"The Little Voice of Vista": Six methods to help you cultivate inspiration
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Photo by Luis Tosta on Unsplash
Last night, I spent two hours holding an online seminar with the students of “Vista Writing Companion Program”. We interacted via Zoom, and everyone asked a lot of questions about writing and marketing. For example, someone asked how to make articles longer? Some people also asked how to find your own position and how to cultivate inspiration⋯⋯
The above problems are all bottlenecks that many friends often encounter in the writing process. Therefore, in today’s “Vista’s Little Voice” program, I want to talk to you about the topic of “How to cultivate inspiration”.
What is inspiration? According to Wikipedia, inspiration is a creative thinking activity based on one’s own experiences. Inspiration usually only occurs in the mind for a moment. Often there is a special need for inspiration in culture and art.
Writer Wang Dingjun said: “The so-called inspiration, I think, is the author’s keen feeling and feedback on life phenomena. This is a rich connotation and a secret property that has been developed after a long period of investment, reflection, and deliberation.”
Regarding how to cultivate inspiration, I have mentioned it in some courses and written some articles in the past. Now, I provide six good ways to cultivate inspiration, and I will introduce them to you one by one below:
The first method: observe other manufacturers’ slogans or promotional copywriting
It is always a good way to refer to and learn from other people’s practices. Of course, this is not to directly plagiarize, but to develop ideas and innovate through reference. Also, we not only refer to the practices of our peers, but occasionally we can also cross-industry to observe some works in different fields. For example, if you are engaged in the tourism industry, in addition to regularly observing the promotional strategies of some travel agencies or airlines, you may also wish to pay attention to the development of traditional industries, and you may be able to find some connections.
The second method: Go shopping in fast-paced lifestyle consumption areas when you have time.
I also often encourage my students in the copywriting class to go shopping in department stores, convenience stores or hypermarkets when they have nothing to do. This is not to encourage everyone to consume, but the pulse of these fields is very fast, and if you observe carefully, you can see many interesting new things. For example: Are there any new slogans posted in the store? What promotional items are placed on the checkout counter? Let me give you another example. Recently, many convenience stores have been renovated and opened up a large number of seating areas for customers to take a nap. Some seating areas even have sockets, which is really convenient! I will also observe how long will these customers stay in the store? How much do they usually spend each time? Or even what is everyone busy with? Is it chatting with friends and passing the time? Or eat some snacks in the afternoon to replenish energy, or work in a convenience store?
The third method: read more newspapers, magazines, TV and movies
Do you usually watch dramas? Do you still watch TV now? Although the number of people watching TV has decreased significantly and everyone is accustomed to obtaining information on the Internet, TV, newspapers, magazines and radio are still important media. Having said that, although the Internet is convenient, there is still a lot of information that may not be available on the Internet. This is worthy of our attention. As for movies or TV series, they are not only affordable entertainment, but also an observatory of popular information for me. Therefore, I also like to watch TV dramas. This is not only a good leisure activity, but also a way to grasp the pulse of the market. Therefore, watching more movies and TV series will also help to inspire you!
The fourth method: Make good use of keywords such as “how” and “now”
I often lead everyone to play the “sentence making” game in the copywriting class, and encourage students to think from others’ perspective and start thinking by solving the problems of the target audience (Target Audience). Leadership expert and author of the best-selling book “[Ask First, Why?” : Subvert the golden circle theory of inertial thinking and activate your inspirational leadership](https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/vista/products/0010787372?utm_source=vista&utm_med ium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-202201)》author [Simon Sinek](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon Sinek) (Simon Sinek) told us that if we want to know how to capture consumers, we can use “operation” and “inspiration” to drive them. Therefore, when you have time, make good use of these time-sensitive and rendering keywords to come up with ideas!
The fifth method: Find other friends and colleagues to brainstorm together
Although I encourage everyone to use their brains and try to absorb knowledge through a lot of reading and thinking. But I also discovered that sometimes we rack our brains and can’t come up with any good ideas. At this time, I suggest you discuss it with colleagues and friends. There is a well-known proverb: “Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang.” Brainstorming through the power of a group is also a good and effective way!
The sixth method: Change your mood and take a break
Well, if you really can’t come up with a specific plan, don’t be too reluctant. Why not just rest and relax for a while? I like to walk and observe the people and the pulse of everyone’s lives while walking. I also found that many writers and musicians like walking. For example, Charles Dickens would take a regular three-hour walk every afternoon, and his observations during this process would be directly written into the story; and Ludwig van Beethoven would also wander for a while after lunch, and he would not forget to bring a pen and paper with him to [record] when inspiration strikes (https://www.note-taking-club.com/2021/12/workplace-7-step-to-learn.html).
The above are six ways to effectively cultivate inspiration. I hope it will be helpful to you.
However, I would like to remind everyone here: Professional writers or creators should not rely too much on inspiration. For myself, I have developed the habit of recording and storing inspiration. At the same time, I also have to think about how to effectively obtain and store inspiration. Therefore, I also recommend everyone to build your own inspiration database! If you are interested in this topic, please leave a message and let me know! If I have the chance, I could record an episode specifically to talk about how to build an inspiration library.
By the way, although I suggest that you don’t rely too much on inspiration, if you still need the blessing of inspiration, here is a suggestion: in addition to continuously improving your writing skills, you can also strengthen your writing motivation and stimulate your creative thinking by establishing a sense of ritual. To put it simply, through a series of preparations or adjustments, you can quickly enter a state of concentration and devote yourself to a certain thing.
The well-known writer Simone de Beauvoir has her own writing ritual: “I start with drinking tea. At about ten o’clock, I will start working until one o’clock in the afternoon, and then meet friends. At five o’clock, I will go back to work until nine o’clock. In the afternoon, clearing my mind is not a problem for me.”
The American best-selling author [Stephen King] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/Stephen King) is used to doing these things repeatedly every day: he must take vitamins at a fixed seat from 8 to 8:30 every morning, listen to music of his own choice, and then start organizing manuscripts.
Through the help of writing rituals, you can naturally calm yourself down and slowly find a writing style that suits you. This way, it will be easier for you to find inspiration!
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Further reading
- “Vista’s Little Voice”: Vista Reading 2/6/2022 - 2/12/2022
- “Vista’s Little Voice”: How to build an inspiration database
- “Vista’s Little Voice”: Have you started writing your “Achievements List”
