How to Find Inspiration in Everyday Life
Before art is created, the artist must be inspired.
Different people have different strategies with this one.
Most people have the unstructured approach.
They are going about their day-to-day life, not expecting anything.
Days are passing.
Weeks are passing.
Months are passing.
One day is different.
On this day, they are STRUCK with inspiration.
Quickly, they begin their creation process.
I just described 95% of artists.
I’m radically different.
I have a structured approach.
I give myself a specific time to be inspired.
And I won’t leave until I am inspired.
This seems like the exact opposite of art.
I disagree.
If more people followed my strategy, then we would have more artists.
Structured Inspiration
Every morning, I get some activity in.
Gym and walk.
After I shower and get ready, I sit in my work studio and force myself to get inspired.
I run a stopwatch or a timer.
During that time, I must create:
- A blog.
- A video.
- Podcast.
- Tweets.
- Newsletter.
- Tik Tok.
- Short.
This seems like a lot.
And it most certainly is.
No time to overthink.
The reason that I run a stopwatch or a timer is because I know I am being measured.
When I add this pressure, I feel more urgency to create.
Content creation law:
- Pressure + Time = Anxiety
- Pressure – Time = Creativity
You don’t want to give yourself more time to create.
Give yourself less time.
Put pressure on yourself.
When you put your back against the wall, then you will be able to create on demand.
What Structured Inspiration Leads To
During my moments of structured inspiration, random moments begin to have a context behind them.
Contexts that I was previously unaware of.
Other times, it’s not a context that is presented.
Instead, it’s an observation.
What’s up with fancy restaurants?
How do people really like these damn restaurants?
They charge so much money for food but barely give you anything.
Rubbish!
When I start off with a thought like that, it leads to another thought.
Are restaurants being forced to become fancier due to inflation?
The only way they can pay for their goods is by charging more.
And they can’t charge more out of nowhere.
They need to build a “brand” to charge more.
The fancy brand.
Unless I put pressure on myself to be inspired, I’d just go to restaurants and eat.
But when I activate a timer or a stopwatch, then I relook at ordinary moments with a different lens.
Force Yourself to Create
I view creativity as a muscle.
The more you work it out, the stronger it gets.
I think when you’re creating, you should be a loner.
I’m not a big fan of collaborating with others during the creation process.
I noticed most people are very mopey when it comes to creativity.
They have a lot of limiting beliefs.
‘I just wrote a blog last week. How am I going to write another blog this week? I only have so many ideas, you know.’
They look like the sad donkey from Shrek as they say this.
That’s not how I view creativity at all.
You have over 10,000 thoughts a day.
A lot of those thoughts can be engineered to create compelling content.
My view on content creation is that it’s infinite.
You never run out.
The more you create, the more you are inspired to create.
Inspiration begets more inspiration!
My pro tip for you is to stop collaborating with others so much.
Quit hearing about their opinions so much.
Act like you are the only person in the universe.
Then force yourself to create.
You are not allowed to leave your work studio until you publish something.
When you keep publishing, that muscle gets stronger.
Soon… a SWITCH in your brain gets activated.
Once this switch turns on, you will get inspired by life.
Being Inspired By Yourself
There are times when you will inspire yourself.
No lie.
It’ll be the tiniest of things.
Things that you completely forgot about.
A long time ago, I made a video called The Primal Internet.
I talked about how language is the first type of internet for mankind.
There was one part of the video where I was talking about how a girl understood her dog.
Even though the dog wasn’t communicating with words, the girl understood her dog’s messages.
Why?
The video explored that words aren’t the only type of connection method out there.
There are different ways to connect.
Facial expressions, tonality, and rapport.
I thought about remixing that video into something deeper.
I’ve seen stoic people break down and cry when their dog died.
They didn’t cry when their mom or dad passed away.
But they broke down when their dog passed.
A past content piece inspired a new idea!
The more you fill up your content library, and the more you activate the SWITCH in your brain, the more you will inspire yourself.
What Are You Building?
In the 1800s, patents were the wave.
Everyone seemed to have patents.
When you went to a social gathering, others would ask:
‘What have you built?’
If you said nothing, then they would judge you.
They’d think:
‘This guy really doesn’t like to tinker! He’s missing a zest for life!!’
Our era’s version of that is different.
Most people don’t have patents.
But I see most people having some form of creative channel.
A YouTube channel, podcast, Instagram meme page, etc.
In the future, rather than people asking:
‘What do you do?’
They will ask:
‘What do you create?’
The tools are all out there.
Many of the tools are free.
Many of the tools are stuff you’re already using!!!
All you need is inspiration.
You get inspiration through structure first.
Unstructured inspiration will come later.
When you have built the habit of constantly publishing…
One day, you will be walking in the park and inspiration will strike.
For more insights into content creation, check out the ArmaniTalks Free Daily Newsletter
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