Its overuse in our digital culture has watered down its meaning significantly. Design inspiration, lifestyle inspiration, travel inspiration, beauty inspiration, kitchen inspiration—the list goes on.
But if we take a step back, reattaching emotion to the word, we reconnect with what inspiration means:
Inspiration is the combined effect of an emotional connection and a sensory experience that catalyzes our creativity in a given area or medium.
The key is the emotion. This is part of what we’ve lost, but can regain.
Much of our Inspiration Lite™these days is simply visual—void of any emotional depth. But by consciously recoupling emotion and sensory experience, inspiration can reassume its impact in our lives.
But you’re here for the quick trick, aren’t you? How, in an actionable way, can you improve your inspiration from reading this piece?
Here it is: If you’re looking to uplevel your inspiration, study those people and subjects that inspire the people who inspire you. This is what I like to call second-degree inspiration.
Joel Meyerowitz (Credit: Masters of Photography)
It sounds a bit like Inception, but if you work at it, this simple trick can exponentially increase your own inspiration by learning more about what inspired your greatest inspirations.
For example, Joel Meyerowitz is one of my greatest inspirations in the world of photography. Recently, I watched a series of short videos as part of his *Masters of Photography *course in which Joel talks about *his inspirations *like Robert Frank, the famous Americana photographer, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the famous french photographer and founder of Magnum Photos.
By listening to Joel talk about how and why they inspired him, not only did I gain a greater appreciation and understanding of how his work was influenced by these artists, but also I was able to amplify my own inspiration that I feel from Joel.
I really do hope that I’m making some sense—you’ll have to forgive me as it’s nearly 11 pm and I’m not quite sure my brain is still functioning with full capacity.
In any case, I thought I’d share this short thought piece and, to be honest, if it helps one person re-examine their inspiration or deepen their connection with those who already inspire them, I’ll count it as a success.
