If you haven’t listened to yesterday’s podcast episode, you absolutely should. We talk a lot about signs that you may be uninspired, because sometimes they aren’t very obvious, but then we go into lots of different ways to find inspiration. I know not all of you have an hour of time you’re willing to dedicate to listen to me babble away, so I thought I’d distill some of those ideas down for you here.

The most important thing about inspiration is that you can’t just make it happen. Which is super annoying. Inspiration has so many benefits, from increasing your motivation to being open to new opportunities to even making you feel better about yourself, so it would be really nice if we could just have it when we want it. But we can’t. So all the ideas listed below don’t guarantee inspiration, but they can definitely help get your mind in the right place for that spark to hit.

1. Ask yourself what you can get from today.
2. Journal!
3. Reflect on what your most inspirational moment was every day.
4. Be the dumbest person in the room (aka surround yourself with smart people).
5. Have an in depth conversation with a coworker.
6. Be “present in the moment,” or for those of us who aren’t very zen, just pay more attention to what’s happening around you.
7. Listen to some TED talks.
8. Oprah. Just google Oprah and watch/listen to anything that shows up.
9. Read a book.
10. Get outside. For as long as possible.
11. Turn off your phone. For as long as possible.
12. Let yourself take a nap. For as long as possible.
13. Exercise. (Seriously I hate that this is true, but exercising is really great for your mind too.)
14. Call an old friend or family member.
15. Do something you don’t normally make time for – cook a meal, do a puzzle, take up a new craft.
16. Set aside an entire day to do only things you love.
17. Recall a time that you did feel inspired, and think through it in lots of detail.
18. Think about a time you made a difference in someone else’s life.
19. Create a list of your wildest dreams and goals, and imagine yourself doing one of them!
20. Seriously though, Oprah.
21. Reach out to an internet stranger (me) and let’s talk in the comments about what you’re feeling uninspired about!