Creative Inspiration Is Hiding Outside Your To-Do List

I was at the funeral the other day for my former employer. He was a troubled guy who made regrettable decisions in life. Honestly, when I worked there I swore a hundred times that he was going to die. While emotions ranged from "I can't believe he lasted this long" to "Oh, no! That's a tragedy and what'll happen to the business?" I found a different point to reflect on. Honestly what made the day even weirder is that the deacon gave a sermon on how God puts people in your life to teach you things. What was I supposed to learn from a solidly dysfunctional person? On reflection, he did truly have a heart of gold and could be quite generous....even though he repeatedly made the worst decisions while having “fun.” He was very troubled, but always wanted people to accept him for who he was. Maybe that was my lesson. Be generous and accept people as they are. I think maybe I was on the right track. When I left and got in my car, the radio was tuned to an interview with an author who kept talking about someone's "bailiwick". My former boss loved to use that word. I think he felt smart when he did. And I don't think I've ever heard anyone else say it, but there it was like 3 times in a row on my radio. Was Tim speaking to me? Seeing my old coworkers, the path the processional took past our old offices (it was genuinely on the way to the cemetery) and hearing "bailiwick" over and over made for a surreal day. It got me thinking about acceptance of other people and their impact on your situation (no matter how painful), and how I'm spending my time. Seneca wrote in his essay, “The Shortness of life": It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” As I sat there in the processional I realized that creative inspiration rarely arrives while we're staring harder at our work. More often, it shows up when we're busy living our lives. And maybe this is a cue to not waste time judging people. Just accept them as they are, and make sure you have some fun along the way so your creative cup is full.

As a voice actor, I spend a lot of time at a desk. In a booth. In front of a screen. Auditioning. Editing. Marketing. Following up. Doing all the things that keep a small business running.

Those things matter.

But so do chance conversations. Long drives. Running into people you haven't seen in years. Listening to things you didn't expect to hear. Being reminded of a strange old word on the radio that instantly transports you to another chapter of your life.

Those moments fill the creative well.In fact, I think that's where most creative inspiration comes from—not from another hour at a desk, but from experiences that surprise us, challenge us, or simply make us pay attention.

Every acting coach I've ever worked with has said some version of the same thing: if you want to portray people convincingly, you need experiences. Stories. Observations. A little mileage on your emotional odometer.

You can't create from an empty cup.

The best performances don't come from technical skill alone. They come from understanding joy, disappointment, regret, forgiveness, hope, grief, and all the messy contradictions that make people human.

Maybe that's why the day stayed with me.

I didn't leave with some grand revelation. Just a simple reminder.

My former boss was a man of contradictions. Both remarkably generous, and at times selfish in his pursuit of "fun" who desperately wanted to be accepted for who he was.

Maybe that's the lesson he left behind. Accept people as they are even if it makes you uncomfortable.

Be a little more generous. Judge a little less.

And while you're at it, make sure you're actually living your life instead of simply managing it.

Because one day you'll look up and wonder how another year has flown by.

My goal is to spend less time keeping score and more time collecting the kinds of experiences that make life, and creative inspiration worthwhile.