7 ways of unfuzzying inspiration

Trick question: is inspiration a no-brainer concept? Is it common sense or neither common nor sensible? What does your gut know about inspiration? What about your brain? So here's a challenge: can you name seven actions inspired by inspiration?


In an earlier post I talked about the importance of being a good inspiration DJ. That is using the right ingredients to achieve present time happiness. This post is rather an attempt to get at the physiology of inspiration by looking at the different actions triggered by it. So you are inspired

1. To copy
You come across advice, apply it and it works or it doesn't. Is definitely a good idea if you're the kind of person who overthinks and overcomplicates things. While there is uncertainty because you don't know how you will react there's still a basic scaffold: someone has done it before and you are not freestyling your way through it.

2. To emulate
What would 007 do? Or maybe that co-worker you can't help but admire? Trying to become more like someone comes especially easy if you spend a lot of time together. That person's way of talking, moving and thinking will seep through your defences and before long other people will notice. This way of learning is extremely powerful but it can also work against you if you hang out with the wrong folks.

3. To do something else all together (by-product)
This happens to me a lot when I listen to audio talks or read a book: people are discussing something that I find only semi interesting but it somehow nevertheless manages to get my brain work at an altered frequency. The ideas generated have hardly anything to do with what is discussed but are still useful and would not have come to my conscious if it weren't for those other folks.

4. To keep going
Often we know exactly what to do but we feel weak and need reassurance. The right word or idea at the right time can make all the difference between giving up and following through.

5. To stop
Often we know exactly what not to do but something is holding us back and that resistance can be swiped away by inspiration.

6. To spread fun, peace and peaches
An infectiously good mood, a nice voice or even just the familiar can change our mood from neutral to good and from there good things can be achieved.

7. To phantasize
A whole post could be written on phantasy. I like to think of it as a playground which has all the gadgets, travel destinations, sound, textures, you get the picture. A good phantasy can have some or all of the previously mentioned inspiration effects.

So why would these categories be useful? Well maybe if you're stuck you've been focusing too much on one kind of inspiration. Why not stir things a bit up? Find a person you find worth emulating and hang out. Or copy the action of just taking it as an encouragement to keep going.
A bucket list can help you do all these things.