Whether a writer, a marketer, or a website designer, chances are you have trouble finding your next source of inspiration. Don’t worry if you can’t simply go to work producing a masterpiece; many (if not all) people, including myself, hold lack of inspiration as one of the biggest peeves and challenges in going to work every day.
If you’re having trouble with writer’s block, or anything similar, I’ve got a few things to try to create the spark necessary to light the fire of creativity.
I spy with my little eye…
Look around you. Everything is created out of some necessity or urge. Everything has a purpose. Televisions were created to provide entertainment in every household. Pianos were created to make pretty noises. Trash cans are collectors or holders of all things unwanted. Computers make it easier to produce, store, and transmit information.
Now think about your purpose. Find an urge which has not yet been fulfilled.
Talk to yourself
When I say talk to yourself, I don’t mean tell yourself what to do. Don’t say, “You should get back to work.” That won’t help. Rather, have a conversation. Ask questions. Every blog post I’ve ever written, and every word in every blog post, has come from a question.
Ask yourself, “What do I know? What can I share?” And when you’ve started writing, “What words will convey the meaning I want?”
Talent borrows
Read something that somebody else has produced. Read your favorite poem, or chapter, or quote. Find something that strikes a chord. Now emulate that. Think about how you feel reading it. Analyze it. Think about the genius, the emotion, that has created this work.
But Genius steals
Steal something. No, I don’t mean plagiarize. Take somebody else’s idea and turn it into your own. Improve upon it. Or argue with it. Critique it. Tear it to shreds. It doesn’t matter what you end up doing with it. Chances are, if you look at something somebody else (or even a younger you) produced, you’ll spot a major flaw, and you can easily advance it toward perfection.
Experiment
Bloggers and columnists share one trouble: the niche. In order to be successful, you must be narrow. Then, when you get readers, they will further push you into whatever space they need filled. You start as a jack-of-all-trades, producing your own fictional stories and motivational speeches, providing relationship advice, and making over rooms on your spare time. When you realize this is going nowhere, you choose to label yourself a psychology blogger. And then your readers turn to you for your relationship advice and only your relationship advice.
So to find inspiration, try something different. Write a pop song about how happy you are, rather than another politically-heated folk song. Discuss the pros of gay marriage if you’re against it. Focus on a Roman god instead of a Greek one. Just do something different. If you’re stuck on one topic, free yourself on another.
The most important thing to remember when trying to find inspiration is that it is intangible. There are no absolutes. There is nothing concrete to grab or chase. It comes and goes, and it always helps to be prepared for a time when you won’t be inspired. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life, and will never change.
