Since I've started this blog back in July I have been finding inspiration in a lot of different places. It's as if just knowing that I need to write each day makes me see clearly all of the motivational and inspirational things in the world around me. Today for example I received a book in the mail that I had ordered last week, How to Write a Movie in 21 Days and only a few minutes after tearing open the packaging I got hit with a source of inspiration. It wasn't anything the author wrote because I haven't even read a page, the inspiration came from the previous owner. Normally when I get a book with underlines and notes scrawled all over the pages I am less than pleased. However, these notes were different because these were the notes of a man writing a screenplay something that I want to achieve myself. What I love about the notes is the mystery of it all. He only writes bits and pieces of his idea for a story in short notations and from what I gather it is the story of a man trying to keep his sanity in an insane world. On the last page of the book it is signed and dated as 'finished' on 9/25/88 which both gives me inspiration as an end goal but also because it reminds me that this book has been around for almost as long as I have and may have gone through so many others hands. It makes me wonder if this screenplay was ever developed and the owner actually saw his idea through to the end even if it wasn't a major movie. This all got me thinking about inspiration and how to find it which in turn sparked this post and I wanted to express some thoughts on the process.
1. Find what drives you.
I wrote about this in my post The Drive of Success and the Creativity Flood that also relates to inspiration and the main idea is that when you find that thing in life that drives you to reach for it , the ideas and inspiration just bombard you. I've concluded that my drive in life comes from wanting to learn and create. For a long while I thought it was simply to become a writer but after some more thought it occurred to me that I really love to use my mind and create. For example I learned how to use the music making program FL Studio and love to create my own remixes that usually only I get to hear. There wasn't any real motivation to use these songs beyond that (not like I could they're copyrighted) but I made them simply so I could enjoy listening to music I liked on my mp3 player. It's this kind of creative feeling that makes it a breeze to spend hours on various projects which is why my old jobs could never hold a candle to my own interests.
2. Doing new things.
By breaking the repetitiveness of your everyday life you get exposed to new things, places, people, and ideas that if you're paying attention can pay you back many times over in the inspiration these experiences create. Sometimes I just like to go somewhere different whether it be the mall or a movie to get little bits of inspiration by watching people or seeing interesting products. But for this method to work the best you should try and go places that you have never been to or join a group of people by taking a class in something you've always been interested in but never have acted upon. This upcoming week I am planning on going to study sessions for a few of my classes whether I need the extra help or not just to be around some different people. I'm not sure if I will get any new ideas or motivation from this but who knows, I'll just have to find out for myself.
3. Digest your day.
When you get a moment of downtime think about your day or week and what happened that is particular interest to you. Maybe you saw a movie preview that interested you. What about it grabbed your attention? Perhaps the theme of the movie hit close to home and you should explore these feelings deeper. Did you meet someone special? It doesn't have to be romantic but if you met someone interesting what was it that made them cross your mind? I often do this kind of reflection before I fall asleep because it usually take me awhile to drift off and it has netted me a ton of new ideas that I write down and expand on later.
4. Look to what others produced with their inspiration.
This is actually a really fun way of finding inspiration because you get to explore artistic expression. Pick up a favorite book, movie, or go to an art museum (or look through paintings on your computer) and try to imagine what was going through the creator's mind when they were making this work. If you're someone who enjoys architecture take a walk through your town and just let your mind absorb interesting structures. Pick out something you like about the building and really just let your mind go off on tangents. Bring a notepad and copy down feelings, questions, or ideas you have from your wanderings. I'm sure you can find at least one thing that will inspire you forward.
5. Just let it flow.
Don't second guess your ideas at first just get them out there. Sometimes I'll just sit down and write without the vaguest notion of what exactly I want to say but this stream of consciousness method does provide good results. Often I won't get out what I wanted to say the first time but after a few readings it conjures up even more points and then other times it changes the idea into something else that is better. Not every new idea is going to work out, like the other day I was in the middle of writing about realism in your life but I didn't like it anymore, it had ceased to inspire me. That post is now in the graveyard of ideas but it is still written down in my notes and maybe next week I'll resurrect it with a whole new batch of points to make.
Inspiration is easier for some people than others but we all have the capacity to make it happen. The key is to tune into the world around you and let your curiosity loose without second guessing what you find interesting until your brainstorming is over with. I hoped this helped you with seeking out your own inspiration because I had to get these thoughts out of my head.
Every once in a while I read books on business and investing just to give me a solid foundation to build on should I decide to go into business for myself. One of my favorite books on investments is The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing by Pat Dorsey and Morningstar because it gives thorough explanations and isn't a get rich quick type of investment strategy. As you can tell from the title the book lays out in the first chapter five rules that every successful investor should follow and while looking over them late last night I noticed that these rules could also be applicable to self-improvement and goal setting. Yes, it turns out that investing in stocks is much like investing in yourself and done right both can pay off handsomely, only self-improvement the results are a lot less volatile.
1. Do Your Homework
Obviously before starting any goal the most important thing to do is to research how you can accomplish it successfully. Right now one of my goals is to learn everything I can about writing a screenplay as a part of my larger goal of learning all I can about making movies. It would be easy for me to rush into this and just commit a bunch of words into a word processor with some semblance of a story and call it a screenplay but that wouldn't be a good screenplay now would it? The time that you put into before setting off on your goals should allow you to have a plan of action and be more prepared for any setbacks that you will inevitably face while seeking your goal.
2. Find Economic Moats
In the book this section is referring to the competitive advantage firms have within their market but for our purposes we'll be using it to refer to your personal competition. Now not all goals will have you competing against other but some will. For instance, if your goal is to attain a certain position within a company or get into a certain school then you are going to have to separate yourself from the rest of the pack by being able to do something better than anyone else can. Even if we go beyond specific goals we can apply this rule to life in general, consistently growing and improving creates a moat that can protect you in tough times. Economic moats allow companies to be more profitable just as growth allows your life to be more profitable. If you read and engage your interests and develop new skills are you not better off in a terrible economic climate than someone who does nothing to better themselves? Of course you are because whether it's having a better resume for a job or taking the reins yourself you always know that you have value to offer. So create moats for yourself by learning new things and separate yourself from the competition. Becoming World Class at Something.
3. Have a Margin of Safety
In the book this section deals with valuation of stocks and making sure that the price you pay isn't too high. In life sometimes the price you pay for something may also be too much and leaves you high and dry when things don't work out. Just like stocks you can overvalue people too. If you are in a relationship with someone and it's not going the way you want it to then you may be paying too high of a price to be with that person. This extra cost can be physical, emotional, or just your partner holding you back from being the person you want to be. You have to be honest and evaluate the person realistically to see if they are the right match for you or just someone who was nice for awhile and has since declined in their personal value. If you come to the conclusion that the price you're paying to stay with them exceeds what you actually want then it is time to move on.
4.Hold for the Long Haul
In investments constantly trading racks up fees and taxes which will usually hurt long term growth. With goals if you constantly shift from one to the next without putting the proper amount of time into it you're also hurting yourself in the long term. Jumping around with your goals leaves your original goals done hastily or you never complete them at all. Sometimes moving on is required but often it is simply due to a lack of commitment on your part. I often had this problem when reading books. I would buy one long book and be absorbed in it for a few days and then I would hear about a topic that seemed interesting and buy a book on that. I eventually found myself with a ton of books but only a shallow understanding of each because I lacked the commitment to keep going with the book or subject. I finally decided to do something about this by selling those books I had started but weren't on a topic that I was interested in on a regular basis and then made myself get through the ones I did have a consistent interest in. Sticking with your goal allows you to reap all of the benefits that you originally set out to acquire while bowing out early is like a paying tax (time and energy invested) and not receiving much profit.
5. Know When to Sell
Ah so now we get to when it is appropriate to shift away from one goal to another. First ask yourself is it worth it to you to keep continuing your pursuit of the goal? If the answer is no then it is probably time to reevaluate things. Obviously if you have achieved what you set out to do then of course it is time to move on to something new. But if your goal was something like weight loss then you will need to maintain a healthy lifestyle otherwise the result of your goal was temporary. The book goes into asking whether your money could be invested better somewhere else and if you have too much money in one stock. This translates well to what we are trying to do with this article. Replace money with time. Could your time produce better results if it were spent another way? There are only 24 hours in a day and each of them must be scheduled accordingly and if one pursuit isn't paying you back it's fair share based on the amount of time invested then it may be time to let it go. Also, while focusing on one goal in the short term can be very beneficial, if you put all of your eggs in one basket it will hinder the rest of your growth if you dedicate too much time to it over the long haul. Eventually you will see diminishing returns in its value to your growth and can be disastrous if one thing goes wrong. If all your doing is pursuing one thing and that doesn't work out you're not left with much to cling to.
This is just a few short ideas that I was exploring based off of these rules and I believe that if you do some thinking on them of your own you can find a way to apply them to your life. Personally I like to look for advice and inspiration in lots of different ways so maybe I'll make a trip to the business section of the used book store and find other thought provoking ideas, after I finish my current reading list of course.
