Guest Post: 7 Ways to Inspire Yourself
August 2, 2010 Happy August Friends! This month we are thrilled to bring you content centered around the topic of Inspiration. Can you believe we haven't covered this yet? We are kicking the month off with a guest post from the lovely Kate Townley Smith. Be sure to check back often too: we have a ton of great content lined up and will be back with our first video of the month tomorrow!
Inspiration – that’s the magical combination of a brilliant idea and overwhelming passion that drive an artist to create. Right?
I bought into that idea for too long. I knew that I was an artist, and I knew that painting, physically pushing around a brush, made me forget that time was passing. Seriously, I love to paint - walls, pictures, anything. But I didn’t know what to paint. So, I went about my daily life waiting for inspiration to hit me. It rarely did, and so for a long while, I only rarely painted. And I wasn’t very happy.
I assumed that part of my problem was that I was caught up in my corporate job. But when I traded that career for a less stressful job and time with my newborn son, I still had trouble with inspiration. What was wrong with me? How could I not be inspired to do the one thing that I was sure I loved to do?
Well, it’s been a year and a half, and I now have an abundance of inspiration. Because I’m moving at a snail’s pace, I’m still getting started, but now I never lack the inspiration to get working. Now I have more ideas than time to do them! How did inspiration finally hit? How can you find inspiration?
You can’t.
You can, however, stop waiting and create your own inspiration! Once you realize that it actually comes from within your own self, you won’t wait for it to happen. I’m hoping that with my roadmap, you can avoid my mistakes and create inspiration right away, rather than taking years to get there. The ideas below start with the simple and move to the complex. I’d probably advise starting with the first and working your way through them in order, but there’s really no need. If one of the ideas really strikes you, start there and run with it!
1. Take a Hike
Or a walk, or a bike ride, drive, quiet bath – whatever relaxes you. But do it alone and without your iPod. You need to refill your brain and your heart with new thoughts, images, and emotions. You may be inspired simply by taking a walk, but don’t expect it just yet. Your goal here is to re-energize and prime your brain for inspiration. If you expect too much, you will likely feel pressure and worry, which will negate a lot of the benefits of this exercise. Something about being outside energizes me. If you’re so stressed that you’re not sure what will relax you, try a short, slow, quiet walk around the block.
2. Pay Attention
If you do get an idea that seems remotely interesting, record it as soon as possible before you rationalize it away. No censoring! And no other rules – just record. You can sketch it, write it down, leave yourself a voicemail. Recording gives your ideas validity and focus. Validation is good because it will encourage your brain to continue generating ideas. Focus is good because you can’t help but to head in the direction in which you focus. Whatever it is that has your attention is a lot more likely to come into being. Check out Spring’s articles on the Law of Attraction. If you focus on not having inspiration, your brain won’t give you any! I have definitely noticed that if I take even a simple action on my ideas (recording them) and give them attention (focus), I’m so much more likely to generate additional ideas.
I record my ideas in cheap, school notebooks. Sure, I have a ton of beautiful, blank journals, but they just seem too precious to write in, or I freeze up because I feel like I have to write something really good. Plain notebooks are so unassuming that I can write even the most outlandish ideas in there. Often those are the ones that lead me to the best project ideas!
3. Steal from Other Artists
No, not their work, their inspiration! Have you ever met another artist you admire? One who seems excited all the time about her next project? Doesn’t matter if she paints while you act, or he sings and you sculpt, different disciplines actually give interesting perspectives. Check that artist out by reading, listening, hanging out with them if you can. Inspiration is infectious!
I make no secret of the fact that I adore The Avett Brothers. While I do love their music, their intense passion and their thought provoking, heart-felt lyrics keep me devoted. Every time I hear them play, I’m inspired myself. Every time I need a boost, I listen or look them up on YouTube.
4. Project Management
Did you skip this paragraph the first time through? Sounded like business, right? Well, don’t worry! I just mean pick a project, any project, and get started! A project helps you to figure out your steps, so that you don’t sit and wonder what to do next. It gets you moving and gets your brain focused on creation. Once you’re creating, more ideas naturally flow. Don’t forget to pay attention! Record any of those ideas that come to you while you’re working on your project!
One of the easiest ways to do this is to pick a text book or how-to book, and commit to doing all the exercises. I’m doing this very thing, and I’m going pretty slowly because of all the other ideas that have flooded my brain. But I won’t ever run out of things to do, I can always come back to my project. Other ideas include drawing each family member, writing a poem to each of your pets, or writing a song about every crazy motorist that passes you! Just be sure to pick a project that has enough ideas/lessons to keep you moving for a while. Important! The project itself doesn’t have to be inspiring, so don’t wait to find the perfect project! It only has to be mildly interesting. Doing the project will summon the inspiration!
5. Take Action
If I had to pick just one step for you to do, it’s this one! Create even when you don’t feel inspired. Have you ever noticed that those artists you admire are always creating? By keeping busy and keeping their brains focused on ideas and creation, they have an overflow of inspiration. I’m not sure how it works, but I know that it does work. If you really feel like you have no inspiration, the first action you take is going to be hard. So, do it in steps. Set out your materials and take a short break. Prep if needed and step away. Make your art(and here I mean any creative endeavor) in short steps. Before you know it, you’re done, and that scary step is over. Any new ideas? Record them! Keep taking action on your project until your project is complete, or you get inspired for a new, more exciting project! If you’re done, and you still don’t think you’re inspired, that’s okay, you still have a whole body of creative work completed! Pick a new project and get back to work!
6. Make Mistakes
Please allow yourself to make mistakes. Really allow it, don’t just say it and then still beat yourself up when you do make a mistake. The true permission you give yourself frees you to listen closely enough to hear your inspiring ideas. If you are terrified of failure, your brain will self-censor your ideas. You may never even realize how many great, inspiring ideas slip by you. This is by far the most difficult step for me still. My personal strategy is to commit to painting more pictures than necessary so that even if I do mess one up, it doesn’t ruin my project.
7. Let Setbacks Inspire You
Be inspired by any rejection you face. It’s easy to focus blame on outside factors when you’ve failed or been rejected. Blame may truly belong elsewhere and your own efforts may have been perfect. But a great way to generate new ideas is to think of all the ways your project could have succeeded. I feel protest from everyone reading, but bear with me! No blame here, and I’m not telling you that you have to change anything about your art or yourself. This is idea generation only! So, what could have made your project a success? Maybe you could have practiced more, maybe the picture should have had more blue, or maybe you should have drawn abstract giraffes for that audience. You may very legitimately discover that you wouldn’t have changed a thing about how you did your project. That’s just fine. Do the exercise anyway – don’t throw away an opportunity to generate more ideas! Just recently, this very step has helped me come up with a project I’m excited to get working on. In fact, I have to wait until mid-August to get going, but I’m so eager to start, I have a whole list of sub-ideas to work on!
***
Okay, there they are. More than anything, I hope these help you out if you’re stuck. I know how frustrating and confusing that can be. Please, please, please give at least one of them a try! Leave a comment here – I’d love to know which work best for you!
Kate Townley Smith in Guest Post, Inspiration
Reader Comments (12)
Thought this was very interesting - and it makes a lot of sense. Just getting going definitely does help rather than waiting around to "be inspired".
Kate, thanks for helping us kick off our Inspiration month with these great tips! I definitely find that doing all of this stuff really makes a huge difference to me! And, yay for the Avett Brothers. They really are some of the most inspiring musicians out there today!
Enjoyed reading this! Good for you on creating your own happiness!
Thanks for 7 easy to remember keys to refer back to on "those" days.
Thanks all - I know these ideas help me, and I hope they help you! And the Avetts Brothers are wonderful! You Kansas and Oklahoma folks should watch for them at the end of September!
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