How to find and catch inspiration: sources and ideas for inspiration

Where to find inspiration for productive work and how to keep it?

The question of searching for inspiration has worried and continues to worry many generations of creative people. Any poet or artist will say with confidence: without a “muse” things won’t work. But what to do if she becomes an infrequent guest in your home? How to attract and keep her?

Of course, if creativity is just your hobby, you can simply wait until your hands “itch” to create something new. But what about those professionals whose flight of fancy is the basis of their work? After all, musicians, writers, journalists with copywriters, and designers constantly have to “create” as usual, and their earnings directly depend on this.

What is inspiration, and where do you get it from?

What is inspiration and why is it needed?

Explanatory dictionaries give the term a definition - a specific state in which a person experiences the greatest emotional uplift.

People of creative professions, when describing moments of inspiration, compare it to a flow. It carries forward and the person is not able to feel and perceive the surrounding reality. A person does not notice the time of day and hours. A burst of inspiration makes a person charismatic and capable of influencing others.

Experts explain this by a special acceleration of all cognitive reactions. Memory, perception, thinking will increase. The condition is comparable to obsession, when a person is able to engage in only one activity, pushing sleep, food and the needs of others into the background.

This state is useful not only for creative processes, but also for other activities. How to clean an apartment well or organize documentation and create a business plan or presentation. Each of these activities will be completed much faster if you feel a surge of new strength and inspiration.

Vladimir Voloshin

Managing Partner of Newman Business Consulting, President of the Skolkovo Business School Alumni Council, Co-founder of Ironstar Triathlon
“There is no shortage of ideas in my head. The difficulty is different: since all projects are team projects, these ideas must be conveyed to other participants. As a rule, this takes time. Motivation is the key word for me. To launch a new project or run another distance, I need to be motivated. In 2008, I was introduced to triathlon when I was invited to compete for the World Class team. In the past, I was a member of the Estonian national junior biathlon team, but I had no experience with triathlon. The distance was hard - it pushed me to train. Sport also helps with overload at work; I devote two hours to it every day.

Often, if I need to organize a business meeting, I invite my colleagues to a training session to chat and combine business with pleasure. One day during training, I met Sergei Cherkasov, who held the position of director of marketing and development of the Eksmo publishing house. I shared with him my dream - to collect the gastronomic recipes that I had accumulated and put them in order. As a result, after six months of working together, we published a book that entered the top 10 on the Ozon.ru website. Later we sent several copies to France, and it ended up in the top six gastronomic books of 2013.

Among the people who inspire me, one of the first places is occupied by John Goddard, a unique person whose records are included in the Guinness Book of Records. At the age of 15, he formulated 127 goals and devoted his entire life to achieving them. My life formula is the 25,550 day rule. This is exactly how many days the average life expectancy of a Russian man is. What will you do with this time? It is important for me that every day of this amount is not lived in vain. You can set yourself interesting tasks - for example, meet a new person every day or live by the principle “from idea to start of a project no more than 3 months.”

Website for inspiration: bio.

Where can you find inspiration to write a book?

This problem is known to many creative people. At one moment, X’s consciousness leaves all the developments that so passionately warmed the soul. Images remain in your head, there is an idea, but it is impossible to write even one sentence.

To get started, you can use standard phrases and familiar writing images. But you decided to create a new masterpiece, splashing out your emotions on paper. And at this moment a question arises that torments the soul of every writer: where to find inspiration?

Experienced people testify that lack of inspiration is a consequence of doing nothing. This state of mind occurs if there are only plans in thoughts, but internal resistance kills their implementation in the bud.

Start writing meaningless text , sentences that come to mind. Within 5 minutes you will begin to realize that interesting ideas are awakening in your head. The most difficult thing is to overcome internal resistance.
To have enough energy for such a step, change your usual rhythm of life . Go outside to get some air. Enjoy nature: winter or summer landscape. It doesn't matter. It is important to change the situation. While walking, think about a plan for your future life or book. Perhaps you will come up with completely new ideas inspired by the surrounding beauty.
Another way to find inspiration is brainstorming ; there are many ways to generate new ideas and everyone chooses their own.
Meditation: calm down and discard unnecessary thoughts. Focus on just one topic.
Work through ideas . An effective way is to say each of them out loud. Ask yourself questions, what topics are interesting to write about? Say out loud the first ones you come across and argue, pronouncing your strengths and weaknesses. Write down everything new in a notebook so that you can develop them later.
Find inspiration by reading books or blogs on a topic that interests you. You can learn a lot of new things from foreign resources.

Ilya Chekh

Founder of WEAS Robotics and Motorica
“There is only one thing that truly inspires me. It is codenamed MACS0647-JD and calling it a “thing” is a stretch. This is the most distant galaxy discovered to date. Her image hangs in our company office to remind us every day that we should never rest on our laurels.

Since childhood, I have been interested in astronomy and thanks to it, from an early age I began to understand the actual scale of the world. Now this helps me think globally and not be limited by small achievements. Understanding that on the scale of the Universe our planet is smaller than a grain of sand, and we, despite our inflated egos, are even smaller, allows us to focus on the things that really matter. On achievements that can change something in a person’s life and, perhaps, leave their mark on history. Understanding yourself on a scale larger than our planet removes many problems in your life, no matter how large and serious they may seem to you.”

© Umberto Daina

If I lose inspiration, I just watch science fiction, read new articles on astrophysics, or look at pictures of various objects in the Universe. They inspire much better than some motivational articles, digging into yourself in search of the cause of the crisis or something else. At such moments, I always try to get out of the office and into the street. You don’t even have to be distracted from work; just move to a veranda, rooftop, or nearby park. The main thing is to get out of the four walls so that nothing limits your thoughts.

Inspiration site: From Pluto to the Sun. It contains not only images and infographics of objects in the solar system, but also interesting stories about current and future research.

How to find drawing inspiration?

Inspiration is necessary to express your own thoughts in artistic images. It can sometimes be difficult to tune in to the right wave and catch the creative impulse.

If you are drawing clothing models or cartoon characters, watch the corresponding videos . Users post videos online that show various techniques in detail. To draw portraits, you will find inspiration by looking at old photo albums and pictures on the Internet.
Select and bookmark a couple of portals for artists, where interesting articles are frequently updated or there are “live” forums . Turn on music, create a pleasant atmosphere with bright lights and quiet sounds. Turn off all sources of the outside world, and inspiration will definitely come to you.

Renat Garipov

CEO #tceh
“Looking for inspiration artificially is like trying to buy love. Such things are outside the system; they cannot be saddled by force. In my opinion, this is a story about work-life balance. The key message conveyed by the powers that be is: “If you need weekends and vacations, then you are a bad entrepreneur.” I don't agree with this.

The key to a great business is new ideas and solutions. Giving up weekends and giggling non-stop is, of course, the road to success, but local, financial success. There is no inspiration here - just as the Carthaginians defeated Rome with sticks, so an entrepreneur with due persistence is capable of breaking any empire.

Inspiration is just about unicorn startups that enter the market like a surfer on a wave. They don’t care about foundations and rules, because they establish their own. They just are. And there is no recipe for how to follow their path. Their experience is emotions and thoughts that arose in moments not associated with the search for truth and inspiration. The only advice I can offer is to live and not be afraid of anything.”

A site for inspiration: TED as a way to switch gears and expand your horizons.

Look for sources of inspiration

A paid hobby is the dream of many. We think that you can pursue your favorite hobby endlessly; inspiration and new ideas will help you develop. Every new day will bring joy from conquering new heights. But man is designed in such a way that even his most favorite activity becomes boring.

I want to relax and recuperate . It seems that the desire to work has completely disappeared, but this is not so. Take time out for a few days to be alone with your own thoughts and take a break from daily projects.
Books about great people can give a serious impetus to the movement . Their exploits show that even an ordinary person can leave his own mark on the pages of history. As an example, consider Candice Lightner, a daughter who was hit by a drunk driver. After the accident, he fled the scene of the accident. Lightner has made every effort to increase the penalties for drunk driving in the United States. Another person, the Persian Ziryab, created many inventions, but the main thing that people use every day is three meals a day. In addition to inventions, he was engaged in painting and science.

Read motivational books , quotes, listen to your favorite tracks, watch movies. These forms of expressive art have the power to inspire and uplift. When your mood is at zero and your working condition leaves much to be desired, stop forcing yourself.
Listen to good music , such as Somewhere Over the Rainbow; watch a film where love, friendship and family ties are at the forefront. Light, pleasant sounds and pictures will help you relax and recharge with new energy. Motivational products, publications or individual articles serve as excellent incentives. They reveal secrets on how to find inspiration in order to achieve your goals.
If you recharge your batteries while relaxing outside the city, try to catch the same feelings in the park , looking at the green trees. Listen to the sounds as you walk your usual route on a Sunday afternoon. Try to walk not along the usual path in the park, but along a new one. You might see an anthill or a squirrel jumping from branch to branch.

Ayaz Shabutdinov

Founder of the Like holding
“The best inspiration is travel. They fill you with new ideas, new thoughts. Moreover, these thoughts, as a rule, do not relate to the surrounding reality. If I go to some ancient Buddhist temple, it does not mean that ideas will come about spiritual life. These will most likely be some decisions regarding business, since most of my life is connected with it. When there is no opportunity to quit current affairs and go somewhere, I try to look for interesting interlocutors, people who have achieved something in life and can inspire me. And you can always read some book - for example, the biography of a successful person.

Movies do a great job of inspiring. The last thing I watched was the film Modigliani. This will probably surprise some, but this film is about love. If you are tired, emotionally exhausted, if you are tired of everything, just pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea, sit back and plunge into artistic Italy. True, you may not finish the drink in the end - the picture is too addictive. And also, when I come to my native Izhevsk, I sit down at the piano. Music inspires."

Website for inspiration: There is such an application as Paper. This is the most banal, but at the same time beautiful and popular creative tool on the iPad in the world. It allows you to quickly scribble down some notes or diagrams. And you can also draw there. I often look at https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com - there are a lot of beautiful photos there. Visuals force the brain to generate new ideas.

In general, every area of life has its own application or website. Not long ago I realized that tracking my progress is a source of inspiration and motivation for me. Increased weights on the bar (My Trainer), +30% revenue growth in my business (amoCRM and Google Docs, which managers fill out daily), another kilometer at the stadium (Running), another useful habit (Way of Life). Track your progress. It gives energy.

New powers for inspiration

Find something that isn't boring for you . Boredom is often behind a lack of motivation. It is difficult to cope with it, because to do this you need to leave your comfort zone. Find new activities. Go from the opposite. These could be new directions in music and art. If you often spend time at the office, take time to try your hand at sports. It has been scientifically proven that active movements provoke the release of endorphins into the blood and make a person’s heart beat faster with happiness.

If you spend more time alone, visit the fitness room, find clubs of similar interests that exist in your city.
Meet new people to get inspired by them. If you don’t know how to meet people, look for relevant information on the Internet or in literature. The main rule of acquaintance is to go to places where you meet people whose interests are in harmony with yours. A conversation with a stranger can inspire no worse than communication with acquaintances. You can’t think that everyone you meet radiates positivity. There are enough people in life who are symbols of pessimism.
Try meditating . This can distract you from everyday activities. Spend about 15 minutes on the exercises and you will notice how inspiration and ideas will flow in an endless stream. There is a theory about a full glass. While it is full, it is impossible to pour anything into it. Once you empty it, you can put new filler in it. You will forget about your bosses, work, obligations, your thoughts will begin to be filled with completely new plans.
Change your environment radically . If you have the financial means, go travel. A new environment triggers new thought processes. You will begin to think in a new way, look at the boring situation from a different position. It is known that consistency is boring, so add a touch of variety to it and you will see that change is beautiful.

Get out into nature more often , discover new places outside the city. Go with friends to a nearby city to visit a museum or see the sights. Look around - there are so many interesting things that you don’t notice in the daily bustle. If you have the means to visit another country, even better. Plan an extravagant trip, see new people, show yourself off. You will find many new sources for inspiration.
Laugh more . Laughter is a great way to calm down and put you in a positive mood. Laughter evokes positive emotions and opens a person’s mind to new things. It is unlikely to give you a new idea or a brilliant conclusion, but laughter will completely calm and relax you.
There is another interesting way to discover previously unknown resources - silence . Every minute our brain is attacked by thousands of sounds: the noise of passing cars, speech, the sound of playing devices and other household appliances. Sometimes sound fills our consciousness so much that we are unable to find the strength to listen to our own thoughts. Set a goal to give your mind a rest every day - 5-6 minutes of complete silence. During this time, you cannot speak or think, or have internal conversations. Feel the immediacy of the moment. Just be quiet and listen to the silence. You will see your thoughts change as a result of this exercise. You will find new strength for inspiration.

Remember your dream . Everyone has a dream, and the path seems unrealistic, try to make it come true. Remember that it is not victory that is important, but participation! Many will say that this is the excuse of losers, but the wise see the deep truth in it. For some, just the thought of taking a step towards their dreams causes uncertainty. Others achieve their goals in small steps. This becomes a real inspiration for new achievements. Try to discover your talent, write a book, try to publish it. Small publishers will be willing to take on this. Record a song, or maybe you have the talent and patience to record an entire album. Make a movie. In the age of modern technology and the Internet, perhaps your work will become successful. If you know your own strengths, reveal them and show them to the world.

Ilkhom Ismailov

Founder of Plov.com
“My name - Ilkhom - is translated from Arabic as “inspiration.” Maybe that’s why I look for inspiration primarily in myself and loved ones. Spending time with my children, family and friends gives me energy and ideas. The Plov.com team and I look for inspiration in music, good cinema, and an interesting book. It is important that what you consume leaves behind emotions. And it doesn’t matter whether they are positive or not. The main thing is that they exist.

A site for inspiration: my partners and I have a Whatsapp chat where we exchange links to interesting materials and discuss the cases that interest us most. The last thing I read that inspired me was an article about futurist physicist Michio Kaku.”

Dmitry Yurchenko

General Director of the Life Button project
“As a rule, I lose inspiration either from unjustified expectations or from fatigue. I usually drown the bitterness of unjustified expectations in a good dream or in active sports. After a run or swim, thoughts are refreshed and optimism returns.

My beloved wife is my main source of inspiration. For her sake, I want to create and hunt mammoths. We spend a lot of time communicating, and since we think differently, new ideas and goals are born in the dialogue, which also inspire.

Another of the strongest sources of inspiration is the people around you. If you want to be inspired by entrepreneurship, talk to entrepreneurs. If you want to be inspired by creativity, immerse yourself in an atmosphere of creativity. There is a need for optimism - spend time with cheerful and bright people. The communities you move in are like a jar of pickles. If you put a fresh cucumber in a jar with pickles, what will happen to the fresh cucumber? It will become salty. It’s the same with people: if you are placed in a society of successful people, you too, over time, will begin to think and act like them.”

Website for inspiration: Facebook. There are a lot of interesting people there, whom I like to watch and learn about their news. Social networks have a peculiarity - there people mainly share only good things (politics does not count). It turns out such a refined atmosphere of positivity.

Nadezhda Kotova

General Director of the art association Cool Connections
“I very rarely lose inspiration - rather, it never disappears at all. I think this is primarily due to the fact that the volume of daily tasks that I face is quite large, and there is always room for light, healthy procrastination. I can take a half-step or step back on a task, pause, and still get caught up in other items on my to-do list.

What inspires me most is the creative ability of man and humanity in general. People with sparkling eyes, realized ideas - everything that surrounds us has a “+” sign.

Website for inspiration: I don’t use anything specific - it seems to me that if we talk about inspiration, we can use the expression “Appetite comes with eating.” For me, the implementation of an idea is very important - you can imagine anything, but not everything can be realized.

Maxim Ploskonosov

Marketing Director and co-owner of LPgenerator
“Lack of ideas and plans is definitely not my thing. But it’s one thing when an idea is in your head, and quite another to put it into text and break it down into tasks. I try to start the morning with this, when concentration is maximum and there are no distractions. It is ideal if there is a jog or meditation before starting work - then the body is as concentrated as possible. If the work doesn’t go well, I change the type of activity. This could be a walk in the park, a bike ride, or cleaning around the house. The main thing is something related to physical activity and that will take the thoughts out of your head.”

Website for inspiration: I read our blog, where I get professional ideas.

Mikhail Khomich

Head of the Skolkovo Mentor Association, senior lecturer at Moscow State University
“An idea costs nothing, implementation brings millions.” The entrepreneurs I know get involved in a lot of adventures and are prepared to fail. Where to get ideas? An observant person who reads a lot will find them anywhere - while jogging, just on the street or in an article on the Internet.

You can learn a lot from other people - I have a “Yes-man” principle: I agree to almost all business meetings, because you never know what you can get as a result. By the way, I make appointments at the most inconvenient time for me - for example, early in the morning, so that the day lengthens.

I’m also always inspired by achieving results (I’m somehow worse with the process). This is not necessarily a business goal, for example, a marathon or conquering Aconcagua charges you with energy that spills over into everything you do.

Website for inspiration: Prostopleer.ru - listen to music and lichess.org - play chess.

Elena Shifrina

Founder of BioFoodLab
“I find inspiration in the people who surround me and in the friends of our company - those who buy our products. They constantly write letters, ask questions, advise something, and we try to listen to their opinion. When another idea arises, we consult with the pros, then discuss it within the team and decide how relevant this topic is for us.

For example, sports fans often took our bars for races and shared their opinion: “Thank you, everything is great, the bar gives energy, but I would like to have a product that can be eaten not before, but after.” So we started working on a product that contains protein.

Inspiration site: Huffington Post allows me to stay savvy about everything going on in the world. I also love sections about a healthy lifestyle - for example, in Vogue, or get inspired on My New Roots - this site is run by a vegan girl who publishes recipes and food photos on it.

Vasily Perfilyev

Co-founder of the brand of educational toys “Shusha”
“I come from a hereditary family of artists. For inspiration, I often turn to art - I go to museums, look at art albums, and travel a lot. And, of course, most of all I love spending this time with my wife (co-founder of the brand) and daughter.

We love toys. We always look at what interests our daughter and other children, we remember what we ourselves played as children, we communicate with our parents and grandparents. For example, we got the idea for one of our latest new products from stories from our parents. When we were all little, we played together. The most important thing in the game was that we made friends, learned to negotiate with each other and communicate. Nowadays, this communication has been replaced by iPad applications and other electronic games for children. With our toys, we would like to once again captivate children and adults with real play and real communication.”

Site for inspiration: Pinterest - here you can see what inspires other people, feel trends and tendencies.