“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
-Leonardo Da Vinci
Over the weekend the girlfriend and I went and checked out “Da Vinci – The Genius” at the Arizona Science Center. Which is essentially a touring exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci’s works. While they don’t have any of the original pieces they’ve created scale models of a lot of his sketches and have recreations of his notebooks among other things. Looking over all of his ideas and how much he accomplished was absolutely inspiring.
“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.”
-Leonardo Da Vinci
Despite everything that he was able to accomplish in his life, and all of the inventions that were centuries ahead of their time he still felt like he didn’t push hard enough. In fact it’s likely that he had a problem with either procrastination or perfectionism. Although I suppose the latter can be a way to express the former.
It’s interesting how inspiration can work. Reading about all of these amazing people through history online can put me in the mood to read, write, learn, or create. However when I stood in the the middle of that room, surrounded by representations of a lifetime of amazing works, the drive to get outside and do something great was completely overwhelming. The whole time we were there all I could think about was how I needed to figure out what I was going to do next.
So what inspires you?
What inspires me? It depends. Sometimes I get new inspiration while wandering around, and meeting new people. I’m also big into natural wonders, like forests and mountains. Of course, there’s a lot of inspiration to be found on the internet as well.
However, I must say that some of my best ideas come when I give myself quiet time to think, and just let my mind go. I need to be in the right mood for this to work, but when it does, it’s a great feeling.
Hey Henry,
Have you tried taking up meditation for a while? I find everyday I have this struggle of, “Does it count as twenty minutes of meditation if I’m stopping to scribble down ideas?”
It becomes a way to trigger that way of letting your mind go.
I think it’s crucial to get inspired by people who are amazing at what they do. What initially inspired me to start learning languages was when I watched videos of polyglots on YouTube. Seeing somebody speak over 10 languages blew my mind (it still does, but I’m kind of used to it now!).
Whenever I need inspiration/motivation, I usually listen or read about people who are excellent at what they do. I find it sad that so many people compare themselves to people less successful than them, in order to make their ego feel better. I tend to constantly compare myself to those who are better than me at what they do, and I see them as sparks of motivation to push my own boundaries. They are the ones who make me feel better!
I think there’s a difference between the kind of comparisons that inspire you versus the kind that make you feel better or worse than someone. One is comparing with a growth mindset, with the idea that you have all of these amazing abilities or talents, and that if you try you can catch up. The other is a way to either diminish your own accomplishments or diminish someone else’s.