How To Best Capitalize On Moments Of Inspiration

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Excerpt: Are you fully capitalizing on your moments of inspiration? Or are you letting them pass by? Read this before you miss out on any more free gifts of life energy and prepare for inspiration’s next strike.

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“Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator.  But it won’t wait for you.  Inspiration is a now thing.  If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.”

Jason Fried

Inspiration is about as predictable as mood. One day you wake up feeling happy and you’re vibing and the next, you’re dragging your feet and don’t seem to want to smile at anything. And for no apparent reason most times! Such is the natural swing of life.

We have our natural ups and downs, highs and lows, and for the most part we have little say in how (or when) these moods come about. Sure, there are things we can do improve our mood and prevent bad moods from emerging, but for the most part, mood swings happen naturally and unpredictably.

The same is true for inspiration.

While it might be tempting to think that inspiration follows a similar path as mood (i.e. the happier you are the more inspired you feel); what I have experienced is that inspiration is more often totally independent of mood and strikes just as randomly!

If I were to graph the two lines on a chart, one line representing the level of inspiration as the days go on, and the second line representing mood level as the days go on, I imagine they would both zip across the graph in totally random and chaotic ways.

When Inspiration Decides to “Strike”—Be Ready.

This means that you never know when you’re going to have your next great idea or feel that great increase in drive and motivation. Sometimes inspiration will strike at a really convenient time (i.e. while you’re in the middle of doing work) and sometimes it will strike at the most bizarre times when you least expect it (i.e. when you’re getting ready for bed).

I can’t tell you how many times I have had a great idea, decided to hold onto it and come back to it later, and then later (of course) forgot about it and/or simply never did anything with it because the excitement/ energy/ or drive waned. Sound familiar?

We have to be ready to take action on our inspirations whenever and wherever they come up. Why? Because inspiration without action is the same as no inspiration at all—action is what brings inspiration to life!

Without action, inspiration is merely a figment of our imaginations—no more real than the tooth fairy or big foot. And what is a good life but a collection of good actions taken by an individual over the course of their lifetime? Inspiration is a gift of free life energy that can help you take more of those good actions for your life.

To act is to create and to create is to express who you are as a person. The bottom line is that action is the fundamental building block that makes us who we are. And so the mastery mindset is this: When inspiration strikes—strike back! How does one, “strike back,” you ask? Let’s take a look at some ideas:

4 Ways to “Strike Back” When Inspiration “Strikes”

1. Get a random thought notebook. Something small and simple.  A moleskin notebook perhaps. Or even just an app on your phone. Whenever you have an idea (of any size)—date it and write it!  Wherever you are and at whatever time of day.  This brings it out from the haze of your mind and makes it a concrete part of your reality.  This one action step can literally change everything.
2. Act immediately on small inspirations. If it takes around 5 minutes to complete—get it done right away!  For example, if you’re feeling thankful for another person, don’t let that feeling go to waste!  Express it!  Write them a gratitude letter or send them a quick thank you text.  You have no idea how much little actions like that can mean to other people.
3. Get in the habit of same-day-completion on intermediate inspirations. If it takes closer to an hour or two to complete, take a small action towards getting it done immediately (i.e. writing it down) and work to finish it by the end of that same day.  For example, if you’re feeling inspired to cook a nice meal for yourself or a family member, open up the recipe book, put the ingredients on the counter, and do a checklist for all ingredients. Then, when it’s time to cook the full meal, you’ll be ready and have some momentum behind the task.
4. Get in the habit of same-day-planning-completion on large inspirations. For anything that is going to take several days, weeks, months, or even years to complete, plan out what small actions you’ll take every day that will get you to that larger goal—by the end of that same day!  Wanting to create your own website or wanting to build your own business are good examples of this type of inspiration.  Both of these are examples of inspirations that will never be ‘completed’ per se, but rather will become a part of your life.  The question to answer immediately on inspiration is what will you do every day to keep them growing and moving forward?  Start planning out what you’ll do before the inspiration vanishes.

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When thinking about what to do with a moment of inspiration, waiting simply shouldn’t be an option! And as you can see from the examples above, there are always action steps that you can take immediately regardless of the size of your inspirations.

The power of this lesson can’t be emphasized enough.  As Erwin McManus said, “We will never create anything more powerful or significant than our lives.” And when we act on inspirations, what we are really doing is creating the life of our dreams. Good luck!

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