Gavin F. Hurley, author of The Playbook of Persuasive Reasoning; Twitter @Gavin_F_Hurley

In the early 90s, I was regularly wowed by the world around me. This is not particularly unique. I was a kid. And, children are often excited by new things and their surroundings. However, at nine-years-old I moved from subject to subject with inexhaustible inspiration. Armed with a tabbed composition book filled with my observations, I’d adopt new interests every couple of weeks: first meteorology, then insects, then bird watching, then Greek mythology, then animal tracking, then the periodic table. I even sought to translate the “cirth runes” on the cover of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit just for the heck of it.

I thought I would outgrow these solar flares of inspiration. But, thirty years later, I haven’t. So, I take advantage of it. In my line of work—specifically, writing—this requires that I strategically tame these inspired moments. After all, fragmented interests can easily devolve into counterproductive chaos. Writers know this first-hand. When inspiration fizzles out or becomes unruly, the job becomes frustrating and requires more time and energy.

The same logic can apply to professional workflows outside of writing as well. Naturally, your inspiration may not be as fickle as mine. We all work differently; we all focus differently. But, strategizing personal inspiration can help us all optimize our creative opportunities rather than overlook them.

Time and timing

What time of day are you most inspired? For me, it is the morning as soon as I roll out of bed. Upon first light, I immediately begin thinking about the primary writing project that I am working on. Equipped with a cup of coffee, I write for the first two hours of each day. Sometimes I work longer, but it is always at least two hours. If I have to go into work in the morning, I wake up even earlier—at around 5 AM—to accommodate my writing schedule.

Of course, not all of us are morning people. So, we should find our own time to dwell within our inspired selves. We do not have to follow some productivity guru’s advice about “this or that most productive time of the day.” Instead, we can think about our own lives. When are we most inspired? What time of day do we feel the most lucid or energized? What time of day are we most excited about our business, project, or side hustle? When are we most driven to build, create, or innovate? Once we recognize our daily pattern, we can allocate this time as not just work-time, but inspired work-time.

If you are like me, your inspiration may have a shelf life. If so, then we may want to take advantage of this limited period of time. If you anticipate being inspired for, say, a week or two, then we want to get the most out of these weeks. Of course, we probably don’t want to assume that all inspiration has a shelf life. After all, we may be perfectly inspired by a project for months or even years. And that is great. However, if we feel that we’ll eventually lose interest in our project, we should probably embrace the “inspired time” with urgency. In other words, as Better Marketing writer Tim Denning similarly shares, we shouldn’t wait until tomorrow if we are inspired today. After all, we may not be as inspired tomorrow.

Revisit your inspiration

Although some workflows can be clean and linear, not all workflows unfold so perfectly. Some are messy. Some may not be so compatible with strict deadlines. To that end, if we feel our inspiration is fading and we are afforded flexibility, we can embrace the messiness. We can intentionally leave things unfinished with a promise to eventually return to them with fresh eyes. In other words, if our inspiration begins to sputter, we may want to work on something else and return to the original project in a week or two—maybe a month—or even a year.

Responsibly tabling a project can require stoic discipline. To help strengthen our resolve, we may want to situate our decision within time. Instead of seeing a project as categorically dull or utterly uninteresting, we can think that it is dull or uninteresting for now—but recognize that we may not feel that way tomorrow or in a month.

Revisiting the project at a later date can help cultivate genuine inspiration rather than forced inspiration. This can strengthen the quality of the product—and save time and energy. After all, it’s difficult (and exhausting) to feign inspiration. As a professor of writing, I can often see the difference between feigned inspiration and genuine inspiration. Students’ writing can reveal it. When a student is passionate about their essay topic or task, their voice is often natural and strong. Moreover, they seem to be rhetorically driven to spark similar inspiration in their reader as well—which leads to more engaging, compelling, and persuasive work.

This type of contagious inspiration works outside of writing as well. Similar to the students’ essays, outward facing products can reveal the passion of their creators. It evidences a creator’s genuine belief in their vision, which makes it easier for others to believe in the vision too. For example, Richard Branson’s consistently inspired Virgin Group can excite customers about cruising a Virgin Voyage or boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight. When evident in the brand, applied inspiration can be magnetic. It can hypnotically draw others toward it. To this end, genuine inspiration does not only get things done efficiently, it can also enhance the quality of the product itself—and effectively persuade audiences, customers, or clients.

Stoking the fire

Inspiration management is an active process. It involves deliberately stoking the flames of inspiration. Sometimes the flames blaze brightly; other times, the embers barely glow at all. In the latter situations, we may want to add some kindling and pump the bellows. Instead of passively waiting for inspiration to return, we can actively revive or strengthen it.

There are various options here. As I have mentioned in a previous article, we may want to relocate our designated workspace. Perhaps we can work from home instead of the office, or we can work in a coffee shop or café. To spark synapses in new ways, we can also seek out lectures on YouTube, movies on Netflix, books through Amazon, online articles through Medium, or any other media that relates to our in-progress project.

These activities don’t have to be private. We can also meaningfully converse with others—friends, colleagues, or strangers next to us at the airport bar—about topics related to our project. (We may want to tread softly here. If we share too many specifics about our project, we can risk demotivating ourselves.) Finally, we can surround ourselves with inspiring people. Converse with them and observe their behaviors. How do they enact their inspiration into their work? Learn about their personal workflow strategies and inspiration tactics. These perspectives may help inspire the management of our own inspiration.

In sum—

Inspiration is an active process. If we wait around for it, it can elude us. As a result, our productivity can take a hit. Therefore, let’s try to work smarter as a means to work harder.

Thomas Edison famously stated that genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. However, this distinction seems a bit too neat and tidy. After all, hard work can benefit from perpetual inspiration. As such, inspiration requires constant upkeep and care. Which, paradoxically, can require hard work as well.

Therefore, we need to be sensitive about when we are inspired. And, we need to be strategic about channeling that inspiration. Instead of waiting passively for the muses to intercede, we can take action ourselves and cultivate our own inspiration.