Six Ways to be Continuously Inspired

I’ve decided to never be bored again. I used to think that being bored was inevitable… life is boring sometimes. But, it doesn’t have to be.  I’ve always been amused by the quote, “Only boring people get bored.” (by Ruth Burke) It frustrates me, because I have been bored many a times in my life… so does that mean I’m boring?!?! I sure don’t want to agree to that. But, I was. Or rather, I chose to be boring, and be bored. In the past few years, as my twenties are all too quickly sneaking by me, I have read so many times that you just have to “Follow Your Passion”. But, what are my passions?  How do I follow them, if I don’t know what they are?  The answer is inspiration.  Find things that inspire you and hold on tight for the ride.

It creates a snowball effect; the more you find, the more inspiration presents itself to you.

1.  Proactively Pursue It: foster positivity and inspiration.

Inspiration is like everything else in life: you have to make it happen. Sitting around, and complaining about how bored you are doesn’t help anything (though I’m sure bored elementary school kids on summer vacation right now would argue this fact with me…. How thousands of times must I have said this to my parents as a kid?!?!)  Go to the library, and seek out new knowledge.  When you find a subject, or a quote, or even a word that lights a spark in you, write it down.  Look the subject up on the internet, or in the library.  Write down and remember the things that strike a chord with you, and then seek out new information pertaining to that subject.

2.Write a list of your mentors- post it where you see it every day, and keep adding to the list.

Study your mentors, and people that you want to emulate. As I delve deeper into the blogosphere and world of internet business, I keep finding new inspiring, revolutionary personalities. One of my newest favorites is Chris Guillebeau. His revolutionary attitude about breaking cultural norms, is expressed through his simple, fluid, interesting writing, is beyond inspiring to me. And he has this other little hobby of traveling, and trying to visit every country in the world before he is 35, which makes him all the more a mentor of mine. He has a wonderful list on his website here of all his mentors. All highly successful people have people before them that they learned from. Create your own list, and just borrow from the lists of people you admire most. By seeing who inspired your mentors, you instantly find new people that can inspire you.

3. Visualize.

Science proves that you learn better when you reinforce what you are learning visually. Create a vision board. Post inspirational quotes. Post affirmations with your ultimate goal where you can see them every day.

4. Listen to uplifting music.

My older brother used to tell me that my favorite type of music was “wrist cutting music”. And this was way before the term ‘Emo’ had even been coined. What can I say? I have an affinity for depressing music, a la Sarah McLaughlin, Tracy Chapman, Duncan Sheik… and many other not so peppy artists. Although he is right about my taste in music, I still like all those artists. But, I can’t listen to depressing music all.the.time. You have to be conscious of the environment that you create for yourself, and since I want to be a happy, active, productive individual, I have shifted my music tastes to being much more upbeat. Running on the treadmill to Sarah McLaughlin just doesn’t seem to get my blood pumping as much as Against Me! or something with a more electronic beat. Now, I chose happy, uplifting music more often than not, because it is more in line with the type of person that I want to be.

5.Community: Once you find your passions, seek out communities where people share your interests.

We as the human animals that we are, thrive in groups. I have been having a ridiculous amount of fun recently in social media marketing, and playing around on Twitter. Communities exist in so many places- in you work place, in your home/family life, online communities, and purposeful gatherings with defined interests. One cool website where you can find almost any group in your area is here.  One of my favorite websites is StumbleUpon, which utitlizes the brilliance of the internet better than any site I’ve ever seen.  You can pick a variety of topics that interest you, and then hit the ‘Stumble’ button in the tool bar.  It addictively  brings up new, and inspiring material.  (And those of you that Stumbled here know this reality all too well…)  The internet provides endless gatherings of people with like interests, so seek those out.  Other people with your interests hold ideas for inspiration that you don’t even know about yet…. the possibilities are endless.

6. Be Selfless.

By giving to others, and helping someone less fortunate than you, there is no doubt you will be inspired.  It sort of goes against the rules of being selfless… if you are giving in order to receive inspiration.  But, as you do more and more to help those around you- whether it the smallest thing such as holding the door open for someone, or helping an elderly person sit down, what you get back from helping others is always more than the effort it takes to help.

What inspires you?  How do you find new inspiration?  Leave a comment… I’m interested to here your suggestions!