It isn’t always possible to just sit down and write an academic assignment you’ve been given. Sometimes you wrack your brains for hours and cannot produce a single line of text. In such situations, you need some additional effort to try and find inspiration. Here are some ways you can do it: some of them require regular work, others don’t, but all of them can help you.
1. Break away from Your Routine
There is nothing better to fight the staleness of thought than making some radical, if only one-time, breaks from your usual routines. Anything will do: if you always follow the same route when going somewhere, try another one. Go to sleep or get up at a totally different time. Read a book or watch a movie of a genre you normally steer clear from. Do something wildly different with your free time. Strike up conversations with strangers. In other words – shake yourself awake, and you will see thousands of fascinating things to inspire you.
2. Background Noise
Now, some people are annoyed by background noises when working – if you belong to their number, this method isn’t for you. Although you may try blocking out the world’s hustle and bustle by putting on headphones with your favorite music.
But there are a considerable number of people who find it easier to think and do creative work with some kind of background chatter, and go to places like bars, cafes or pubs to do their writing on purpose. You can even imitate these noises at home or anywhere else using an app like Coffitivity.
3. Writer’s Notebook
Oftentimes you get an idea, but by the time you find yourself in the vicinity of some writing implements, it escapes your mind. Or you write it down on some scrap of paper or your note-taking app and lose it.
Writer’s notebook or journal is a notebook (or a specialized writing app, for more technologically inclined) you keep around all the time and write down your ideas in. You will be amazed how many top-notch ideas you will accumulate this way.
4. Exercise
The best rest is the change of activity, and switching from hours of sitting to physical exercise is an excellent way to get your brain going. Go for a run, or simply do a set of squats or push-ups when taking a break from writing – and who knows, perhaps inspiration will come when you don’t actively ask for it?
5. Overhead Conversations
We don’t suggest that you should eavesdrop on people, but can it really be called eavesdropping when you hear a conversation somebody isn’t trying to hide? When you are in a public place, you will often hear snippets of conversations – and paying attention to them can provide you with fascinating insights into other people’s lives, allowing you to see the world from viewpoints you wouldn’t normally consider. It is not eavesdropping – it is listening to life, and a good source of inspiration.
There are hundreds of ways to find inspiration for your writing – what we’ve described here is just a tip of the iceberg. So don’t hesitate, go out and look for inspiration in one of these ways, or using a method of your own invention!