What does inspiration mean? We discussed everything you need to know about inspiration and habits destroying creativity here. Read for more!
If someone stops you on the way and asks, “What does inspiration mean?” What would be your reply? Or, let’s assume your mentor or boss asks you to define inspiration to them. It will be a good question to ask employees, by the way.
Inspiration is a vital ingredient that pushes us to keep going despite the obstacles on the way. It is an essential ingredient that people who see themselves as a winner and want to keep winning should have.
In this post, we’re going to discuss what inspiration means. We’ll also discuss things you’re doing that are killing your creativity.
Are you ready to walk with me? If yes, let’s dive in together.
What Does Inspiration Mean?
The dictionary definition of inspiration is “a feeling of enthusiasm derived from something or someone, which can offer you new and creative ideas. For example, my inspiration can come from reading biographies. For other people, inspiration can come from eating a particular food or something else.
So, what inspires me might not inspire you, and vice versa. Therefore, identify what inspires you, and your life will change for good.
Inspiration is when someone is taken over by a spontaneous urge to do something unique or creative. It is that moment when the way forward becomes more apparent to you.
The origin of the word “inspiration.”
The word “inspiration” originated from the Latin word “inspirare,” which means “to breathe or blow into.”
When you inspire someone, you have breathed a new energy and idea into them. It is like changing the engine oil in your vehicle. You have given them new energy to take on life’s challenges or even continue a project they had stopped working on when things got tougher.
Inspiration was also used in a divine context. It meant a mystical animating force. Other meanings include a profound idea or truth revealed to an individual who wasn’t expecting such.
The explanation above shows why people say inspiration struck them from nowhere, unexpectedly, like a bolt of lightning that descended from the sky. Inspiration hits you with new energy, determination, focus, and drive. It gives you a unique mental boost that pushes you to approach things with unmatched concentration.
You can get inspiration whenever you want. It takes a little practice to tap into your intangible creativity reservoir. This is better than sitting alone at night or waiting for inspiration to hit you from nowhere.
You can get inspiration if you make the right move. A little practice will help. But as I always say, identify things that inspire you. Is it reading science fiction or something else? Whatever it is, you have to identify it.
The sky will be your limit once you can identify what inspires you. You can get your creative spark whenever you need it.
Benefits You Can Get From Inspiration
Let me start by saying inspiration isn’t a supernatural force. We can all agree that research regarding the psychology of inspiration is relatively thin, but inspiration isn’t anything mysterious or a divine intervention from a mystical being.
Inspiration comes from within you. You can inspire yourself or get it from something. The most important thing is to get inspired.
Now that we know inspiration isn’t a divine intervention but something you can derive from within, what benefits does it offer? Why do people need inspiration?
The benefits of inspiration are massive. Inspiration can make life worth living. It can make you achieve results you ordinarily wouldn’t have achieved. That is how impactful it can be.
Inspiration can boost your happiness and unlock your creativity. It can increase productivity in the workplace, too.
Inspiration will make you feel more confident, positive, and motivated. People who get inspired at work and home tend to be more engaged. They are also more capable of proffering solutions to problems, generating new ideas, or creating new things.
How To Find Your Inspiration
Finding inspiration may appear challenging. But in the real sense, it isn’t. You can take several steps to identify your inspiration, and I am here to break each step down for you.
1: Find what inspires you:
I wrote an article on 100 things that inspire me. You can look it up to identify what inspires you. Sometimes, the little things can produce the biggest inspiration, but identifying them is where the challenge lies.
Find what inspires you. Is it music, your high-school teacher, parents’ love, TV shows, reading fantasy novels, or something else? Just find that one thing that inspires you, and the rest would be history.
I love listening to classical music. It helps inspire and allow my creative juices to flow. Yours can be something different. But then, you can only identify it by trying.
2: Pay attention to your surroundings:
You can find inspiration from your surroundings. But this can only happen if you start paying attention. There are many opportunities out there to get inspiration. Or, you may have been paying attention but looking in the wrong direction.
Look around you. Get involved in social activities or events in your neighborhood. Interact with people and listen to them speak while you pay attention. You don’t need to remain mute throughout the conversation. Just try to limit the things you say and let them speak. You’ll learn alot from others and even get inspiration for your next story.
A Handy Tip: You can change base if you have gotten used to your environment. Travel to a new place and meet new people. You mustn’t travel to a different country. Just visit a neighborhood you haven’t been to.
2: Depend on your emotions:
You can discover your inspiration via your emotions. Please pay attention to the things happening around you and how you see them. Do you feel good about the things you’re witnessing? If yes, keep doing it to get inspiration.
3: Avoid procrastination:
Procrastination is the thief of time. It will make you lose opportunities, achieve little, yet waste more precious time.
Another thing you need to know about procrastination is that it can impact your inspiration and confidence negatively. How? Most people become uncomfortable working under pressure when they leave things too late. It happens mostly to people on a tight deadline.
If you’re writing a book, you won’t have the time or patience to conduct in-depth research and produce an information-packed book. The only major thing you’ll be thinking about is how to finish the project.
A lack of confidence can set in when you eventually finish the writing project under pressure and feel you could have done better quality-wise. This can affect your confidence level for the next projects and cause you to lose inspiration.
So, avoid procrastination. It can make your inspiration and confidence go from a hundred to zero.
Take action immediately once you get inspired to work on a project. Do not wait for the perfect condition. It may never come, and you may not attain the same level of inspiration sooner.
If you are inspired to write a song and don’t take action, you may struggle to get back your inspiration. It is the same thing with writing a book or working on a project requiring high creativity and inspiration.
4: Don’t be afraid to start small:
The scope of certain projects may cause you to have sleepless nights. You don’t know how to successfully execute them.
I say, “Don’t be afraid to start” and start small. A little drop of water makes the mighty ocean. Remember that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.
Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, George Orwell, Mark Twain, and other authors who changed the world didn’t write hundreds of books overnight. They went from one book to two and then more.
It is the same thing with Einstein, Newton, and other scientists that made groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Their research work took years to materialize.
A Handy Tip: If the project is too big, break it into smaller units. Then, work on each unit separately. This way, you won’t feel the project is cumbersome or have mental fatigue.
But in all, don’t be afraid to start and start small. You’ll reach the finish line if you stay focused.
5: Keep that inner flame burning:
Everyone feels inspired differently. So, don’t feel bad when your passion or inner flame goes off or dims. Keep trying. You can revisit the initial thought or try that thing that inspires you to rekindle your inner flame.
Habits That Are Destroying Your Creativity
Creativity can be a beneficial and powerful force. It can connect you to people and open up your mind. It can boost your mood and confidence level.
Unfortunately, most of us are doing things that have a negative impact on our creativity. We are taking steps that are killing our creativity. Check them out below.
1: Depleted confidence level:
Because it’s a creative activity, you don’t feel like partaking. Well, it’s not about the activity in question but your confidence level. You don’t feel good enough to participate in any creative activity.
Having low confidence kills creativity. It will make you feel you aren’t good enough and have no room to improve.
Creative activities aren’t for only artists. Anyone can participate. You also need to understand that we are all unique in our way. Your creativity is also unique.
The one thing that kills confidence is when people try to fill other people’s shoes. You are not them. They are not you. Try to be yourself and showcase your creativity.
2: Fear of failure:
Nothing stifles creativity like the fear of failure. It blocks the brain’s creative pathway and can even make you detest creative activities.
You can solve this problem by showing a positive attitude. Try to convince yourself to make an attempt, and do not bother about the outcome. Just make an attempt.
A Handy Tip: Sometimes, you may need the help of a professional to overcome this mental challenge. Get a proven health professional to help you work on your mental health and achieve your goals.
3: Comparison with others:
One mistake people make is comparing themselves to others. Sometimes, some even search for people their level or lower to compare with. They become so desperate to find someone they are better than.
You are unique, and so are your colleagues. Your creativity is unique, and you have a special ability. Others have theirs, too. So, stop comparing yourself with others. You’re strangling your creativity.
You may find it hard to grow when you compare yourself with others, especially those considered average. You won’t feel any urge to improve since you have people you claim to be better than.
4: Self-judgment:
You’re now your judge. You have been passing judgment on every creative activity you engage in and have surprisingly realized that you aren’t good enough.
It is possible to feel this way when you become the judge of yourself. You have forgotten that your actions are blocking your brain’s creative pathway and strangulating your creativity.
It would be best if you stopped passing judgment on yourself. Let your creativity flow and take you to wherever it wants. You don’t necessarily have to achieve the same results as your colleague or friend to know you’re making progress. Accept that everyone’s creativity is unique.
Conclusion
What does inspiration mean? It refers to a feeling of enthusiasm derived from something or someone capable of feeding you new and creative ideas.
We also discussed how to discover your inspiration. For this to happen, you need to identify things that inspire you. Is it music, outdoor activities, food, TV shows, or someone special to you? Identify what inspires you to rekindle that inner flame.
You can find inspiration from your environment. Just observe and participate in events taking place around you. Traveling to a new place can inspire and restore your creativity, too.
