9AM: Be Inspired. Check.

The wonderful thing about inspiration is also, in some ways, the awful thing about it: Like a panic attack you usually can’t predict when or where it’s going to strike. 

Last week I was lucky enough to make it off the waiting list and get a ticket for this wonderful thing called Creative Mornings, a free monthly lecture series, which includes coffee and, at least for July, bagels, too. The speakers, culled from diverse creative fields, give 20-minute presentations (give or take). Afterward there’s time to answer a few questions and, depending upon how early you arrive, there’s a good deal of time before things get underway to mix ‘n mingle.

The Creative Mornings presentation I attended introduced me to guest speaker Kelli Anderson, a wonderfully talented young designer, whose work is, dare I say, clever and inspired. Check out the paper record player wedding invitation she created for some friends of hers—it’s pretty freakin’ cool and original!

Creative Mornings, the brainchild of Tina Roth Eisenberg, is approaching its third anniversary and now includes 24 chapters spread across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Drink that in because it’s a remarkable thing and stands as a testament to what can be accomplished when an inspired idea catches fire.

Like so many others before me, my Creative Mornings experience blew me away and it got me thinking that being regularly inspired is as necessary to ongoing success for your business or career as setting the right goals and objectives and charting your progress. Yet, how many of us make a concerted effort to put ourselves in inspiration’s path on a monthly basis? After all, what’s the point of all our hard work without those joyful, fleeting moments when the stars align and everything is clear and bright and the world makes perfect, absolute sense?

The wonderful thing about inspiration is also, in some ways, the awful thing about it: Like a panic attack you usually can’t predict when or where it’s going to strike. What you can do, however, is create fertile opportunities that increase the odds of its occurring by finding your own kind of Creative Mornings to regularly attend.

If you’re not doing this already, take some time to start looking for a monthly gathering that suits your interests now. And, don’t make it all business. This isn’t about making networking contacts that can advance your career or extend your sales revenue. This is about expanding your way of thinking, seeing and being—you know, the kind of stuff that charges you up and gets you excited all over again about the things you love or maybe has you falling in love with something totally new. It’s about inspiration—giving it, getting it and, most of all, being in the midst of it so you don’t forget that yours is a life filled with passion and purpose driven as much by inspiration as by the gritty determination and perspiration it takes to see your biggest and best ideas and dreams come to fruition.

Have you found a way to be regularly inspired—your own Creative Mornings? I'd love to hear about it and, perhaps, so would others. Contact me and let me know.

Related Links

• TED for Design Wonks: CreativeMornings Offers Coffee and a Shot of Inspiration​