The work brings inspiration

Create a time to work and the ideas will come

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that the work brings inspiration. If you want
more ideas, set aside a regular time to do creative work.

(00:27):
Most likely the ideas will get in the habit of coming.
Today's tip is based on my recent interview with novelist
Camille Pagan. Recently, Before Breakfast has started featuring one longer
episode a week where I interview someone interesting about how

(00:47):
they take their days from great to awesome. Camille has
written a lot of books. She also coaches other writers.
She tells them that one of the most important things
they can do is to set aside a regular time
for their writing. It doesn't have to be much, but

(01:09):
it has to be regular, and it has to be something.
Here's why. If you set aside six to six forty
five am most weekday mornings for writing, your brain starts
to think of this as creative time. It starts to
come up with ideas knowing that you have the time

(01:30):
to take them seriously and to execute on them. Your
brain builds a habit. Whereas if you wait for inspiration, well,
inspiration maybe a long time in coming. The work brings inspiration,
not the other way around. I think this is great advice.

(01:54):
I have been blogging about four times a week for
the past fifteen years. I don't always know what I
am going to write when I sit down to post
on my blog, but because I have been doing it
so regularly, when I sit down to post, I always
come up with something. Some stuff is better than other stuff,

(02:17):
but the work brings the inspiration. You might find the
same thing if you carve out thirty minutes at night
most days for your drawing. You might not always know
what you are going to work on, but when you
get to those thirty minutes, you will do something. The
regular practice means you will create more art, and thus

(02:41):
create better art than if you hadn't had the practice.
Choreographer Twila Tharpe wrote a whole book called The Creative
Habit in which she talks about just this. She would
spend time regularly just trying out movements. As she got older,

(03:01):
she hired dancers to try out her physical ideas, but
she still built in regular time for this creative experimentation. Now,
people like Tharp and Pegan do creative work for a living.
So they can usually carve out more time than people
with day jobs. But a lot of Camille Pegan's clients

(03:23):
have day jobs, so they look at their schedules and
they see what can work for many busy people with
jobs and families. It's going to be a time in
the early morning. If you are a night owl, it
can be time at night. Some people make do with
sessions on each of the weekend days. A little bit

(03:45):
of time Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning can
also work. Three times a week is a habit. But
don't tell yourself that you will do creative work when
you feel like it or when you come up with
a good idea. Good ideas find you when you have
built in space to do creative work. We often think

(04:08):
of this as happening in the other direction, but it
isn't true. The work creates inspiration, so best to do
the work in the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening,
and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

(04:35):
for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

(04:57):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.