🌱 Getting in the Groove

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We often find it difficult to just write whatever comes to mind.

Whether we have nothing on our mind to write about, or we have so much on our mind- it can be difficult to become inspired.

Whether inspiration comes easily and we’re scribbling madly our millions of thoughts, or we have so much to do, whether it’s work, school, reading emails, paperwork, that we never have time…

Take a breath,

Focus on one thing only

You like nature? Go outside. Like listening to metal? Do it.

Feel inspired by your groove, not by your co-worker Melinda’s who likes country music like it’s her last day on earth.

Alright, that was a pun.

My point is, your inspiration is unique. Any thoughts, feelings, ambitions are yours to write.

Personally, I’m very inspired per the time of year. My best moment is right before the leaves start growing on the trees; and the moment right before the leaves start falling.

My reason for this, is because there’s a potential for action right before it happens.

I feel these weather conditions, so I go with the flow and find it easier to create.

AKA, I’m inspired.

If I tried brainstorming during the middle of summer, I would find it very difficult (and have) because of the grueling, sedentary heat that keeps beating. Even if I’m inside, I can still feel the atmospheric pressure that seems to keep everything still.

But if it’s autumn, I can come up with ideas on the fly.

It’s something that seems uncontrollable, but it is possible to dictate & plan when and where we can get our inspiration from, and to help us write anything!

Being inspired comes from two criteria: Setting and environment.

Setting is (physical) where you are, like sitting down in a certain chair, the air conditioner is running in the background, at your house or office.

Environment (mental) depends on how you feel, like the feelings associated with playing soft music or hardcore rock music, the leaves outside are falling & create an ambience that you can sense.

These two factors interrelate & go hand-in-hand, because if you think of fall as your setting- you’re physically seeing the leaves on the ground.

But this creates a mental environment, as well.

An ambience that we sense and can give us motivation depending on how much (or little) we enjoy it.

What information am I basing this on you might ask?

Personal experience, (I tried researching this but I must have not found the right keywords).

(Note: Setting and environment seem synonymous to deciding when we’re most creative, but if you’ve observed a different or another criteria to add, please comment!)

You might be able to define this by another set of criteria, but I’ve observed that Setting & Environment help dictate when we’re most inspired, depending on our preferences.

As I noted, do you have a favorite chair that you find ideas coming to you more easily?

A playlist of white noise that helps you sleep?

These are ways that we can inspire our ideas to flow.

So, now that you’re in your favorite thinking chair, here’s the first thing to do.

Idea Dump your thoughts

Freewriting whenever a thought comes to mind, whether you’re at home or out & about, we can either control when we get our ideas or it pops into existence.

When you’re having a creative low

Not in the groove? That’s OK, because you have over 500 words you’ve written that needs editing! This is the perfect time to get things done. After all, as writers, there are many steps to the writing process. This can be broken down into when we’re most and least creative.

Organize your points

With the assortment of ideas we’ve written, maybe a thought from a month ago fits in with something you thought yesterday. Write it!

Check out this free template I use for organizing my thoughts when I idea dump. You can use this to organize your freewriting thoughts & know exactly when to find it when you need it. It’s sure to help when you’re having creativity block!

Being a writer is tough, our thoughts can be difficult to just flow freely when we want them.

But what if we don’t have notes of ideas we had?

If our ideas don’t flow nonetheless of anything we do, and we don’t have a backup list of ideas, then let’s look at the criteria again.

(Environment) If the playlist you always play just isn’t doing it, maybe you’ve played it too many times. Turning off the sound altogether might help.

(Setting) You’re thinking chair is getting lumpy, you’ve sat in it too many times that it isn’t soft anymore (don’t look at my chair), or you just feel stiff in it.

Change up your setting & environment!

Take a walk and bring your notebook with you.

Then, while gazing up at the bright blue sky a thought will pop into existence (I love saying that).

For inspiration to happen, we need to change it up.

Because how else will we find new ideas if we don’t find new ways of coming up with them?

Medium

Last point, this differs from both setting & environment.

What do you notetake with?

Many people have different ways of notetaking.

Some do it by paper,

Others digital.

Having a complicated process of tracking doesn’t always work.

That’s why I’ve included a few templates to try out.

I used to have a difficult time keeping track of my ideas. I’d put them in a notebook but then never look over them again ‘cause I simply didn’t feel like reading.

I’ve tried Goodnotes templates too, even though it’s digital it still just… didn’t feel right to me.

Like, it wasn’t flexible for me to keep my thoughts in shape.

I tried Notion too, but the learning curve was extreme for me at the time (I’ve handled it now),

but it still doesn’t have the right simplicity & flexibility for me.

Finally, I tried Obsidian! And boy, I can keep track of everything. I’m a fast typer than I am a writer, so my thoughts flow like the wind!

If you’ve heard of Obsidian but just wasn’t sure if it was right for you, they’re a very secure app that’s easy to handle.

Here’s a screenshot of how I used it to organize this very story!

By the way, I’m not affiliated with Obsidian. It’s just another tool that can help you freewrite, a little more freely.

Putting it all together

Change it up by writing in a new entry (like in Notion) every week and keep track of how you were able to get inspired.

I put together a free Notion template just for this! Organized by setting & environment, keep track on a regular basis so you don’t get stuck without ideas again.

Understand that, just because we can’t get ideas, doesn’t mean that we can’t control how we get them.

Try sitting outside, listening to an advertisement instead (ok, maybe not that… unless you write copy, at least),

just switch it up once in a while!

And you might find yourself feeling a little more creative & choosing when to be inspired.

Keep these things in mind, as noted:

Idea Dump your thoughts

When you’re having a creative low… use the time for other things

Organize your points by using templates

and use the right medium to easily go back to your ideas!

Most importantly I should add (though I didn’t discuss) is taking action on your ideas, instead of letting them sit in a Notion template or in Obsidian.

I can discuss that another time.

What setting or environment helps you get ideas? Any tools that have stood out to you?

Getting ideas can be tough, but once we get the knack of it, it gets a lot easier.

So, get in your groove…

and freewrite your way to the ends of the earth.