10 Easy Ways to Find Inspiration

10 easy ways to find inspiration...because being inspired doesn't have to be random!
In my career, I've made it a mission to study and understand inspiration. How it strikes, when it strikes, and developing a cultivation-mindset around inspiration.

What if we could cultivate inspiration like a creative muscle, flex it when we need it, and let it rest when we don't? I can come up with ideas almost instantaneously, at any given time, even when I'm not feeling motivated. I do this through daily practice: daydreams, brainstorming sessions, and learning to see everything - I mean EVERYTHING - as a creative opportunity.

Sometimes my friends and family go mad around me because I don't often put the creativity mindset away. But this is the benefit of CREATING CREATIVITY - it is always with you. Cultivated creativity doesn't mean that lightning strikes don't happen - they do, just WAY more often.

I am never uninspired. I mean that. Sometimes I am unmotivated, or need a rest, but I am never without inspiration. Becoming more attuned to who you are and why you are that way is the surest path to finding constant inspiration.

This video features my top 10 ways of finding inspiration. I hope you can take some of these points and adopt them into your creative life. Here are the 10 ideas:

1. Write a list of themes that you are most often inspired by. Mine are: death, decay, rebirth, grief, and surrealism.
2. Write down visual categories that relate to how you create. Mine are: location, wardrobe, and color. This will help you to find the ways you are most visually inspired so that once you have a theme, you can assign visuals to it beginning with those categories.
3. Embrace the element of surprise. For example, go grab a book from your shelf and pick a random page and line to be inspired by.
4. See old objects in new ways. Walk around your home or office and try to see objects as having a different meaning or utility.
5. Color blocking. Create around a single color where everything you create with is the same color.
6. Free writing. Put your hand on the page and don't stop writing for 5 full minutes. Set a timer and see what comes out!
7. Change the way you work by changing your medium. If you're a photographer, try music or painting.
8. Write down one branded sentence that states your core goal in your art.
9. Work in a blank space. By taking away outside influences, you can truly let YOUR creativity come out.
10. Storytelling cards. There are so many out there for storytelling narratives and prompts. I find the art to be inspiring.

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