We all need to be inspired. Sometimes we’re full of ideas, but we still want to go through more in order to come up with cooler concepts or just to be convinced about the ones we already have.
Below are some places that I turn to for inspiration.
1. Your dreams
Yes, I think this might be a bit lame. But, really, when I need to be inspired, I need to go to sleep for a bit. Sometimes I sleep for 10-15 minutes in order to wake up with well-rounded ideas.
2. Family
I believe in family very much for bouncing around random ideas. Ideas that can go somewhere, or maybe nowhere at all. And people who will not judge (very much) and who care for your best interests and really want to evaluate your ideas sincerely.
3. Friends
Of course friends are super important. Friends inspire you because you can talk and talk. You’ll discuss random topics that are totally unrelated to what you were originally talking about, which can give your idea other dimensions!
4. Your room
The mess in my room gives me time and space and effort to look for things. And when I look for things, I find other things. And when I find other things, I come up with weird connections.
5. The Internet
But this is too specific. I hate specific inspiration. I like it better when everything I’ve learned in life unwinds to create something awesome and I cannot trace where I got this idea from or how.
6. Your phone
I have THOUSANDS of pictures on my phone. Whenever I see a picture I like, a comment, a quote, a status, anything at all, I keep it in my photo albums on my phone. And when I need inspiration, I just scroll through.
7. “Things I Like from the Internet”
I have a folder on my desktop called “Things I Like from the Internet”. It has loads of pictures that I go through. Quotes, designs, chairs, houses, cartoons, comic strips, EVERYTHING! Everyone should have one of those. Think of a creative name for it, too!
8. Your closet
Sometimes the writing and prints on my T-shirts and the organization of different colours and different fabrics makes me understand so many things about life.
9. Instagram. Instagram. Instagram!
I go through my feed and I see pictures from different lives, different people doing different things, mine included.
10. Your favourite meal
A full stomach inspires a mind full of ideas. Simple.
11. Books
There are tens of books on the shelves beside my bed. I go through random pages and look at random images and read random lines. And I expand these lines in my head.
12. Memories
I see something that reminds me of something that triggers something and makes me call someone who tells me something that triggers something else and makes me come up with ten cool ideas. I forget nine and do one. “The one”.
13. Your Facebook feed
My friends are so different, so seeing all this randomness really inspires and entertains me. Go through your newsfeed and get inspired!
14. Old university work
Reminds me of all the memories, all the events, all the work involved, so it triggers tonnes of ideas.
15. Old pictures
They make me remember the beauty of old times, feelings of youth, ideas, colours, events, activities.
16. StumbleUpon
17. Two books: ‘Whatever You Think, Think Opposite’ and ‘It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be’
18. The streets
I walk and I walk and I walk. This is my biggest inspiration. I get most ideas while walking around the block aimlessly. I walk around and I go buy chocolate and see lots of products and colours and people and I come back with developed ideas. I was creating a campaign idea once and I walked on the Mehwar, a place I had never walked on before!
19. Shopping
When I go shopping, I see loads of ideas and products and designs and elements that really get my head going. Window shopping counts, too!
20. Old notes
It’s good to remember how I used to think. Which is probably very different from how I think now!
21. The market
The fruits and their colours and their textures and their origins. Wow.
22. Old WhatsApp conversations
I find the most random ideas in there. From deep scientific chats, to the blondest banter to the ones I love and the ones I want to delete forever!
23. Friends, again
I can’t stress this enough!
24. Children
Sometimes I just have a random conversation with a child and see what they think. They have the weirdest, most amazing views on everything! It is amazing how much a child “knows”. And they always say that, “if you can’t explain it to a five year old in terms he understands, you don’t understand it well enough.”
25. Driving
When you drive, you get all sorts of ideas rushing through your head. You can’t write them down, but you can call a friend and tell them to take notes for you. And then you can discuss these ideas with them so you get more ideas, too! (or just save voice notes for later!)
26. Being uncomfortable
Sometimes when I’m too comfortable in my own bed, I go to another room, or sleep differently. Nothing should ever be taken for granted.
27. Learning new skills
I get super inspired when I learn something new. Italian, for example. I am introducing myself to a totally different set of skills and culture and people.
28. Sounds
It used to annoy my siblings so much when I went through a phase in my life when I used to knock a few times on all materials in the house. Every single part of the bed, every single part of the mattress, the floor, the wall, the ceiling, the couches, everything. And each sound corresponded to a different level of hollowness, which made me understand lots of things.
29. Brown recycled paper
This is one of the most inspiring things. I draw and colour on it; it’s so tempting! And mind map and tear it out and out and stick it and fold it and and and. It’s rough and actionable and creative and interesting!
30. Cartoons
We understand why, don’t we? Children are awesome and they’re creative and cartoons portray their imagination very well.
31. Movies
All sorts. All kinds. All languages. Sometimes movies I didn’t think I would like. They open up endless possibilities.
32. Old encyclopedias
They’re full of old information and sources of inspiration. Well, who actually reads those? I look at the pictures and when I realize there aren’t any, I just have to come up with my own!
33. Paper bags from shops
I have a bunch of these and each of them tells a story of a brand and a personality of a designer.
34. Different types of music that are foreign to you
They fill me with feelings I had never known or experienced, so inspiration flows through. The radio can be awesome because the music is so mixed. There’s an app called TuneIn Radio. Check it out!
35. Food
I love food and the idea of putting different ingredients together to create something new really inspires me.
36. Feedback
It always gets me thinking of what to yield to and what to ignore and how to deal with everything, hence it makes me develop ideas.
37. Sports
Get your blood flowing and oxygen pumping – so much activity inside and outside your body, so you think faster and better!
38. Talking to old friends who are not so close
With their different choices and our life differences, we both learn very much and I’m so happy to hear the good news about them!
39. Talking to complete strangers
Their depth, their ideas, their entertainment really gets me hyped. Even a simple good morning to someone to whom you owe nothing at all! I’ve come to realize the effect this has when I was put in the place of garbage collectors and cleaners in the army.
40. Going to places you’ve never been
Underground places. Places that none of my friends know about.
42. Souqs, Khan El Khalili, toy stores, markets!
Oh, the jimble jumble of things makes the things in my head jump up and down and scream and shout!
42. Nephews and nieces
Their personalities, their development, their ideas. The things I want to teach them. What I want them to teach me. EVERYTHING. They’re just awesome.
43. Starting the work; designing the things!
When in action, you get so inspired to do more and think more.
44. Scarcity
When I don’t have time or energy or resources, I get inspired so quickly!
45. The fridge
How things are organized in the fridge. What is in there? What SHOULD be in there? What do I like? What don’t I like? And then I just eat. And when I eat, I’m inspired!
46. The kitchen, the dining room, the living room, all rooms
Different places, different ideas. I work on some things in the kitchen, others in the living room, others in weird places around the house!
47. Faces. Smiles. Differences.
They all strike me and make me tick!
48. Personalities
It’s super inspiring to see how different people are, with all their different drives, motivations and thinking patterns.
49. Blankness
When I don’t have any ideas, and my pipeline is empty, I have to think of many more quickly in order to think of even more and spark the creative process.
50. Being lost
When you’re lost, you’ve got nothing to lose. And you wander around. And you think. And you come up with scenarios.
51. Walking around with no money at all
You can’t buy anything, you can’t use any money. You can only use your brain.
52. Walking around with so much money that you’re willing to spend
And you usually end up not spending anything all.
53. Pressure
Pressure is super inspiring. It juices the ideas out of you!
54. Colouring books!
They’re most inspiring when you have a theme, like mismatched colours, or outside the lines or only three colours…
56. Anything and its opposite
When you do things and their opposite, you get inspired in amazing ways. Your mind is stretched in ways that you never thought were possible. You see contradiction and you may become confused, but that’s exactly the purpose!
57. Traveling
Adventures. Different cultures, foods, clothes, languages. Getting lost, jumping off bridges, freezing in the cold, melting in the heat.
58. Showers
When you’re in the shower, you get all sorts of ideas and inspiration. It is the person who gets out of the shower and actually does the idea who achieves anything. Go take a shower, sing like you are famous, but when you get out, actually do something.
59. Unfinished things
They always get you thinking of what could have been done or what can be done to finish or fix or help.
60….
These are just 59 places to drive inspiration, there’s one missing. Send it to us, or come up with your own list of 60 ways to get your creative juices flowing!
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss 10 Motivational Quotes To Inspire You.