Finding Inspiration

Having good ideas is the fun part. Then you've got to buckle down and work for what you want. That's the hard part. It can take years to get to your goal. And your enthusiasm won't last very long.

To achieve your goals, you'll have to stop along the way and reassess your motivations. 

• Why did you start this in the first place?
• What have you learned along the way that changes your view? 
• And why is your ultimate goal important to you? 

Let's do better than a symptomatic approach. 

Let's make it a routine to stop and ask these questions, before you get to the point where you loose motivation, are tired of the effort or are even burnt out.

Make it a point to stop regularly and give yourself a mental boost and a pat on the back.

See what you've accomplished.
See what you've learned and how you've grown.

A blog or diary is a good idea to keep up, just for this purpose. You don't need to write well or show it to anyone. It's your personal Jimminy Cricket.  

Find your inspiration again

Chasing it:

Go back to your old haunts or revisit old friends. Often times, just physically being where you were can light a spark
Dig out some of those old cds you used to listen to. Or yknow, tapes or records or what have you. Try to recreate the mood.
Pull out your favorite shirt or sweater you haven't worn in years. Look at old pictures of yourself from that time.
Often times it only takes a little remembering who you were to open up those dusty old inspiration channels.

Redefining it:

But maybe the stuff that used to inspire you no longer does. 

That's okay.

Maybe those things were a tool for you, but you've grown out of them. You've moved past that. Think of it as a sign of progress. 

Good. Now you have to find a new inspiration.  

It's unlikely anyone will hand it to you on a silver platter (though anything's possible). 

To find new inspiration,  you can't go back to your old stuff. You've got to do something you've never done, break out of the routine and see everything from a new angle. This one takes more initial effort but it can be fun and rewarding.

Go somewhere new. Maybe somewhere you've always wanted to but never could quite make a good enough excuse for; a new city or country, a different part of town or that shoe store you keep passing on the way home from work and telling yourself you'll visit some time. 

 Do the close-your-eyes-and-point game on the map, go somewhere random.
Start listening to new genres of music or bands you've never heard of. Maybe you have some musically inclined friends who could point you in the right direction.  
Radio sites like Pandora are a great tool too, because they force you to listen to someone entirely different than you'd intended. Or even,  yknow, regular old radio. Find a new channel or see what all the kids are listening to these days.

If you're a reader, stop by your nearest bookstore or library and choose a book from a genre you don't usually read.
Learn something new. 

Always wanted to learn Origami but never had the patience? Yeah, me too. This is a great opportunity.

 A tedious task helps your mind relax so that you can process all the new information you've soaked up from these new activities. 

Now you've got that spark back, or maybe lit a new one, you can reassess your goal.

• See how far you've come and what you learned. 
• Your path may need adjusting, maybe you've acquired new goals and have to figure how to fit then in with your big goal. 

Doing this on a regular basis, say once a month, helps keep the burnout away. You'll probably learn something new too, and have more fun along the way. 

Fighting your way to your goal can be hard work, but it doesn't have to be boring. Finding a way to remind you that this is actually fun can give you just the boost you need to take the next step. And as the old saying goes...

 "a journey of a thousand miles begins 

with a single step"

Here are some websites I like to look at for inspiration:

I'm a visual person.

• Pinterest
• Stumbleupon
• Foodgakwer
• Foodporndaily
• Flickr

Generating Ideas

I have a friend who was very hesitant about starting her own blog. She figured she didn't have the time or the patience or the creativity. But once I explained that 1. you don't have to blog every second of every day (some of my posts are months apart!) and 2. it's great for a portfolio and keeping track of your progress over time... it started to seem a little more do-able.
Blogs can be sort of intimidating. An immediate thought may be 'what am I going to write about?', which gives you the impression that you actually have nothing to write about and, ultimately, that your blog will be about nothing. Everyone will despise you and decide you really just aren't worth anyone's time after all. It can get very depressing.
But, really, lots of interesting things are about nothing. Seinfeld, for one; a huge hit tv show in the 90's that was described exactly as, 'a show about nothing'. Millions of dollars later, still, no one can really describe what it was about.
Also, take yourself into consideration. People do all sorts of pointless things. I, for one, am an established and excellent Procrastinator. I love doing pointless things. One of my favorite pass-times; it keeps me from doing things that I really should be doing, which, ultimately, keeps me from really accomplishing anything. Which is exactly why I am so successful as a writer. Or, y'know, will be... eventually.
So, how do you figure out what you're going to do? I like to think that you already know what you're going to do. Its that feeling of inspiration you get sometimes where a funny exclamation point goes off over your head. That excitement you feel when you've seen something you like. Everybody gets this, probably more often than they even realize. A lot of times, it just takes you learning how to pull it out of your head and put it on paper.
 The method I use to generate ideas is one I like to call the 'sponge' method. It goes like this:

• Research: Everything you can get your hands on about your subject. Books, magazines, the ever-present Internet. Fill your brain with informative goo.
• Distract yourself: Go do something else. Watch a movie. Play a game. Go out and get some air. Do something that, preferably, does not involve your subject matter. This way, you are letting the information stew around in the back of your mind. 
• Write it down: Write everything down that comes to mind. Keep a Word or Notepad document open on your computer. Maybe keep a little notebook handy. A small marker board on your refrigerator or above your desk. Or a note app on your phone. Or all of the above. Ideas come at the darnedest time so WRITE THEM DOWN as they do, or they disappear.

Below are a few helpful links to get the brain juices going:
Creative Idea Generator
Quick Story Idea Generator
Idea Generator Tool
Wordoid 
Creativity for Life