BEDA 26: Inspiration, Motivation and Staying Busy.

Someone said this to me once in the comments, so I think I am going to comment on it today:

"You should make a blog post about how you keep yourself motivated, inspired and busy working all the time."

I am going to answer this question in three parts. :)

Inspired:
The easiest way to keep yourself inspired, really, is to surround yourself by inspiring people. I feel really fortunate to have incredibly talented friends, but it's not just a coincidence. I chose to associate with people who have obvious passions for the things they spend their time doing. A lot of my friends are musicians, but also I know photographers, writers, designers, actors - it's all a matter of who I've made the effort to keep in touch with over the years.
First off, however, there are plenty of ways to inspire yourself. Read books that make you want to write your own, listen to music that makes you want to figure out how to play your instrument better, watch television shows or movies that make you want to act, travel or learn to make movies yourself -- but! There will be dry spells in self-motivation, and that's where the friends come in. I have friends whose YouTube videos make me want to jump right up and start on one of my own. I have a friend who all I need to do is talk to her about writing for ten minutes and I start to get itchy fingers for working on something of my own. These kinds of people are so valuable to the typed of individuals who feel the need to create.
You also need to be perceptive to detail. Sometimes the smallest things will inspire me. A picture of a lovely town renews my desire to travel in an instant. An impressively phrased sentence in a book or script can inspire a whole story idea in my mind. The tiniest notion of something that may entertain a large group of people can become a most-viewed video. I see these kinds of ideas everywhere, and I guess that's what I would call inspiration.

Motivated:
This one is a little tougher. A person can have all the inspiration they want but never make the move to actually do the project, write the book, film the video, etc. I'm not really sure how to explain how to get motivation, because I kind of feel like I was born with it. But there are a few ways to keep other activities from detracting away from your motivation.
Don't let time-wasters destroy you. TV, Tumblr, going out and partying - whichever your poison is, find ways to enjoy these hobbies in moderation, or cut them out completely if you can't do that. I do all of the things I listed above, but I try to be pretty strict with myself about when those things are appropriate. I try to balance my day with a fitting amount of work and play.
The bottom line is that if you love your work, you wont need to feel the constant battle of wanting to do other things. Work isn't always fun, even if it is painting or writing or dancing, but the motivation is natural if you feel a calling for those things. I've been doing Internet stuff for fun long before it was making me any money. I was moderating forums amidst studying for tests in high school, I was building fanfiction communities during my lunch hour on the computers in the library in middle school, and so on and so forth to the degree that now, it still just feels like an extension of the things I've always loved to do. Some days, yes, it can be difficult to force myself to edit another video rather than staying in bed and finished Season 4 of Big Bang Theory, but when it comes right down to it, I could work at a fast food restaurant right now. And I don't. I make videos. So making videos doesn't seem so hard when I look at it that way.

Busy:
Well, if you're inspired and motivated, being busy just comes naturally. It actually starts to freak me out and make me feel like I'm not accomplishing anything if my schedule starts to clear up, so my system for the last few years has just been this: If I feel like I am taking on the perfect number of projects at any given time, take on two more. Then I'll never have any time to spend lazing about and wondering if I'll ever need to get a real job. This IS a real job, one that keeps me far busier than I ever anticipated.

I know this stuff doesn't come as easily to everyone as it comes to me, but I think it's something everyone sort of needs to figure out on their own. You need to either figure out your passions and throw yourself into them, or, if you haven't quite found your passion yet? Try everything until something sticks. Once you know what you really want to accomplish in life, the rest follows.

And hey. If it makes you feel better (because I realize I kind of sound like a robot right now) in the past month I've clocked up 49 hours of gametime on Pokémon White. So we all slip up sometimes. xD

I want to ask a question for the comments section today -- Does inspiration and motivation come easily to you, or does it feel more like a constant battle?

Flights taken: 8
Pokémon team levels: 53-56