5 Reasons Why Waiting for Inspiration is a Waste of Time

Whenever I’ve simply waited for inspiration to arrive with a fabulous idea I’ve been left hanging, smashing into a blank wall and feeling inadequate.

I enjoy being creative in my thinking, problem solving, making and doing. It invigorates me and perpetuates a sense of purpose in my daily life.

That old saying of inspiration is 99% work and 1% bright idea rings true in my creative personal and business life. It is by doing that inspiration turns up. Whenever I’ve simply waited for a great idea to happen it’s been a rare commodity.

Happily when I’ve got myself active and doing I’ve found those creative solutions, inspiring designs have come tumbling through.

Watching the Moon and thinking how lucky she is in life

5 Ways to Understand Inspiration and Bring it Into Everyday Life

I think we all like to feel the enlivening sensations of inspiration and creativity so to help with practical ways to bring more of this good stuff into life I have five insights into inspiration and how to make it a more frequent visitor in your everyday life:

1. Inspiration doesn’t turn up when you’re just sitting around for it.

When you set aside time to be inspired with a healthy does of ideas and designs inspiration will be off somewhere else, leaving you feeling frustrated and annoyed.

It will, more likely than not, turn up when you’re driving down the street to get stuck into errands, arriving with a package of great ideas that light you up, sometimes forcing you to pull over and write them down, making you late for picking up the kids, again.

Inspiration doesn’t work to our schedule but to it’s own, preferring company. I’ve found getting along to a weekly art class to be really valuable for doing something directly constructive for bringing more inspiration to me.

2. Inspiration likes positivity.

When you’re going through negative self talk rarely will you find inspiration turning up. You need to be positive and kind to yourself and it will feel welcomed and poke it’s head around the corner.

It’s not always easy to be positive and each of us need to learn ways of how to move from a negative space to a positive space. For me it can be through singing along with favourite songs, thinking through happy times like adventurous holidays, distraction through work, playing with my paints or gardening or having a good old fashion conversation with a loved one. We all have our own best practice methods for shifting gears.

3. Inspiration comes along when you’re playing with other ideas

I’ve always found that when I’ve been playing, whether that’s with ideas, what if’s, the garden, paints, clay, whatever it is that I’m mucking around with the channels for creativity and inspiration open up.

Some of my favourite designs have come about simply because I was playing, like Lord Tasman of the Gum Leaf Order and Bunny.

Based on my much loved soft toy Bunny

It doesn’t matter how old you are, playing is always important for the creative spirit.

4. Life will get in the way of inspiration.

If you want to set aside purposeful time for inspiration to come sprinting into your day then there’s a really good chance your normal life will get in the way.

Have you ever noticed how you’ll get to that fabulous artisan market or exhibition in another city when you’re on holidays but somehow weeks and months (and maybe even years) get past you at home and you don’t go to the amazing things right on your doorstep? It’s called every day life getting in the way of doing interesting things.

The key is to make the interesting things part of your normal routine, making sure that your general life includes the good things. This will create more space for inspiration and creativity to come through.

We all have different things that light us up, one of my instagram friends loves virtual reality games and getting along to conferences and exhibitions around all of this makes her feel loads better and a better writer. Now video games aren’t my thing, I don’t get that side of it but I can easily understand how by being around it adds value to her writing.

For me it’s much more around art exhibitions so I try to get along to 3 – 5 exhibitions a year. It would be wonderful to get to one every week but that’s not possible with what I need to get done. But if I can get to one every two or three months I feel rather pleased with myself and it opens doors up for my own creativity to flow.

5. Inspiration likes work

Inspiration is a busy little bee, turning up to check out what work you’re doing and sticking her nose in with her own ideas and suggestions, at least this is how it feels to me.

When I was part of The Rocks Pop Up a few years ago I was fascinated to watch the other artists in the shared space working away. I could watch them for what seemed like hours, whether that was painting or making fascinators (aptly named) or watches. All of it captured my imagination and it shifted my work. So much so I ended up learning the skills of a ceramist and developing my porcelain jewellery range.

This lead onto me learning how to paint so I could have my own paintings on my ceramic necklaces and brooches.

The always handsome wombat, Lord Tasman of the Gum leaf Order

We were all working really diligently in the Pop Up and we all stood around watching each other make. All of us had our work shift and evolve from being in this shared space. Mine probably changed the most with me adding two new art forms and mediums to my collection but Creatively Belle was always intended to be broader than where it started, hence the name.

Trusting in Inspiration

I’m constantly told at market by customers that I’m creative and while I love this feedback I have to confess, I don’t feel particularly creative. My designs have come around from a lot of hard work and semi-regular doses of inspiration.

I’ve had to learn, particularly with my paintings, that I need to get playing first, often with warm up exercises, for the extra special painting to come through. I can’t just sit down and immediately paint the perfect creative piece. I don’t think I even want to do that, I enjoy the playing, the exercises. It’s exploring and that’s always a good thing.

Getting Inspiration Happening

When you’re active and making things happen you create a different energy in your life, one I think inspiration likes. It can be that tricky balance between being too busy and just the right enough to be at a healthy active level.

For me it is around the level of thinking and figuring things out, it’s a form of exercise for creativity, that makes for a warm, welcoming space for inspiration.

So don’t waste time just waiting for inspiration to turn up, get happening and doing and you’ll be surprised with how readily bright, sparkling ideas will come through and delight you.

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