The business of inspiration when world is a marketplace
A friend once made a suggestion to me, when I decide to hang up my corporate boots, I might want to think about getting into the business of inspiration. I take that as a serious compliment as I strongly believe that the art and skill of inspiring fellow humans is not easy, nor is it something to be taken for granted. It is perhaps something of a chemistry between a specific context, the receiving audience and a certain quality or quirk in the leading individual(s). Something of a madness even.
The meaning of “inspire” is a metaphorical extension of the word’s Latin root: “inspirare” means “to breathe or blow into.” Breathing life into ideas that lay dormant — I can buy into that.
“ Inspiration awakens us to new possibilities by allowing us to transcend our ordinary experiences and limitations. Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility, and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities” Scott Barry Kaufman, Why Inspiration matters. HBR
I have been on a sabbatical of sorts, or that is how I like to look at my past two years. A sabbatical that life gave me to learn precious lessons. I have thereby had a bit more time than I have had in the past decade. Waking up, I used to start with a little bit of music, a podcast to accompany my breakfast, light physiotherapy, a book to go with my coffee , a documentary post lunch, precious family time and then a fiction for my nighttime reading. Now it is rather obvious that I have spent a significant amount of time by myself. This was mostly by choice and due to my situation at the time. The music always set the tone to my morning, the varied stimulating content I was reading or listening to gave me the training for the mind. Movement was so important so I stayed motivated to rest my body.
My situation also made me a perfect customer for INSPIRATION at that point. Art, Literature, Audibles, Personal stories, Productivity, Wardrobe - you name it. It is pretty amazing how easily you can follow an art lesson, be taught to maintain a capsule wardrobe or “Marie Kondo” your life (although this seems to have run its course). A diverse and extensive marketplace — although sold in different names and types, a large number of them sought out target audiences that they could influence. A few weeks into my sabbatical I realised that I felt like I was staring down at a consumeristic or commoditised version of inspiration. So many of these sources narrow the view on a subject to a certain bubble and are very keen to be defining, boxing, prescriptive even, sometimes in their approach. It seems like this marketplace is driving a competition to inspire and not a strive to be inspired. I could use the analogy of being at a bazaar amid the cacophony of sales calls to buy spices and souvenirs. I started to wonder why I was seeking to be inspired and what did it mean to me.
My curiosity led me to research the science behind inspiration, the psychological and/or neuroscience context. The tripartite conceptualisation by Thrash and Elliot, 2003 specifies the three core characteristics of the state of inspiration: evocation, transcendence, and approach motivation. Evocation refers to the fact that inspiration is evoked rather than initiated volitionally by the individual. In other words, one does not feel directly responsible for becoming inspired; rather, a stimulus object, such as a person, an idea, or a work of art, evokes and sustains the inspiration episode. During an episode of inspiration, the individual gains awareness of new possibilities that transcend ordinary or mundane concerns. The new awareness is vivid and concrete, and it surpasses the ordinary constraints of wilfully generated ideas. Once inspired, the individual experiences a compelling approach motivation to transmit, actualise, or express the new vision. They also argue that inspiration involves two distinct processes — a relatively passive process that they called being inspired by, and a relatively active process that they called being inspired to. The process of being inspired by involves appreciation of the perceived intrinsic value of a stimulus object, whereas the process of being inspired to involves motivation to actualise or extend the valued qualities to a new object.
Now this made things a bit more clear. I was trying to shop for inspiration. And we do live in an interconnected world with easy virtual access to stories, articles, to daily lives of some and the updates are constant. One might say we live in an overcrowded world. Inspiration is evoked, it is not a process one has control over. This was an “aha” moment for me, an insight that became clearer and crystallised to a concept. Even though it was what I have believed through the years as a chemistry between a specific context, the receiving audience and the leading individual(s). There is a certain serendipity to this evocation.
Post this lesson, as I walked to my coffee over four different seasons, I had the chance to observe my fellow walkers , their pets, children at the park, elderly during their daily outdoor P. T, a smiling young woman who greeted and asked after the well-being of each customer, more important than everything — the nature. I learnt to watch and observe the slow changes around me. With the growing quiet within me, I discovered I was inspired by them all. Thrash and Elliot developed the “Inspiration Scale,” which measures the frequency with which a person experiences inspiration in their daily lives. They found that inspired people were more open to new experiences, and reported more absorption in their tasks.
“Openness to Experience” often came before inspiration, suggesting that those who are more open to inspiration are more likely to experience it. (Scott Barry Kaufman, Why Inspiration matters. HBR).
I can vouch for the fact that it has made me feel more content, fulfilled and more eager to pursue excellence. This drive led me to wonder a bit more about the active process of being “inspired to”. In the world we live in today, we are possibly facing some of the toughest challenges ever. Systemic changes and solutions are truly a need of the hour to preserve the future of upcoming generations. A generation that may need to experience nature with the help of Virtual Reality glasses. They are also growing up in a world overcrowded with ideas, information and commoditised influence/inspiration. They have easier access perhaps to AI BOTS, ChatGPT than a human role model, or inspirational figure.
I will not now proceed to prescribe a way forward, instead I invite you to reflect with me as I have been doing while writing this.
Have you been inspired to create or actualise something recently?
Who or what have you been inspired by?
What does it take to transcend from the passive to active process ?
How might we build and foster a space for us to be inspired by and have a compelling motivation to actualise the ideas?
