Writing and doing creative activities can help you build your self-confidence.
That’s one of the reason’s I write this weekly letter.
Let me take you back a bit.
It was a regular summer Monday morning in a small one-bedroom apartment in Franc, back in 2022.
I woke up drowsy.
Feeling tired. Foggy. I sluggishly got myself together. Packed up my bag, about to go to Hubsy, my regular co-working space. The humid air was thick as I dragged my way through.
Just before I left, I remembered the thought I had the weekend before: “I should probably take a COVID test.”
I threw on a mask and walked to the pharmacy and got one of those home kits. Got back home, ran the test, and I didn’t need to wait for two long.
“Wait, are two red lines positive? Or…”
I checked the instructions a few times. It was clear.
It was positive.
All of a sudden I felt the resistance. To do the responsible thing to stay in place.
“Damn…no croissants today.”
While I lay in bed, I typed for a few minutes on my phone.
Over the week, as I recovered from fatigue, I continued my work and kept my writing sprint going.
It was a reminder that you can still thrive in difficult times.
Inspiration Bus Stop
Most times we wait for the most perfect moment to take action.
Even worse, we want inspiration to strike at the most opportune moment and sweep us off our feet into a floating airy state of joy and lightness. Then we can do our most important work.
Most of us wait and wait for that moment. Most times it never comes.
When it does show up, it is such a fleeting moment because we hardly capture it. We haven’t built the muscle of acting in the presence of inspiration.
So it comes and goes like an illusive smoke.
We are left where we started. In a state of lack, still waiting. The longer we wait, the more unhappy we get. The more discouraged we feel.
The reality is that you have to build up your inspiration.
This requires practice.
The hard part that most people might not want to hear is that this practice happens in the most mundane situations.
There’s hardly anything glamorous about it.
There’s no standing ovation.
There aren’t butterflies in your belly.
There’s no floating through parted clouds.
There’s just the work that’s in front of you that you decide to do or not. The more you “don’t learn” how to motivate yourself during the day-to-day of mundane life, the more difficult it gets.
The mundane, that was once the norm, then becomes difficult.
When you are then hit by a difficult situation, it can be reality-shattering.
So each day, when you get the opportunity, build up your inspiration muscle.
Building Inspiration instead of waiting for it.
While the others are waiting for the inspiration bus, come with me, let’s go build our inspiration jet.
You might have heard my story about writing at Parisian cafes for my latest novel. Fancy, huhn? Well, that was just 10% of the story.
The other 90% were like the days I had COVID and still had to write. I was coughing and sneezing on my phone as I wrote. Eeeww…(Don’t worry I wiped it down…but who cares, I was the only one using the phone anyways).
Anyways back to my point, when it comes to building what you want in life, it ain’t all sunshines, butterflies, and croissants. Actually, most times it’s just dirt between your fingernails with phone and laptop batteries about to run out of power, and then rushing off to the bathroom because you’ve been holding your pee for too long.
No one tells you this, when they are sitting on the podium giving their victory speech.
The narrative focuses on illusive inspiration and passing passion.
What I’ve learned is that inspiration most times comes after you start and not the other way around.
When you approach it this way, you stop waiting for inspiration to strike, you build your craft effectively, and you take matters into your own hands to lead the life you want.
Here are three ways to build your own inspiration.
1. Start with the 15-minutes catalyst
“You can look at your notepad on your phone for 15 minutes, can’t you?
Well, while you’re there, write a few words.”
That’s what I used to tell myself to write on a daily basis.
And it helped.
It’s another simple habit-forming hack I got from James Clear’s bestselling book, Atomic Habit. He talked about how whenever you’re forming a new habit, all you have to do is the easiest thing to get you in motion.
For instance, if you want to go running everyday, don’t think about the 30-minute run, just start with the easiest thing like putting your shoes on and walking outside the door.
Want to increase sales to your business, just add more names to your contact list.
You want to write more? Just open the notepad.
Stop waiting for inspiration.
Do the simplest act to get started.
And do it for 15 minutes.
2. Stop focusing (so much)
Get unfocused.
Well, after you focus first.
I learned this little trick a few years ago. There’s only so much you can achieve when you spend endless hours focusing on one thing. Eventually your fixated mind will begin to wander off.
Instead of “just focusing,” try switching it out.
Focus on a task for a while and then stop. 90-minutes is a good stop point. Make the effort not to think about it again for a few hours (unless your boss or customers are hounding you). Do something different. I usually go for a walk if I can.
What happens if that while you unfocus, your mind will still process the information, synthesize it, and connect dots you wouldn’t consciously put together.
When next time you get to the task, maybe the next day, you are looking at it with a fresh perspective.
Don’t wait for inspiration.
Take a break and go for a walk.
3. Prioritize flow states
Focusing on the outcome can take you down a black hole.
When you have expectations that the outcome will be a certain way and your reality doesn’t match that expectation, you become unhappy. Psychologists call this “the expectation gap.”
When this happens, you usually don’t want to try again. This is no bueno for practice mode.
Instead of attaching to the outcome, try prioritizing flow states, which happen when you are locked into the process. This is the state you’re in when you tend to forget what time is and you become fully engrossed in the activity.
Flow states make life more enjoyable.
For flow state to happen, you have to undertake an activity that is slightly above your current skill level. If it’s below, you become bored. If it’s way above, you get anxious. There is a sweet spot for the flow state.
You can only get to it through persistent practice.
Don’t focus on an outcome in the future.
Focus on the state of flow in the present.
Final thoughts…
Inspiration requires practice.
You have to build it up and know how to capture it to live a more purposeful life.
Do this by making it easy to start. When you start to focus, remember to switch off and stop focusing. Lastly, prioritize flow states over productivity.
Do this and you’ll be able to create even through the hard times.
Yours truly,
Nifemi.
P.S. I was on the latest episodes of one of my favorite podcasts called Write About Now (for writers, creatives, and entrepreneurs), if you have a few minutes, take a listen here.
