Finding Inspiration Everywhere: Why Creativity is Good for Business and Personal Growth
I just like the colours. So I put them on paper.
Sometimes, starting without a plan is a good thing. It gets you started, and that's more important than ruminating over a knowing that won't come. Doing things gets us closer to what's true for us.
So I say play; enjoy finding your inspiration.
So much of being an entrepreneur requires tapping into our creativity. Whether you recognize it or not, business building is a highly creative pursuit.
Life-building relies on inspiration. Inspiration is good for your mental and physical health and your business. It keeps you grounded, grateful, and happy, and it gives you the power of insight so you can connect with the purpose of your thing and those who need it.
Inspiration is the spark that keeps you going with effortless glee.
I had a lovely post all typed up to tell you how much I love everything creative, from cat-toes to random conversations overheard on subways and in cafés. Actually, I wrote two posts and deleted them both by mistake. Each time I rewrote the piece, it changed, but I did it because I enjoyed the process.
Creativity might just be what makes us human. I went on.
I wrote lots of brilliant things, of course.
I was inspired to talk about my lurking tendencies and then noted how creepy that sounded when I saw it typed out. I also had to tell you about my snorfulling, particularly around Instagram and Pinterest. And why I love lurking and snorfulling (like snorkelling but with more zeal and glee) in any space that often pumps out fresh creative numlets.
Then, I went on to talk about Pinterest and Instagram.
I extolled the virtues of such meandering because it fills me with joy. I am endlessly curious about innovation and things that appeal to the senses and mind.
And I'm calling that creativity. Being near, in, around and part of it – fills me with joy and deep satisfaction.
This is why I also see it everywhere -with ease.
I like pointing it out.
I enjoy finding beauty in everyday things and whimsical manifestations of life. Whimsy is pretty cool, and I love catching it in the lines where sidewalks meet the sky, where windows bisect buildings, and when power lines cut everything in half.
I mean, really, how cool is that -that we can see beauty in such things?
I have a memory of a photo that I took. It's on a street corner somewhere between Detroit and Toronto, and I asked my friend to "stop the car"!
For the love of God, I said look at that, and she said what? And I said where's my phone.
It was the most extraordinary display of lines at a particular time of day.
The curved road at an odd intersection with a colossal prairie sky, bright sun highlighting a crisp white line of paint around the corner where it met another, solid outlined clouds almost two-dimensional lying on a perfectly spotless blue sky, and a sparse but nearly mathematical arrangement of fence posts forming a perfect example of perspective towards two vanishing points.
This is my memory of that scene and the photo anyway.
I found it. Here it is.
I think my memory is better than the photograph.
I thought it was just a street, but it was spectacular, and there I was.
Your creative voice says a lot about you. Paying attention can help you articulate your brand, inspire your growth, and fuel your passion.
Near the middle of the post I originally wrote for you, I started to mumble something about creativity and my struggle to know how and when or why to include it in my work, as I do it today, with lots of that webby-techie stuff, as I call it.
But then I'm human, I thought.
And it's the stuff of all of us. And if it's in us, it's in our work. It's in our businesses, and we can use it however we want.
The main story I initially set out to tell you was about an artist on Instagram because she created a bunch of handmade cards and asked if anyone wanted to pay a membership fee to get monthly deliveries of random cards. And she posted a photo of the second mailing she'd sent to the group, who said yes.
They are beautiful, and I'd like to get something like that in the mail. Then, I wondered how something like that might work in my business.
Could it work for you, and if so, how?
It would be fun to think of how it could work. I'd already subconsciously started brainstorming and making maps in my mind. More to the point, I quickly realized that as much as I like considering these opportunities for myself, I enjoy coming up with opportunities such as this for my clients—as much, if not more than, for myself!
The moral of the post I wrote for you, not just once but twice before this one, was about looking outside your niche for creative inspiration and a cure for stuckness and fresh ideas.
But hey, I see now that it's about seeing the inspiration all around. In the street laid out before you and the bird that landed on your finger when your body threw it into the sky before you could think.
See the magic. All around.
More.
Seeing and fostering what inspires us is as important to our welfare and success in life and business as anything else, I think. So, let's take the time to nurture that part within us all. For everything we are and everything we do.
And for all the comfort and warm fuzzies lurking provides, let's take more action. As Elizabeth Guilbert says, do something with your inspired ideas before inspiration flies away to find someone else who will respect it and use its force for good.
xo
Here are some of my favourite books for inspiration:
