A good entrepreneur or a great artist is one who is constantly innovating. You should be ahead of your time and offer avant-garde solutions. So when you lose your inspiration, it can be catastrophic, because inspiration is the very source of your inventiveness.
Many entrepreneurs face a lack of inspiration when dealing with some of the most important issues in their company. A response to competition, a return to the professional world, launching the product or service of the month: these are all challenges that require constant innovation. An artist can face the same problem, when he is pushed to create his next chef-d’oeuvre and that she is standing in front of a white canvas for hours.
So what can you do when a lack of inspiration leaves you with a mental block? Here are seven of the most effective tips.
Tip #1: Get out of your usual environment
If there’s one thing you must absolutely avoid when you’re uninspired, it’s turning inwards and spending your time stressing. The fact is, the more you fight the lack of creativity, the more it persists. And staying shut in will certainly not bring you a solution.
The best thing to do in this case is to simply let go. Distance yourself from anything that reminds you of your inspiration breakdown. Leave the house or your workplace and walk. Meeting up with other people and seeing what is happening elsewhere, far from your immediate environment, will definitely give you new ideas.
Tip #2: Frequent people working in a different industry
One of the mistakes that most professionals make is to only associate with people who do the same thing as them: a lawyer with lawyers, a banker with bankers. But nothing could be more counterproductive. Doing this doesn’t remove you from your usual environment. Which goes against tip # 1.
When you meet people who do different work than you, you are more likely to be in contact with new realities (work methods, procedures, etc.). You will acquire new know-how because the codes are different.
Tip #3: Let yourself go
All entrepreneurs will tell you that this is the hardest thing to do. When you have entrepreneurial passion, it’s easy to stay fuelled 24 hours a day. But nothing could be more stressful, and stress is like a switch that turns off inspiration.
To regain control, get rid of everything that stresses you and opt for everything that will contribute to your relaxation. Above all, do crazy things and don’t set yourself any limits.
Tip #4: Meditate
Inspiration is generally lost when internal agitation is at its highest. It acts as a disruptor that saturates your brain. Meditating under these circumstances can reduce tension and help make you zen again.
So stop resisting stress, because the best ideas come in a state of relaxation. When calm, your brain will regain its balance and bring out all the ideas that lie dormant in you.
Tip #5: Create
Behind the simplicity of this trick lies a powerful solution to fight a lack of inspiration. Painting and drawing are both ways of creating. The goal here is to put everything in your head onto paper. As strange as it sounds, it’s a trick that works very well because it reconnects your mind with the source of creativity.
Tip #6: Reconnect with the arts
This is another way to stimulate the part of your brain that deals with creativity. All the arts are good to explore. Go to the opera or theater to see a play. You can also visit an art gallery or a museum. Why not go to a concert too?
By exploring others’ creativity, you feed your own. Which, ultimately, can only wake up and revive your inspiration.
Tip #7: Travel
For a person lacking inspiration, discovering new horizons is a real source of life. When traveling, you learn about other cultures. These directly influence your perception of certain realities and inspire you with novelties.
When traveling, you also meet new people. Many successful businesses are the result of a partnership formed at the end of a trip. You may very well meet someone who brings the missing touch to your project.
This practice of drawing on someone else’s creativity will help you replenish yours.
So there you have it! There’s nothing insurmountable about a lack of inspiration. It’s all about how you manage it.