Not Every Day Is Inspiring

I have been writing and publishing an Article every day for over a year now.

People sometimes reach out to me and ask how I stay Inspired to keep Writing every single day.

It's a reasonable question because we live in a world that tells us things like, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life."

However, for me, things don't line up exactly like that.

I absolutely Love what I do, and I don't think I would have it any other way.

But there are definitely days where work feels exactly like what most people consider work.

Hard, draining, and uninspiring.

I don't sit at my keyboard every single day and go, "Ah! Here's Genius that will Unite the World in Unending Flourishing!"

(Ok, there are no days like that haha).

There are MANY days when I sit down and have no Idea what I want to write about.

Often I question if my work reaches anyone (even though I see it reach people - you know who you are).

Many days I don't feel Inspiration.

The Reality is that I don't use Inspiration to do my work, I use Momentum.

I think we often don't realize the Process of Life.

I have found that usually, it does not go...

Inspiration ➼ Work ➼ Success ➼ $$$

More often it looks completely different, more like...

Work ➼ Ugh ➼ More Work ➼ Progress ➼ Intrigue ➼ Work ➼ Inspiration ➼ Work ➼ Momentum ➼ Work ➼ Ugh ➼ Work ➼ Breakthrough ➼ Work ➼ Confusion ➼ Work ➼ Ugh ➼ Work ➼ New Inspiration ➼ Work ➼ Small Success ➼ Work, etc.

Most days are not filled with Inspiration.

Now, when Inspiration "does" strike, sometimes it leads to really fascinating things.

Like when I wrote a 4,000-word article recently about Problems with Research Papers around Remote Work.

THAT was truly a work of Inspiration for me.

I started writing, new things kept coming to mind, I couldn't stop writing, it kept getting more and more exciting as I wrote!

But that is the exception, and not the "norm".

I have found that there are 2 things that are far more Driving than "Inspiration" in my Work.

Flow States and Momentum.

Flow States are where we do our Best Work and Feel our Best.

I think that often I feel a sense of "Inspiration" AFTER I get a Flow State, but not always at a "large" level.

However, the Flow State itself IS a major driving force.

The technical term is that Flow is "Autotelic", or it is an end in and of itself.

We like to get into Flow States for the sake of getting into Flow States.

It's part of the reason why most people continue to go to Work, even in places they despise.

Work generally leads to a Flow State, even if it is a "tiny" version of it.

We would rather feel Flow somewhere that is otherwise miserable than to feel no Flow State at all.

So, I find that to be more reliable than Inspiration.

The other driving force is Momentum.

There is something almost intoxicating about having a Streak.

This article will be #380 straight.

It feels kinda cool to be so close to #400, I mean, how many people can say they've accomplished that?

That Momentum keeps adding together the further you go.

You hit these milestones and think, "What if I just go 1 further?"

Those milestones add up and feel really cool in hindsight.

Maybe any single day isn't "Inspiring", like today for me I wouldn't say I felt "Inspired" to write anything.

But in the totality of the Momentum?

Pretty cool.

I would say that if you are chasing Inspiration, it will be a hard path in the long run.

However, if you chase Momentum, even "tiny" amounts, you will rarely be disappointed.