Manufacturing Inspiration
After I decided to write an article this month I followed my usual pattern of discovery, consulted an (online) dictionary and looked up Inspiration. Here’s what I found:
1. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
2. The condition of being so stimulated.
3. An agency, such as a person or work of art, which moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
4. Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea, that is inspired.
5. The quality of inspiring or exalting: a painting full of inspiration.
6. Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.
7. The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.
So I thought “Great, I’ll just lean back here wait for a creative act or idea to suddenly enter my mind.” A week later I had managed neither to have had a sudden creative act, nor any divine guidance to prompt me to start writing. I had executed the seventh definition many times (and rather well might I add) but decided that this might not be a good subject for an entire article. Nothing was coming. So I began to wonder – was I lacking inspiration… or was I just being lazy?
So I started to consider the nature of inspiration itself – and discovered that the real problem with it as a concept is that people often refer to it as something external: something they can “capture” or that “comes to them.” I work in a creative business. The biggest slackers are the ones who “can’t find the flow.”
I thought about it some more. Is inspiration the same as genius? No. Is it magic? No. Are you born with it? Sometimes, but mostly not. No, the closest idea that made sense to me is that inspiration is actually hard work, plain and simple. The thing is, 99.9% percent of ideas suck and get you nowhere. Unless you have a system for creating them the act of inspiration is a lot like hitting a bullseye in the dark.
Thomas Edison exemplified hard work as the path to inspiration, while searching for the ideal light bulb filament. “I haven’t failed,” he said, “I’ve found 999 ways that definitely don’t work.” His method was not to wait for inspiration to come to him, but to actively seek it through the laborious process of trial and error. And with hard work and perseverance he eventually managed to create one of the most important inventions of all time.
I’ve spent most of my life working, whether flipping burgers in high school, building sets in a wood shop, managing theatrical productions, or producing high end video - long hours and hard focused labor are nothing new to me. So far I have always managed to succeed and in many cases excel, but recently I have found myself in a relatively new situation. As I progress in my chosen field, I am increasingly less likely to be building something physical with my hands – and find myself surrounded by ideas instead, which I sometimes find overwhelming.
These days I am often tasked with briefs, reports and treatments that demand new and original ideas. For example, over the next few days I have to come up with the “look and feel” of a feature length music DVD, finalize the graphic design of a corporate internal communications piece and develop three directions for the logo design of a new startup company. Each of these tasks require new ideas… so becoming inspired to generate all this new thinking will require lots of hard work.
I have noticed that while I am willing to work hard, I often find myself blocked and feeling unproductive. If I feel too busy and overwhelmed with worry about all the stuff in my to-do list, I often don’t get around to starting on anything. David Allen’s Book Getting Things Done describes this problem in detail. Then it goes on to present several tactics to help organize all the mental clutter that tends to get in the way of thinking clearly. I like this book a lot and have taken its recommendations to heart.
The most essential concept in the book and one that I have found to be the most helpful, is Mind Like Water - an image that is also used in karate. Allen describes it thus: Imagine throwing a pebble into a still pond. How does the water respond? The answer is totally appropriate to the force and mass of the input, then it returns to calm it doesn’t over react or under react.
Thinking of my own mind in this way really helps bring it into a clear and ready state, which in turn allows me to place my full attention on every task I undertake and become way more productive.
Another really great tactic I recommend is to have a list making website to capture all the to-dos and to-think-abouts that are swirling around you everyday. Once everything is out of your head and on the web you can simply knock it off the list, one item at a time. I can reference mine from work or home via my cell phone.
But what does all this have to do with Inspiration, you may ask.
Well, if inspiration is hard work, involving thinking up many different ideas and throwing out the bad ones – then it’s important to keep your mind clear so as not to clog up the conveyor belt in the factory, so to speak.
When your mind is clear you can harness your whole energy and attention for a good solid brainstorm. There are two methods that I use to brainstorm. Lists are simple and easy. I’ve noticed that if I start writing things down then my brain begins to fill up faster than I can write. And once I have my lists, mind maps (sometimes called idea webs) really help to clearly define the links between things. You start with an idea in the middle of a page, and then build branches for each idea, each branch can then have detail branches and each of those can break off and so on. Here’s an illustration.
There are many more effective brainstorming methods; a quick Google search reveals thousands of hits. I find that within all these methods there are two main things to remember though:
Write everything down. If you don’t write them down you will never remember and be able to review later.
Don’t throw anything out. The crazy ideas often turn out to be the best. You will have to cull out the bad ideas eventually but at first everything is fair game.
Procrastination and laziness are the real threats to hardworking inspiration. Although it’s not very romantic to think of it as something that can be manufactured, it is also reassuring to know that your next major creative project is completely under your control, as opposed to being at the mercy of a fickle muse or divine intervention.
Shunyu Suzuki once said that, “If your mind is empty it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything.” So by all means take a relaxing hot bath to clear away the stress. But don’t stay there and wait for inspiration to come to you. Towel off, get dressed, and then get to it!
comments
Your work ethic is inspiring! WOW
Me? I'm on the bubble bath, BlackBerry, and divine intervention plan.