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Good morning.

This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that inspiration is a discipline.

Consistently seek out thought-provoking, inspiring inputs if you want to produce the best outputs.

Today's tip comes from rapper Lecrae by way of Jeremy Utley, Stanford Adjunct Professor of AI and Design.

Utley recounts teaching a class of graduate students with LaCray, and LeCray telling the students that

inspiration is a discipline.

Utley expanded on this and said the most wildly creative individuals I know are disciplined about cultivating the inputs to their thinking, because they know it affects the outputs

of their thinking. I think he's right. I tend to think inspiration is a discipline in two ways.

We can't just wait to be inspired. Creative people regularly sit down and tell themselves they will

work for several hours, and they often get inspired during this time. But I think it's also true in the way Utley

is discussing, which is that if you were going to come up with good ideas, you need good kindling

to light those fires. You need to make sure you are seeking out inspiring inputs to make good

outputs. So how do you get those inspiring inputs?

For starters, we can all read widely. Literature, history, science, politics. We can see

amazing performances. We can visit art museums and other museums.

The best work that has been created now and in the past can inspire new work.

Another way to get inputs is to seek out opinions and tips.

This can be from podcasts, blogs, newsletters, magazines, practical nonfiction books, or political commentators on TV. See what people have to say that's

...