Burst of Inspiration
Larissa felt absolutely <dead> inside. The pile of papers stacked on her desk had not gotten any smaller in the last 45 minutes she’d “supposedly” been working on it. Days earlier, in the heart of the deal negotiations, she’d been a flurry of activity. A burst of inspiration fueled an impressive amount of productivity. Where had the energy gone?
She reflected on the moment when, at 12:31am, the client and the large multinational firm with whom they were negotiating had finally agreed on the last set of critical terms for the deal. Great news for the client and the other side – that meant most of them could go home and get some sleep. For Larissa and the rest of the lawyers on the project, the work was only partially done. In order for the timing to work with issuing the press release ahead of the public markets opening, they would need to have everything ready for signature by dawn.
But she hadn’t felt tired at all. In fact, the atmosphere in the room was invigorating. She knew that her client and the leadership team had worked for years to make this moment possible. She knew that this was a monumental moment for that company, for her firm, and yes, even for her own career. Eventually, Larissa would be able to share with friends and family that she’d been there when the whole deal had gone down – that she’d been trusted to play a critical role in something that the Wall Street Journal would be reporting on.
In that state, the work done over the next 7 hours, while grueling, was almost effortless. And, it wasn’t rote work of cut and paste. In fact, there remained a mentally challenging gauntlet to run that would require creativity, negotiation, and attention to detail.
Not. A. Problem.
Missing Inspiration
Fast forward to this afternoon, and it could not be more opposite. Larissa sighed and got up to take another lap around the offices on her floor. Her right eyebrow perked up – maybe the candy bowl in front of Michelle’s office had been replenished?
As she walked, she observed her colleagues at their desks working. Few looked up, almost all of them seemed immersed in their work with one or two on a video call with someone she couldn’t see. What stood out was how <steady> they all seemed in their work. No obvious highs. No obvious lows. Just an even-keeled, step-by-step march through the work with little need for distraction or inspiration. She even knew that some of them had to set reminders to stop and get coffee.
She suddenly had a jolt of adrenaline and such a striking flash in her mind that she stopped and put her hand out to steady herself on the wall. What the heck was SHE doing here? She was the opposite of steady and step-by-step! If there was need for proof, it was sitting in that large pile of documents still sitting on her desk.
Slightly dazed, she realized she’d caught the attention of one of her friends – a younger associate named Matt.
- Matt: Hey Larissa, out hunting for candy again?
- Larissa: Anything but working on that ridiculous closing binder for the Atlas deal.
- Matt (smiling): But closing binders are the BEST part of the whole project! Everything’s done! Now, you get to organize the signed documents, insert a killer table of contents, and then have it leather bound. And, you can do it from the comfort of your own desk without the client breathing down your neck.
- Larissa: Maybe there’s something wrong with me. I’d rather get 10 manilla folder paper cuts than spend another hour on this thing.
- Matt: Well, everyone is still talking about how well you and the team did to get the deal across the finish line. Maybe you just need to summon one of your legendary bursts of inspiration and get it done!
- Larissa: Ha. If I knew how to summon a burst of inspiration any time I needed one, I’d be running this place inside of 5 years.
- Matt: It wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Hey, if Michelle put out any Reese’s can you bring me one?
Larissa waved a hand and walked on… her brain starting to slowly turn the wheels. She could do more in one hour than most people could do in three, but only when she had a burst of inspiration. Was there a way to crack the code and summon these bursts at her command?
Thriving on Bursts of Inspiration
Do you resonate with Larissa’s story? Do you experience a fairly wide range between your most and least productive moments? If so, then there’s a good chance you are one of the personality types wired to thrive on bursts of inspiration/productivity.
For those who operate like this, there is a bigger range between times when they’re feeling “in the zone” and times when they’re dragged down with low energy. When they’re in the zone, they can get five times more done than otherwise. In some individual cases, I would argue that they can get more done than anybody – although it is a frenetic pace they’re not likely able to sustain for long.
So, here are some tips for getting you into that peak state of productivity. This is what we’ve found working with thousands of people who share this tendency.
#1: Regular Exercise
While good advice for everyone, there seems to be a bigger difference for some types when they don’t exercise than others. The bursts of inspiration crowd apparently need to exert themselves physically or it’s easy for them to fall in the doldrums. The more you exercise, the easier it is to get into and maintain your peak state. And, three or four days without exercise and it gets really hard. Seen this way, exercise isn’t just about staying healthy, it’s about ensuring you can access these special moments of productivity and energy.
#2: Choose Your Attitude
I love how the book Fish! introduces this concept, and I highly recommend reading it. While it is a universal concept anyone can apply, experience suggest that the burst of inspiration group sees an even higher benefit from deliberately choosing an attitude of positivity than the rest of the population. As the book suggests, each day when you wake up there are two options on the menu – a positive and optimistic attitude or the reverse. We get to choose – and if we don’t make the right choice it is much harder to get into our peak state.
#3: Pick Your Playlist
The second thing is listening to interesting and energizing music. For a lot of other personality types, that’s a distraction, but it seems like it just keeps others from getting bored, and it also acts like a kind of a lubricant for their creativity, so try that one out.
#4: Narrow the Timeline
Left to their own devices, most Perceivers say they end up taking the full length of time allotted for their work. If provided 8 hours to do something, they will usually do most of the work in the last 20%. However, if you decide to change your own deadline, chances are you can actually do the work dramatically faster.
I find I do this myself. When offered a chance to do something fun in the afternoon on a weekday, I break into a sprint and finish everything much faster than I would have without something to look forward to. Now, I try to see whether I can do projects in a very narrow window of time. More often that not, I can. Impress yourself by pushing work into very short timelines and see what happens. Chances are, you will free up a lot of time by learning to sprint like this. Whether you then chose to put more work into the mix or go do something fun is up to you.
#5: The People Factor
Other people seem to have an outsized effect on the burst of inspiration people. When the people around us are bringing high energy and they’re focused on creativity and new things, that energy spills over onto you and you’re more likely to spend time in those high peaks, which is a great place to be. It can be a great technique to partner with others like you to publish your deadlines, feed off one another’s energy, and push each other into peak states more often. On the other hand, it doesn’t take much for those around you to throw off your motivation and kill a good burst of inspiration. Even an off-hand negative comments seems to have a stronger effect on your motivation and energy than it would for others. So, watch out for the downers.
#6: From NoJo Back to Mojo
If someone has bummed you out or you’re feeling particularly negative, focus on deep breathing and try to get back to a neutral place. Don’t expect that it’s just going to go away or that you’re going to jump from a negative place all the way to a burst of inspiration. If you’re down, get back to neutral and then try to get up from there. And, it’s probably a good idea for a change of venue – get up, move around, go to a coffee shop, physically get out of the place you were in when things turned south. If you’ve been in a state of low energy, low mojo, for weeks or even longer, you might consider travel. Travel is usually very stimulating for your type and people report returning rejuvenated and with a ton more energy, re-opening the door to getting back into peak state.
#7: This Week or 5 Years
Depending on whether you prefer Intuition or Sensing will likely dictate where you should be putting your focus. Those on the Sensing side are usually more energized when they are seeing how what they’re working in relates to their goals for the week – if they can see how a project or assignment being finished will make them feel in the short term, it usually produces a lot of energy. Those on the Inuitive side will usually find inspiration and energy emerges when they see the link between their current work and the long-term vision they have for themselves. Either way, check in with the thing you care about as often as you can… it’s like a powerful battery you can plug into.
Like Larissa in the story above, I spent years comparing myself to others who just chug along through their day with a steady output of work. I don’t recommend it since that’s just not likely to be the case for you. Your success is going to be come from those bursts of inspiration, the peak productivity moments. Count on those – your job is to have as many of them as possible, and to learn to master the art of getting yourself back into that state.
You might consider creating a visual reminder for your work area. Here’s the one I have on my wall at the moment (see infographic on the right).
The TypeCoach Approach
We are committed to ensuring that people who are introduced to personality type are provided with an in-depth explanation of the preferences, a chance to review multiple descriptions to consider their best-fit type, and that our tools are used in conjunction with training or coaching that will provide each participant the opportunity apply the principles covered. We use videos and animations to explain the different aspects of personality type and, from there, TypeCoach users are provided with ongoing support in the application of personality type in the context of improving interpersonal communication. Our signature tool, Type-to-Type provides advice on how best to approach others based on the combination of any two personalities working together. Learn more about our tools and training at TypeCoach.com, or contact our support team with specific questions.
