I’ve been reading and following Elise Cripe for years, and this idea is probably my favourite she’s taught me: you’re not going to run out of ideas. (She even has a notebook that says that now!)
If you “use up” this idea, you’ll find even more waiting in the wings. If you take action on this idea, it will spark even more ideas to take action on.
It reminds me of Gretchen Rubin’s personal commandment to “spend out”, which she defines as “To stop hoarding, to trust in abundance.” Instead of saving something for the mythical perfect time, she encourages herself to use it and enjoy it now, whether it’s a possession or a creative idea. She says, “pouring out ideas is better for creativity than doling them out by the teaspoon.”
Daily writing is only scary in theory, where all the fears are the loudest. “What if I’m a terrible writer? What if I run out of ideas?” In practice, it’s pretty simple: you sit down, and start writing about the first idea that comes into your head. As far as I can tell, this only requires a couple of things: discipline to make yourself sit down, perseverance to make yourself keep going despite your fears & doubts, and faith that you won’t run out of ideas.
As of today, I have written 60 “daily” blog posts (up until this week, it was only Monday-Thursday writing). That’s 60 more ideas than I knew that I had. It’s 60 more ideas that I wouldn’t have been able to shape and make use of, had I not shared them. It might not seem like a high number, but that’s 60 more pieces of writing that I created that otherwise wouldn’t exist! And most importantly: it’s 60 battles that I successfully fought with resistance and won.
Life is long and rich and full of interesting experiences. There is absolutely no way that you are going to run out of inspiration, or questions, or things to say. You are not going to run out of ideas.
