year I saw television advertisements for a line of disposable products to help parents keep their cars clean. (I can’t remember the name of them, and I couldn’t find the ad when I searched for it.) The mom in the ads looked so organized, and wow – wasn’t that amazing how she grabbed the wipe from the specially designed container on the back of the driver’s seat, cleaned off that sticky child, and threw the wipe in a trash bag that she could then easily carry inside to throw away with the rest of her trash?

So how can I accomplish the same goal? Well, even if I had those specialized products, I could never be as organized as that television mom, who didn’t really have to get her children bundled up and strapped into the car seats, only to unstrap them a few miles away and then carry one child on her hip while holding another’s hand and tucking the trash bag containing the disposable wipe under her arm, where it bumps against the diaper bag over her shoulder. But, realities of parenthood aside, I could have readily available cleaning products in my car. I could stash a container of wipes in the elastic mesh on the back of the driver’s seat and keep plastic grocery bags in the car to dispose of trash. In fact, I already had both plastic bags and disposable wipes in my car.

After seeing those ads and asking myself how I could accomplish the goal of keeping my car a bit cleaner, I changed one thing – I moved the container of wipes from the trunk to the floor below my son’s feet, where they are more accessible. The advertised products looked ingenious, but I could accomplish the same thing for significantly less money. In fact, the wipes designed to fit onto the back of the driver’s seat would probably have wound up on the floor, anyway. I can even imagine hearing my daughter laughing behind me as she pulled them out one by one.

Most products advertised as more convenient or clever than the competition are more expensive, as well. The extra features are rarely worth the higher prices, especially when those features can easily be copied with a little creativity. That cool product may be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but don’t forget that you can inexpensively reproduce sliced bread, too – all you need is an unsliced loaf of bread and a knife (or a hammer for your m&m’s).

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