When Nothing Is Right, Everything Is Left

update of WNIREIL

3 Moments of Inspiration

How do I come up with my ideas? It’s a difficult question to answer. Sometimes they come gradually, and I seem to take part in their formation. Other times the music, images, words, or ideas just pop right in there, already fully formed. Perhaps an easier question to answer would be “When do you come up with your ideas?” There do seem to be certain points during the daily routine that the number of ideas tends to increase. Below are three of the main moments. As you’ll see, they aren’t exactly the times most conducive to remembering something, and the greatest tragedy is all of those lost thoughts that could have been masterpieces but will never see the light of day.

1. On the Road

Whether driving a car or a motorbike, something about navigating the roads always seems to get the ideas flowing. Sometimes it’s out on the open highway. Sometimes it’s a crowded urban commute. The body often goes on autopilot when maneuvering a vehicle, and the mind is allowed access to the subconscious, harnessing the infinite spring of energy from which we are created. The trick is to recognize and remember when a great idea occurs.

Sometimes I have to repeat the words or tune over and over like a mantra, so that by the time I get to my destination I can still remember it and somehow record it. On longer trips it may be necessary to pull over in order to write down or record the idea. The best option is to have an audio or video recorder always running when on the road, so that no idea can slip away.

2. In the Bathroom

Whether it’s showering, shaving, brushing your teeth, or doing something else, the bathroom is a mystical place that can really jumpstart the creative process. Some say it’s the reflective properties of the mirror. Others say it’s the cleansing powers of water. But the inspirational potential of the restroom is a well documented phenomenon seen throughout history, from Archimedes to Emmett Brown. Even an entire religion, The Church of the Subgenius, has recognized the use of the toilet as a form of meditation.

3. On the Brink of Sleep

It’s that moment when moments themselves begin to cease to exist. The borderland between reality and dream. When the mind turns inward and the train of thought starts slipping sideways until it’s headed towards the land of symbols. This is the hardest moment to capture and bring back, because it can be hard to dip your hand in the sand of this land without getting sucked in. If you do manage to hold onto the strange revelations and return to the conscious world, the urge is strong to allow sleep to overcome you again. But if you can resist the temptation to return to sweet slumber, and if you can somehow document it, then this can be one of the deepest and most rewarding moments of inspiration. Best to sleep next to a notebook and voice recorder.

In which situations do you feel the best ideas come to you? Let me know in the comments below!

Descriptors

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The Polyglot Vocab Project

Did you know there’s really no limit to the number of languages you can learn? The average person can get to a respectable level in a language in about two years of study and practice. That means you could learn 10 languages in 20 years. So that’s what I’m doing. Remember, if you get to 10 languages you can officially call yourself a polyglot!

So far I’ve worked on Spanish, Vietnamese, and a little Japanese. In studying those languages, I found out the two most important things for learning a language: vocabulary and practice. You need words because they are the building blocks of language. You can’t communicate at all if you don’t have them. Especially in the beginning, you need to make an effort to do a little homework and learn as many new words on your own as possible. You need a strong vocabulary foundation so that you can start the other vital part…practicing. With practice everything else (grammar, pronunciation, spelling) will fall into place.

You all know I love lists, so it should be no surprise that I love grids too. What if, I thought, I could make a giant spreadsheet translating the most important words in English into the various languages I wanted to learn? This plan became known as The Polyglot Project. Then I found out there was already a Polyglot Project. So it became the Polyglot Vocab Project.

With the creation of Interopia, it became obvious that crowd-sourcing would be the best way to accomplish this. I’ve already done a lot of the work by creating an approximate list of about 3000 most common words in English. Some words, like about, for instance, will be difficult to translate into other languages, but we will do our best. Other words, like cat, should be pretty straightforward translations. I’ve set up the project for 13 languages besides English: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, and Swahili. I narrowed down the languages to these for population, geographic, cultural, and personal reasons. So, the number of words times the number of languages means about 45000 total words that need to be entered.

I have no idea how much interest people will have in helping me complete the project. Even if just one person helps me, it would be appreciated. Just e-mail the site if you would like editing privileges. I’ll be working on it myself even if no one else helps, so you can tune in to see my progress. Whether it takes a month or twenty years remains to be seen. The Google Docs Spreadsheet is available here.