Training yourself to be more inspired
October 28, 2009 | By Caitlin McCabe |
Turn Here is a guest column on Wednesdays by Caitlin McCabe who blogs over at Smile Like You Mean It and is into architecture, social media, and irreverence.
“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” -Vincent van Gogh
“You ever notice that they don’t make TV shows about people that watch TV shows?” – My friend T
One of the absolute worst things that can happen to a creative person (and aren’t we all?) is the dreaded times when we feel uninspired. We want to write, create, and play, but it’s no use. Nothing is happening. It’s doubly hard when it’s part of our jobs to be creative…. then you get stressed out about not being creative and get even less creative. If you’ve ever had to write ad copy for a really boring kitchen appliance you know what I mean.
I used to think inspiration was like a little fairy gift that came when it wanted to and had to be coaxed out, appreciated, and thanked. Sometimes, when you get an unforeseen burst of inspiration, this is true but fortunately you can also train yourself to be better at it.
Becoming more creative can be like yoga or an exercise routine at first, in that you’ll have to make some time and you may feel awkward or annoyed with it.
For example, the part where I tell you that you have to carry a notebook and that you have to use it can be awkward when you are looking crazy scribbling things down in the checkout aisle of the grocery store. You’ll think “I’ll just write it down later. I’ll remember,” but you won’t remember; you’ve got to write ideas down as they come.
The purpose of the notebook portion of the inspiration boot camp is not to write down all of the things you think of because they are all nuggets of genius. You will be writing down ideas so that you start noticing when you have ideas. You have ideas all the time every day but if you are not taking a moment to recognize them and bring them to the front of your brain you won’t remember the majority of them.
The next step in the inspiration boot camp is to watch less TV and listen to more music. Instead of one show a week, turn on Pandora.com and listen to something that is instrumental (I recommend Juan Serrano which is Spanish Guitar) for the duration of a TV show. Doctors and creative genius’s like Shakespeare and Plato state the powers of music in healing and creating. No one, to my knowledge, has made such claims about TV.
Play more. At work, it’s important to be more efficient. During the rest of life, it’s not. Arranging things, moving things around, and playing with things can help train your brain to seek other uses for things before you immediately think of a way to deal with it and move on. I’ve been playing with bouncy balls in checkout aisles and arranging food on my plate to look interesting for years. It’s also kind of fun to look for faces when you walk down a street or sit on a subway. You spend a lot of time at work telling your brain to streamline, streamline, streamline and these are good ways to break away from that process.
Another way to start training yourself to be inspired is to start collections. If you give yourself a reason to slow down and notice what you’re doing you will notice a lot more. I’ve been collecting marbles and rocks and while I was looking found earrings, beads, phones, and even an engagement ring while I was walking around!
One of the worst things to do is stress out when you can’t be creative (again, pretty tough if you’re paid to do it) but simply walking away and doing something else can be a huge help. I once sat in a room for 8 hours trying to come up with an idea for a client and came up with nothing. 8 hours. Instead of waiting for the inspiration fairy to come I should have started doing some simple inspiration techniques like pull out your idea notebook and read through it to bring your mind back to a moment when you were feeling inspired. The point is, the more you are familiar with that feeling the easier it is to recall it when you need it.
Good luck!
Great stuff Caitlin.
I like listening to light and happy folk/alternative while I’m working. It turns into play time as I mess with code and bounce between thoughts.
I really need to get on the notebook thing tho. People have been telling me to do this for years and I’ve never really fully accepted it. At one point I had a phone that let me record speech but it was a pain to go back and find stuff quickly.
I should just start using my new phone as a notepad and save stuff there. I’ve got no excuses now.
Comment by Jon Bishop — October 28, 2009 #
Jon – I use my phone all the time as a notebook too… I tried the voice thing but I felt like the “note to self” business people and it just felt too geeky :)
Comment by Caitlin McCabe — October 28, 2009 #
This post left me feeling refreshed :) I love your carefree writing style and creative approach to every topic you address. Thanks for writing this, Caitlin!
Comment by Cassie Holman — October 28, 2009 #
Great stuff here Caitlin. I am the king of random inspiration (a recent post I wrote was brought upon my a post-it note sitting on the floor of Starbucks that said nothing but “Product Differentiation Strategy”. It really can come from anywhere and you have to be ready for it when it strikes.
The bit about listening to music instead of watching TV is spot on. Not only listening to music, but allowing yourself to be consumed by it. Go into a room with no other distractions – get off Twitter, don’t check emails, and listen to an album from beginning to end – have a pen and paper in hand, and scribble down thoughts. Music has the incredible ability to inspire.
(Some good mostly-instrumental stuff I recently discovered: http://www.emancipatormusic.com/)
Cheers!
@mattChevy
Comment by Matt Cheuvront — October 28, 2009 #
I use my iphone as a notebook, but carry a pink “regular” notebook too, just in case.
I think this is why I love sailing – no TV, no distractions and it is ultimately about slowing down.
Comment by Natalie — October 28, 2009 #
Hey Caitlin-
Nice post. I love the ideas about tracking your ideas–and why it is important.
I’ve been reading Chuck Klosterman’s _Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs_ at night recently and he has some interesting things to say about people who describe themselves as “creative.” He says that these kinds of people (me included) are not truly creative–instead, they only know what other people think “creativity” should be and thus are producing ideas or objects or whatever to fit a certain mold of thought–and this, he says, cannot be creativity, because creativity is all about breaking new ground, not retreading over well-worn paths.
This is food for thought for all of us creative types–are we trying to be what society has accepted as “creative” or are we trying to be creative to the core of its meaning.
You don’t have to respond–this is somewhat off of your topic–but it was on my mind when I read your post.
Andrew
Comment by Andrew Stuhl — October 28, 2009 #
Great! I had a particularly tough week this week; barometer was down most of it, and I know that affects me.
And last week there was the discussion about “who inspires you?”
Got a direct tweet from Pen after mentioning that at my best, I INSPIRE ME
Comment by Jay — October 31, 2009 #
WHOOPS! Hit tab, ’stead of Caps Unlock–but at my worst, I watch too much TV, and can’t get out of the house, simply ’cause there’s too much to do in it.
Anyway, points well taken, Bec.
Thanks!
Comment by Jay — October 31, 2009 #
WHOOPS! I did it again–I mean Caitlin!
Comment by Jay — October 31, 2009 #
You make some great points. I had some similar thoughts on the matter this year as I tried to think about facilitating creativity at my job. http://inventables.blogspot.com/2010/08/nature-of-creativity-part-one.html
Comment by Heidi — August 31, 2010 #