What to do when the inspiration wagon has left.
Like it has for me.
I wrote the title of today’s blog without knowing where it would go because the inspo wagon has officially left and my assistant, George, who runs everything behind the scenes here has left me a to-do on our project management software (it’s a recurring to-do, so there was no surprise) – to turn in this week’s story about stories.
Because I do what I say I’ll do, I sit here, showing up at my desk just like all the truly brilliant writers say you have to – (Stephen King, Elizabeth Gilbert, Julia Cameron*) and I hope something will come forth, even a minuscule fraction of what they can produce.
But I got nothing.
(Twenty minutes passed after that sentence.) I opened Google Maps to see how long it will take me to drive from one place to the other for an appointment I have at the end of next week. I open my Panda Planner to see if I can build on any blog ideas I’ve listed in my monthly goals. While I’m there, I notice I need to buy new contact lenses. Is the price at Costco better than what that other vendor can offer? I can’t remember their names. Let me open my email to find it. Oh. I have an email from a LinkedIn connection who wants to meet to discuss how I can help them. Wait. Which contact lenses are less expensive? Hold on. What was I doing?
A blog on inspiration.
And focus.
This time, after I typed the word focus, I stared off into the distance, and although I let my mind wander, I stayed focused. How can that be? How can I let my mind wander and stay focused? How can you stay focused if you don’t allow ideas in – work on the good ones, dismiss (with gratitude) the ones that don’t serve?
Focus isn’t the problem. Discipline is. Sometimes discipline feels productive and good but some days it feels like torture like it does right now at this moment.
I see it as a moment of growth. Like when you are holding a plank, and you think you can’t hold it another moment but you wonder what would happen if I stayed here?
What does that discomfort feel like? At worst, I collapse to the mat, so I have nothing to lose by pushing through. Push through the moment.
So we push through because what happens if we do? What would happen if I stayed in this seat and kept writing? Well, today’s post. That’s what would happen. And what if I keep doing it? We shall see.
*In their books, On Writing, Big Magic, and The Artist’s Way respectively.
Take care out there.
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