How to Make Inspiration Your B*tch!
A guide for badass founders to do inspired work; at will, all-the-time.
When the inspiration doesn’t come.
I’m stalling again. It’s been days & I still can’t make a decision. I actually sit down to do my work but still feel totally uninspired, it feels impossible & I really can’t remember why I am doing this to begin with!
In his book The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles, Steven Pressfield says:
“When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.”
And I just think, he must not know my muse! So I tell myself, you need to be more disciplined Lysandra! Do what needs to be done regardless of how you feel.
Yet here I am again with these unwelcomed feelings of resistance, lack of clarity & blah. So I have to be honest, I don’t care much for discipline; it’s robotic & forceful, there’s no art or beauty. There is only rigidity & effort & that just can’t be my way.
One of my all time favorite thought leaders, Naval Ravikant once said,
Discipline is overrated. Discipline is you fighting with yourself to do something you don’t want to do.
And I actually LOVE my work.
So discipline isn’t my problem & it’s definitely not my solution!
What of Beauty, Passion & Inspiration
And then it hit me…
Work is heavy when it’s not inspired & inspired work is my best work.
Life and its experiences are essential, especially when you do creative work. Life is the birth place of your stories; when you let yourself get carried away by the moments that become memories you never want to forget, that’s when the ideas just seem to ‘come to you’.
So I choose not to force myself to do something I love. I choose instead, to stay connected to & channel the beauty, passion & inspiration that I know I always have access to.
I have what to like to call my Rules of Inspiration:
You must consistently break your work flow before you ever start to feel burn-out & the work starts to feel heavy.
You must prioritize & frequently schedule time to rest, recharge & deliberately seek inspiration in new environments that align with your interests & lifestyle.
You must do this alone.
It’s about reconnecting & flowing toward the things you really want to do. It’s about understanding that that connection will wane & before it does, you simply need to go where you channel & connect to what inspires you.
At first, it feels counterintuitive but I promise, you’ll find your rhythm again; with an electrifying sense of clarity & motivation.
Why Inspiration Matters
You know what they say:
Inspired people inspire people
Running a business, leading a team, communicating w/ clients, designing, creating & bringing ideas to life are the things we love & pour ourselves into. Our passion & inspiration are what keeps our cups full; the quality of our work, our ideas, our charisma & our efficiency won’t flow if our cups are empty.
What’s Inspired Me Recently
I know that if I hop in my car and drive through Laurel Canyon, down Sunset Blvd onto La Cienega & then up Melrose; I’ll get this surge… I’ll start to get ideas, my plan will start to make sense again & I’ll have to pull over to write it all down!
And when that’s not enough, I know that if I check into a hotel for the day, that will reinvigorate & spark my best ideas again! It’s what I like to call a workcay.
My last workcay was at The Hoxton Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. There was no agenda, no demand on my time & I had the most relaxing day!
I had pizza and fries for dinner
I listened to Snoh Aalegra’s Dying For Your Love on repeat
I read about things I like the Ultrafragola mirror by architect Ettore Sottsass…which is now on my wishlist because it’s design celebrates & is inspired by femininity: the curves of a woman’s body, her hair & other female body parts.
And as I watched the skyline come to life with lights & cars busying the highway, there she was again.
My muse.
Why Effort When You Can Flow?
Why struggle & get frustrated when if we deliberately tap into & channel our inspiration… we can literally do in an hour, what would take a day! What if we cared less about ‘looking productive’ & instead focused on doing our best work- when we’ve found our inspired flow?
What if we used discipline to aid our cause by remembering that:
The discipline to pause & recharge is just as important as the discipline to sit down & do your work.
And what if instead of waiting for inspiration to come, we knew how to channel it at will?
I used to love this quote:
Inspiration will come but it must find you working.
… but now I say, it must find you engaged in something you love, unless you find it first!
xx Lysandra
