The Curiosity Mindset: Fill Your Inspiration Bucket With Ease
Don't wait for inspiration to strike, fill yourself to the brim with curiosity.
As a mentor, I often see photographers struggling with their lack of inspiration.
The “Muse” isn’t singing in their ears.
They feel blocked.
“I just don’t know what I want to do,” they will opine.
I get it.
We all get blocked now and then, but that is not because we are uninspired, it is because we have offloaded inspiration onto something – or someone else.
When you think about it, muses sorta suck.
They are like a one-night-fling who leads you on, then gets drunk, trashes the hotel room, steals your car, and leaves you wondering, “WTF was that?”
Being blocked is giving into the idea that your Muse has stolen your heart, along with your wallet, keys, and your dignity, and now all you can do is lay around waiting for a second chance to make your case for a longer relationship.
Yeah, bucko… that is not how it works.
If you don’t know what to do, you are admitting that your ideas are something that has to be coaxed from the deep layers of thoughtful thoughts that you think are thoughtful.
Rubbish. Ideas are not that hard to come by.
Morons have ideas.
People who vote differently than you have ideas.
Kids have ideas.
Kids have lots of ideas.
Want to know why?
Because they are curious.
They want to know what that is, or who made that other thing, or why the sky is blue.
“Why is there air?”
We adults stop wondering about stuff because we think we have learned it all.
Yeah, with our decades on the planet, we know all there is to know, and knowing we know means we know all we need.
That’s what people who don’t know much of anything think.
See, here is the thing.
The moment you become incurious, and think you know it all, you stop being creative.
It’s simply true that nspiration is the byproduct of curiosity.
Not the other way around.
Being curious removes the dull filter of doing the same thing over and over again.
Curiosity fills the inspiration bucket to the brim, and rather fast.
I want to make it clear that I am not talking about quitting your job to travel to Costa Rica and work on an archeological dig to find out exactly what happened 4 million years ago in a tiny cave no one has ever seen.
I mean, that would be cool and all, but you don’t have to go that far away or spend your life savings, in order to be curious.
Try reading a book about something you know very little about.
Or listen to a podcast.
For me, it would be “How to make money writing all of these articles” or something like that.
Perhaps I may take a road trip.
In order for any trip to be considered a road trip, it must conform to these three principles.
1. It must add up to over 60 miles out and back.
2. You must dine while on the trip. Twinkies and diet soda count.
3. You focus on the journey at least as much as you focus on the destination. Giving one more power than the other will get you booted from the Roadtrippers Union.
Clear the mind by listening to music, or attending a concert that features music you are not familiar with.
Got two words for you; Poetry reading.
Whatever you do, make mental notes and ask yourself; What, if any, ideas does this activity give me?
Then quickly note the answer in your notebook.
Be open and ready for answers that may not make any sense at the moment, but that can be stored away in your inspiration bucket where they can marinate and mix with the other ideas that get tossed in there along the way.
I like to sketch.
(Currently, I’m in love with cheap fountain pens, and how they glide over the paper.)
I try all kinds of approaches, from random word association to creating a fictional timeline, to making notes as though I were getting ready to write a novel.
Of course, there are myriad blogs, journals, groups, and communities where ideas are freely shared. Spend a little time there and see what happens.
Pro tip: write ideas down on paper. You will remember much more if you write it down. No typing.
We all love to be inspired, but we can make that difficult depending on what we consider inspiration.
Or how we approach being inspired.
Being inspired is not copying someone.
Being inspired means borrowing with finesse, stealing with deliberation.
Copying is for amateurs – stealing is for artists.
Get inspired, then mold it, twist it, turn it, dismantle it, examine it, destroy it, and reassemble it into something new.
Something unseen before. Something yours.
We can also get so focused on stuff, pressing things, that we don’t see what is all around us.
Allow yourself to be distracted.
Let serendipity rule the day once in a while.
I have been known to ride up to a crossroads on my motorcycle and flip a coin, letting chance dictate the direction I ride.
I always find something interesting.
Because everything is interesting when you let it be.
Yes, I said let it be.
Often, we don’t see something interesting before us, because we have so many expectations, considerations, pre-conceived concepts, and rules (damn I hate rules) that prevent us from being involved with something we have previously decided we weren’t interested in.
Not good.
I don’t mean to suggest that you have to like and be interested in things you simply have no affinity for.
I am suggesting that you may find additional things to interest you if you give curiosity a chance.
“All we are saying,
Is give curiosity a chance…”
Sorry.
Well, I’ll put the soapbox away for the day, and get back to other pressing things like finishing my book and planning a motorcycle adventure.
Oh, and laundry.
Just keepin’ it real.
The “Build a Website Sprint” is enrolling now.
We start on March 22nd, and by Monday, March 25, you will have a website, a template for additional sites, and the knowledge on how to create a functional and beautiful website for you and your clients. This is based on WordPress and a builder called Divi that I use every day.
(All times are Pacific)
Friday, March 22, 5 PM to 8 PM
Saturday morning, March 23, 8 AM - 10 AM
Saturday afternoon, March 23, 5 PM - 7 PM
Sunday morning, 8 AM - 10 AM
Sunday afternoon, 5 PM - 8 PM
I am limiting this to only 10 students, and there are only a few slots left.
LIVE - online building together, you will learn how to use Divi, a NO CODE development tool, and build a solid, well-designed website.
The value of the site could range from $1500 to $3500 in most places in the US.
When you are ready, here is how I can help you succeed.
Group Mentorship: a small group of photographers who meet to show images, work on their portfolio, and build their businesses with help from a wonderful group. Lifetime membership for one fee.
One-on-one Mentorship: You and me - working together in an intense 6-month push to get you on the way to over $30K in additional revenue. The work we lay down will help you increase and scale your business for years ahead.
The Creative Class: Expand your toolset and become a one-person visual agency capable of pulling in steady and repeated income. If you have questions, let me know, and I will answer them as fast as possible.