In the past, I waited for inspiration to come to me before I could produce. Without inspiration, I simply didn’t produce. When I’m in a high state of inspiration, I produce at a very high level. When my inspiration drops, my production level drops as well. Yet I’ve found, as I grow older that most times, inspiration comes after I’ve started.
Take for instance, this blog post that you are reading, and many others I have written the past. The process most likely is this: I sit in front of the computer staring at a blank screen with nothing to write. Nothing forms in my mind – just blank. And then I begin to pray, “Dear Lord, please give me something to say to your people. Please give me something to say that will be a blessing to at least one person today.
And then I put my fingers on the keyboard and start a dump. I start to type away as the Lord gives me utterance. As the dump continues, I get more excited about the content and inspiration shoots through my system allowing me go through the dump and make sense out of it. That is how I produce. Now I must advice here that I have complete and unwavering faith in God that he will show up, that He will give me something write – something to produce. Without this faith, I will not be able to start the dump.
So there you have it, that’s a way to summon inspiration. Just start! You will notice that successful people do things not just when they feel like it. They do things because they “have” to do it. Let’s take it a step further, they do things because they “get” to do it. They Start! Jesus Christ, at the start of His journey to the cross prayed to the Father to take the forthcoming ordeal away, but that ONLY the Father’s will be done. In spite of this reluctance, this lack of inspiration, irrespective of how He felt, He started the journey by saying to his disciples:
Rise, let us be going : behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. – Matthew 26:46
Jesus started. I know you don’t feel inspired to go to work occasionally but go anyway. I understand you don’t feel like writing that book, or reading that text book, but read it anyway. The inspiration many times comes after you have started. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on. Just Start!
