How do we turn “ON” the magic switch of inspiration?

And 5 tips on how to overcome creative block.

Whether you are a content creator, editor, filmmaker or any branch that works from creativity, you need a moment in which ideas are born.
As people who depend on our creativity, we are constantly waiting for the so-called “inspiration”.
And sometimes when it comes, it is at the most inopportune moment, whether it is in the middle of a fight with your partner or at 2:00 am when you have neither the desire nor the means to capture that inspiration.


So how do we turn ON the magic switch of inspiration?
and the answer is YOU CAN'T.

“Inspiration is not expected, it is forced.”

So here in EDICUT we WORK with 5 tips on how to constantly work on creativity in your daily life as a creative.

1.- Overcome insecurity.

The phrase of forcing inspiration is not a lie, during your period in which you are going to create, you are not going to get up until you have created something. It may be something you like or not but at the end of the day you will have created something.

2.- Give the idea its own space and time.

Many times we want to work on the fly and as editors this is very common, we still don't know what but we are already in the premiere timeline improvising and editing meaningless clips.
Give yourself exclusive time to think about the idea, try to visualize it finished.
It usually helps a lot to get out of your workspace even for a couple of minutes.

3.- The results or virality do not always match the effort (but you always learn).

You spent days working on this great idea, you worked hard on the details and it is an idea that you love but when you post it you don't have the results; views, likes and reach that you were waiting for and you think that everything you did "was not worth it".
Well, it's not like that, facing up to knowing your audience and learning what works and what doesn't is the most valuable thing there is, not everything can be a win and only then you will realize what your viewers or customers like. and the sooner you do it the better!

4.- There is always a new world to discover.

The lack of inspiration is a symptom of not having enough stimulating content in your day to day. One of the best ways to change this is to consume new content.

If you read or learn about something that you have never explored in your life. Consume books, articles, videos and magazines on topics as varied as art, space, gardening or culture.
This will open your mind to new concepts, perspectives, and worlds that can help you break out of your routine.

5.- Perseverance and experience beat talent..

Have you been faced with the idea that maybe you are not talented enough and it costs you more than others to come up with new and fresh ideas?
Well, if you keep a routine of practice and you are constantly generating a list of ideas every day in constant testing of what works or not.
That talent eventually is going to be exercised and you are going to develop experience and an intuition that will guide you from the beginning if an idea is good or not, as well as a great list of ideas and how to execute them from the beginning.

Remember that the path of the content creator can be very long and unstable but if you are constant you will have your reward.


Ricardo Esparragoza
Filmmaker, screenwriter and COO of EDICUT

(Image of Nam jun Paik exhibition at TATE, New York )