We often find that stories around innovation and creativity start with a key universal step: inspiration. In fact, inspiration is sometimes hyped to the point where it’s almost inconceivable to imagine creativity without it. So naturally, we had no choice but to be our true subversive selves and to devote an entire episode to decentering inspiration in the creative process. 

Our episode opens with a reflection about the types of things, e.g. media, film, art, and human relationships, that usually inspire us, helping us understand our current relationship with inspiration in the process. We then explore the negative implications of over-centering inspiration. Among these are a tendency to wait for inspiration before starting anything creatively meaningful, as well as over-romanticizing the idea of creating over the actual labor that creation entails. @Dolly Parton we really believe in your genius and love you so dearly but if you actually wrote 2 back-to-back classics on the same afternoon (36:21), please email us at [email protected] because we really need to talk. Anyways. To close out, we share little examples from our lives where we were able to move forward in creative or innovative endeavors without inspiration as the main driver. Whether we broke major ground with our conversations today is a matter we’ll leave to you, but we nevertheless hope that you’ll find some little seeds of inspiration to decenter inspiration. <3

Episode Breakdown

00:00 - 08:24: Yapping + Lightbulb Moments

08:25 - 12:42: Creative Lab

12:43 - 14:33: Motivation 

14:34 - 26:17: What are the types of things that typically make us feel inspired?

26:18 - 39:46: What are the pitfalls of focusing too much on / centering inspiration?

39:47 - 56:59: Share a situation(s) where we were able to make progress on an endeavor/ create/ etc where initial inspiration wasn’t necessarily the main driver.

Don’t Be a Stranger! 

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As always, we’d love to know: do you have any challenges that come up when centering inspiration in the creative process? Do you have any stories to share on creative efforts where inspiration wasn’t necessarily present? 

Let us know what your thoughts are, on these questions or today’s episode, by sending us an email at [email protected]!

Sound Credits: see here

References:

BBC: The story of I Will Always Love You, 50 years on - from Dolly Parton to Whitney and Elvis

Grief is Like Butter (Insta Post)