Inspiration can be frustratingly fleeting and difficult to recover when lost. Even if you are lucky enough to have a job you love, it is common to go through lengthy periods where you need to dig deep to feel excited about your work.
Psychologists Todd Thrash and Andrew Elliot have been studying inspiration for decades.
They have identified three elements that occur when we are inspired: we see new possibilities, we are receptive to an outside influence, and we feel energised and motivated.
Fortunately, inspiration is not a static state of mind but a process that we can cultivate. While we can’t force ourselves to be inspired, we can create an environment that’s conducive to inspiration.
Here are few tips that will you to find inspiration.
* When you aren’t feeling inspired, it’s normal to feel stuck. But inaction is your enemy in this effort. Inspiration doesn’t just happen while we are at our desks returning emails. Don’t wait for a flash of insight to strike before making any changes.
* When you have excelled in your field, it’s natural to move out of learning mode. But researchers have found that when people believe that they are experts they become more close minded, a concept termed earned dogmatism. We are most likely to get, and stay inspired, when we have fresh experiences and information that can trigger insights.
There are lots of ways to gather these – take a class, read a book, attend professional gatherings, travel. It’s best to pick one that works for you and then structure your time to integrate these actions into your routine.
* The people we spend time with affect our energy and our mood. They also tend to reinforce our beliefs. We can easily get into a situation where we speak to the same people about similar topics, week in, week out.
Get out and meet new people. Make a concerted effort to find thought partners and guides who are doing different things from you.
* Sometimes we lack motivation, because we are not sure what to do – stay in a job, leave for a different one, try out a new career, move departments, ask for a promotion.
Too many options are paralysing, as psychology professor Barry Schwartz discusses in The Paradox of Choice. Too often, we feel overwhelmed and do nothing.
We can boost our motivation by narrowing down our options, making it easier to act on them. We like to know we have a plan and are working toward it.
If you feel stuck, try writing down all of your options and selecting the three you are most excited about in order. Then allocate time to work toward your top choices.
Courtesy: www.hbr.org
