One of my favorite things in life is to write and read on a single topic extensively until the point of exhausting myself so much that I feel my head ache. I am not sure if the benefits or harms of this outweighs the other but I usually enjoy this feeling, until of course, I hit burnout. Then, a period of silence and extreme boredom begins, I have out-studied and over-nerded myself. When these times come, I usually have no idea how to bring myself back, but I think I have recently found the cure to my unproductiveness. Hopefully this text will be a reference either for myself or other people who are also experiencing a similar thing. Now, let me show you exactly how to get out of a rut after burning yourself out.
Well of course, before you even begin to attempt anything, if you have hit burnout, it means your body has been begging for rest, and it WILL get it, whether you like it or not. Whether that is entering a depressive episode and finding yourself dreading life or just taking a fun healing day is up to you. So in this text I am assuming you just have been uninspired for a while, and not have exhausted yourself out yet still trying to squeeze out the last bit of productivity you can out of yourself because that is not going to happen.
With that out of the way, I can finally begin by telling you that how you can get inspired again is by tracing the root of your inspiration and falling in love with the same thing again. For me, this usually means one or the other: I either take a moment to look at pictures of the thing I am trying to achieve on the internet (e.g, pictures of people painting, studying, getting good grades etc.) and watching people on youtube talk about how they've achieved what they've done (e.g, a vlog of a student from a particular major, someone talking about how to learn a language etc.) or I try to imagine how this particular thing will benefit me by writing it down or just visualizing the outcome of whatever I'm trying to learn. Turns out the biggest motivator for me to do anything is how cool I think it will look once I manage it - I find myself thinking: "man would it not be cool if I read 50 books this year and had an entire pile of books on my shelf which I finished that I can later return and write essays on" or " would it simply not be great if I learned how to sing or play piano and when I had to entertain myself or a bored crowd of people at a party I can sing or play a song I learned". Usually, if the outcomes of the thing I am trying to achieve is interesting enough, it will influence me more than any other factor, like how *actually* useful or profitable the skill is in the real world - I still don't know the multiplication table but I can tell you the first 50 digits of pi from the top of my head without hesitation.
Once I get curious enough to find myself opening a google page searching for more information on my newest interest, I know this as my opportunity to broaden this area of interest as much as possible. The most effective way for me to hold on to an interest right after attaining it is to note it down. This is beneficial in more ways than you might think; first it will get into your head better, second it's helpful for finding useful information later and third, it helps with pinpointing areas of an interest to later go on expand on. If I am interested in literature, writing what I found out by searching about it on the internet will help me remember that I once pursued this interest, that I learned these specific points on this, that there is also other genres of literature and other authors that I have to check out. I usually keep a notes page with links to interesting webpages I’ve read, it makes a great collection to look back and be proud of because I’ve done so much research, but more important than that, I can expand on any topic I need more information on easily because of it.
For me, this last technique coupled with the outcomes of what you learn should be enough inspiration to pursue an area of interest for a while. In fact, I think this system of seeking out intellectually stimulating things in life is a powerful tool for improving yourself. The more we end up learning about things which we are not familiar with, the more neural plasticity we are practicing. Learning a new language, reading books on topics you know nothing about and practicing an instrument are just a few examples of things you can pursue to increase your neuroplasticity. Alongside this, I believe this is the path that leads one to having more refined tasted and knowledgeable approaches to certain media and engage with material using your critical thinking.
I have to confess one thing about this text to you now, and that is that, I have written this text, just because this would remind me how fun writing was. This really did prove my point. I am happier since I started writing this and considering that I wrote probably something close to a thousand words, I now feel like I could do more because I have already dedicated myself and finished a chunk of my desired task before even beginning it. I've tricked myself - and you alongside - to make myself more productive and now I'm gonna go and continue. I'm gonna go read an article on what Italians think about tourists in Italian then write an article on what I think about travel, tourism and cultural differences. And if I want you to take away one lesson from this text, please dig deeper into things that excite you, learning new things can be extremely fun once you find out exactly what is it that drags you in and approach things with a critical eye, looking out for more opportunities within the area and record your findings with precision. And this is how you will find the inspiration to continue your curiosity. I guess.