Inspiration is for Losers (Creativity Hacks)

What we Think we Know

When it comes to art, the term inspiration is often found somewhere close in proximity. We hear that artists are inspired by the moon and the waves or a lover that has been lost. We hear that a real artist need inspiration to do great work. What we hear is wrong. If you hear an artist of any kind (writer, musician, painter, interpretive dancer, etc.) say they are waiting for inspiration, they’re fooling themselves.

I recently came to this staunch to the realization that what I’m doing is an art. I didn’t think so at first, but after doing this for 3 months straight I can tell you it is. I am a writer and I am an artist. These words are my art.

Show Up

If we only wrote or sculpted or interpretatively danced (huh?) when we felt inspired we would do it once in a blue moon. Or at best once a week. Or maybe we’d start off strong for 7 days, then fizzle down to once a month. See the common theme? Inspiration isn’t always waiting to be plucked like an upside down tomato from our garden.

If I would have waited for inspiration to write on this blog I’d have about 1/3 of what I have now. Often times I wake up not knowing what’s going to come out of my brain. But when I show up each day, I know that I must get something on paper. I may revise it, I may not always love it, but I have something out and I practice each day.

When we show up each day, we always have our craft on our brain in some way. It may not be at the forefront of our thoughts, and it doesn’t need to be. But when we are always practicing it, we are always learning about it and always looking for ways to improve it. When it’s always on our mind we can take the afore mentioned ‘inspiration’ from our everyday occurrences. Where do you think yesterday’s post came from, thin air?

Mastering the Craft

When we show up each day we get time in a craft. This is applicable in art as well as business. Who do you think is going to be a better sandwich artist – the guy that makes subs one day a week or the guy that does it 6 days a week? Easy answer when we look at it that way.

When we spend time in our craft we figure out the small lessons that aren’t always apparent on day 1. You’ll notice I started using headlines and bolding my text, I found out this makes it easier to read. I wouldn’t have discovered that if I only wrote 1 day a week. I kept my eyes out for ways to improve my blog after weeks of writing and it’s helped me become more of a master at my craft.

Set a Routine

So how do we master our craft? How do we show up? It is just that easy?

No, it’s not easy. Yes, it is that simple though. Knowing what to do is easy, doing it is the hard part. We improve on our craft through habit and routine. When we make our craft something we work on every day, we become used to doing it. I have to write every day or I feel like I left something out.

If you choose to watch TV for an hour every day, you’re going to know exactly what’s on at what times and on which channels. If you play online poker every day after work you’re probably going to get addicted to it… but hey you’ll know more about the odds and the tricks of the trade than any of us. OR we could choose to spend our time on something that improves our minds.

A True Story

When I woke up this morning at 5:49 (still can’t figure out why) I knew I had plenty of time to write so I got the laptop fired up and got settled in with some coffee by about 5:57. I began to plan out a blog post but I wasn’t really ‘inspired’ aka I didn’t have a good topic. So I shifted my work at 6:09 and kept moving.

I am working on a book as I’ve said, so I started a new chapter this morning. When I started it, I didn’t know if I would be able to use the words I was writing for the book. They didn’t quite dovetail with the rest of the story when I was 300 words in, and I didn’t care, I just wanted to get some momentum. But after about 30 minutes I hit a breakthrough and I came up with really good material to incorporate to the story.

Moral of the story: If I didn’t show up this morning I wouldn’t have had a blog post or 1,000 new words on paper for my book. Don’t wait to be inspired to start a new work. Start it now and start it small. Don’t bite off huge chunks, bite off little bits at a time and you’ll have a much better chance of success!

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I would love to hear what YOU have to say about inspiration and these creativity hacks. Leave a comment below or chat with me on Twitter!

Have a great day!