Don’t Wait for Inspiration

The most common mistake we artists do is to wait until they are in the mood before starting a project. It’s like waiting for some muse to anoint us from above to move forward and allow us to make something worth making. The issue we have is actually inverted. What we need to do is get in motion and start something, anything and the inspiration and motivation will follow.

“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” ― Somerset Maugham

Here’s another myth to bust wide open. There is no such thing as writer’s block. Sorry, there just isn’t. Just as there’s no such thing as plumber’s block, carpenter’s block, or dental hygienist block. Our so-called blocks are us thinking everything coming from our hands has to be great. It would serve us to abandon this perfectionist mindset. Perfectionism is just a sneaky disguise for procrastination. And if we’re procrastinating from doing the things we need to do to move forward, then we have to dig deep, really deep, and figure out why. Is it fear of failure? Or success? Or just your way of self-sabotage? If you can dig deep, you can uncover what your subconscious is holding onto and keeping you from moving forward.

In the meantime, make terrible art, terrible writing, terrible music, or terrible anything. Because the great eventually comes through the process.

Reference: “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams