The funny thing about this column being called “The Next Step” is that the next step is taking longer than expected. With Covid-19 cases slowly rising again in Austria, a lot of us are sheltering in place a little longer. During the short time period in which I actually met with people in real life, I noticed how rewarding those personal connections are. Now that it seems that it might take a while until things are back to business as usual, I’ve been looking for ways to stay creative and find new ideas even without those rewarding in-person chats. And I’ve stimulated my brain in unexpected ways.

With my favorite pizza place being shut down I finally tried something I’ve been dreading for years: making neapolitan pizza dough at home. When I first tried to do this, I stopped reading the recipe halfway through because it seemed too complicated. So I challenged myself to make neapolitan pizza dough once a week for the past three months. And if you’ve ever attempted to do so, you know that a lot of chemistry, math as well as manual labor and technique goes into perfecting neapolitan pizza dough. In other words, parts of my brain that I rarely use got to work their magic. Thus, I noticed how I started to find new approaches to my business ideas and I trained my problem-solving skills. Needless to say, succeeding in this challenge boosted my confidence in my professional life.

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty (literally), don’t worry. I asked my entrepreneur friends on how they are maintaining their creativity and finding inspiration. Here’s what their advice is: 

• Work out: Find activities that you enjoy and build a routine
• Walk and enjoying nature: whether you’re alone or with someone else (wearing a mask and keeping the distance, of course)
• Read books and magazines: this is a no-brainer but shouldn’t be disregarded
• Making “inspiration lists”: find resources online that feature content on creativity and inspiration and check them regularly to get new ideas. 
  

Feel free to share your advice and if you want to learn more about pizza dough, reach out to me :) 

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