inspiration

Geek Pride: Giant Robots, Inspiration, and You

by

So there I was, taking a break from being, well, busy, and giant robots helped me get my working mojo back.

I know, you may need to reread that line again.

Essentially I was watching Gurren Lagann, an unusual anime that is hard to describe.  It's a giant robot show, a space show, a drama, parts of a comedy, strangely sincere yet with winking nods and references.  A big part of the show is the power of fighting spirit and people's emotions to drive them on and empower them.  This is an anime that people who don't watch anime won't get.

It was actually quite inspiring, and it struck me that's something we geeks and fans need to keep in mind – we can find inspiration in seemingly mundane things, and that can push us on.

Read more

Weekly Challenge: Carry Out One Inspiration

by

Last week we discussed inspiring someone.  But inspiration can't do much unless you carry it out.

It's easy to get inspired, but too often it fades away in time.  We forget, we get busy, or worse we get lazy.

Following up on inspiration is a habit – and a skill – that has to be developed, maintained, and improved.  You have to make an effort, often a conscious one, to develop the ability to make ideas real.

So your goal this week is to take one piece of inspiration, either one you had recently or one you get this week – and make it real.

Write a column or a blog post.  Do that waiting piece of art.  Research that college you considered going to.  Something, anything, pick one thing this week that you're inspired to do and go and do it.

Come to think of it, maybe you could make a habit of this . . .

– Steven Savage

Weekly Challenge: Inspire

by

Ready for your weekly Geek Career Challenge?  Well it's here anyway.

It's hard at times for even the most imaginative of us to find new ideas.  It can be for a story, a database structure, or a marketing plan – we're just tapped out.  We all know too well those moments where inspiration leaves us, even in mundane tasks.

I find that inspiration works best when shared.  We know the power of sharing ideas and brainstorming together as we've experienced it many times in our lives – even when we may forget it.  Sharing ideas brings about new ones.

We can forget the importance of sharing ideas and inspiring each other when we, ourselves, are out of ideas.  Being out of ideas, we crave inspiration or even a good suggestion that might lead to fresh, fiery inspiration. Wanting this, we can get selfish and forget others have the same issues – and miss our chance to inspire them, and thus be inspired in turn.

So your goal for this week is to help someone who needs inspiration.

Look for someone who needs ideas, needs to bounce something off of you, has their imagination paralyzed by exhaustion or confusion or just plain no ideas.  When you find this person (or people), go out of their way to help inspire them by listening, or brainstorming with them or just making a suggestion.  As you make your efforts, go out of your way to do what you can to help get their minds moving.

When you inspire others, you can get inspired in turn, and encourage them to inspire even more people.  Make your contribution to keep brainstorming going in the world.

– Steven Savage