You Can Have Infinite Inspiration

Inspiration is both armor and a sword: In order to want to keep going, we need to feel equipped for offense as well as defense.

To have a solid foundation, we start with offense: a handful of long-term aspirations which nurture us at all times. The desire to be a good dad. A dream of becoming a concert violinist. Being the social glue holding a tight group of friends together.

Defense is layered on top, and we all have our preferred sources: Movies. Books. Conversations. Working out. Music. Listening to a podcast. Watching our children play.

Ideally, our swords are strong, rarely break, and provide enough oomph even when all else fails. If you constantly change your big picture goals, they can’t unfold their full power to push you forward. And, technically, starting a new type of school and making it globally successful should be enough to inspire us for a lifetime. But even though you can fight with just a sword, who wants to go into battle like that?

Armor inspiration is weaker and less durable, yet still essential. If you wear too much armor, you can’t move at all. It’s better to work two hours and watch inspiring videos for 15 minutes than vice versa. But the videos add new color to your school dream. The armor makes the sword feel stronger and gives you the confidence to wield it without restraint.

My sword is being a writer. Not even a good writer or a successful one, though I sure look at both with hope in my eyes. But a productive writer. A writer who writes every day. If all else fails, I’ll gladly settle for that. My sword has been forged between 2014 and 2017, and ever since then, it’s held pretty steadily. Other dreams come and go. This inspiration stays.

My sword is around 10 years old, so by now, there’s always something I can and want to write about. If starting feels hard, it’s usually because I don’t know where to begin wording that particular idea, never for a lack of subjects.

My armor, like most people’s, comes from many sources. Two of my favorite vambraces are books and movies. But I also have dozens of existing drafts and infinitely more writing ideas. Those, too, can provide short-term inspiration. Ironically, having a backlog to always fall on makes it easy to not have to use it.

Working out your offensive inspiration takes time. I feel I got quite lucky with mine. I had a natural affinity towards it and found the time to flesh it out relatively early in my life. I can’t really speak for someone without a sword, but my gut tells me that without the foundation, the whole thing falls apart.

Defensive inspiration, however, is more of an ability than a character exercise. You can learn to draw it from anywhere, and that life skill is incredibly rewarding all on its own.

I’ve written about the mugs in my cupboard. I’ve written about that next moment a few seconds away. And I’ve written about what shoes I wore yesterday, the wind blowing away the leaves outside my windos, and what might happen next month.

Draw inspiration from reality, your immediate situation, and your surroundings. Draw it from your past and future. From situations, events, upcoming moments, and small observations.

I’ve also written about the countless movies and TV shows I watch, the fantasies I play out in my head as I walk along the street, and entirely made up scenarios.

Draw inspiration from other people’s imagination. Use your own and draw it from there. You can add fact to fiction, fiction to fact, and even fiction to fiction. That alone is a well that’ll never run out as long as you go and fetch water.

I don’t know about the state of your sword. I don’t know about the state of your armor. But one thing I’m certain of: You can have infinite inspiration. Wherever you are now, I wanted you to know it’s possible to get to that state.