I like to change up the inspirational wallpaper on my electronic devices using scenic landscapes and I bet you do as well! So we’re going to cover three benefits your wallpaper can provide for you.
1) Inspiration
I know, inspiration seems super obvious since it’s in the title “3 Reasons for Inspirational Scenic Wallpaper on Your Electronic Devices”, but bear with me. There’s more to inspiration than you might know.
Per the Oxford Languages, inspiration is defined as “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” However, inspiration is deeper than just mental stimulation as per the research that’s been done in recent years.
In a culture obsessed with measuring talent and ability, we often overlook the important role of inspiration… Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities.
Scott Barry Kaufmann, Harvard Business Review
The people most likely to be more inspired are people who are also open to new experiences. And people are more likely to desire mastery of a skill (or skills). And these people will most likely be more focused on their tasks. However, these people are less likely to be competitive with others. This explains why those who have the most patens also claim to be inspired more often. Can inspirational wallpaper really help?
Ways To Be Inspired
While you can’t will inspiration into existence in your life, you can provide yourself with opportunities to leave room for inspiration.
Be Open to It
Even though you can’t will inspiration into existence, you can be open to the idea of inspiration. This may often mean being open to experiencing new things. If you are a late sleeper, try getting up early to see the sunrise or enjoy the house before anyone else is up. If you are early to go to bed, try staying up late and watching the night sky. Or going for that motorcycle ride. Or take the class you want to but think you aren’t capable of. You might fail, but there’s growth in the failure.
Setting Up a Helpful Trigger
Okay, what does a helpful trigger mean?
Listen to a podcast by someone you want to imitate, or reach the same success, or who challenges you to be better than where you are today.
To become personally inspired, the best you can do is set up optimal circumstances for inspiration.
Scott Barry Kaufmann, Harvard Business Review
Is there an object that inspires you? Your running shoes? Dad’s favorite hat? Your mom’s garden trowel? Place the object where you can be reminded of who you want to become.
Maybe an idea inspires you. The idea of no world hunger. Or the idea of loving your neighbor, whether next door or two streets over or a different color. Maybe the idea of raising your children to be productive adults instead of just good kids. Read books on the subject. Or listen to books on tape about the idea. Find podcasts and blog posts about the idea.
Is it a work of art that inspires you? Set an inspirational wallpaper on your desktop and cellphone as a reminder of what you want to accomplish. Or hang the inspirational wallpaper in your home or office.
Use whatever inspires YOU. Normally the objects that inspire us have no value to anyone but us, but take time each day to sit with what does inspire you.
Inspiration vs Perspiration
We’ve all heard the Thomas Edison quote: “one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, yet scientists now think he’s wrong.
Yes, hard work will most likely be required to reach the goal, but it’s hard to have the goal without inspiration. So one could in fact say there is a positive relationship between inspiration and perspiration and both are needed to arrive at the final product.
Sometimes you may just need to have the idea roll around in your head a bit before it can be made into a song.
Those ideas that please me, I retain in memory, and am accustomed, as I have been told, to hum them to myself. If I continue in this way, it soon occurs to me how I may turn this or that morsel to account so as to make a good dish of it… All this fires my soul.
Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart
So take those new ideas, those better possibilities, and turn them over in your mind. Realize what you are thinking about and then be motivated to take the idea to completeness.
2) Motivation
After inspiration comes motivation!
Motivation: the condition of being driven to act; a stimulus, or influence
Merriam-Webster
Per psychologytoday.com “research shows people can influence their own levels of motivation and self-control.” This is why we use motivational quotes to help us stay on task to complete a job or goal. Motivational quotes also help us feel like we have control over our lives, our actions, and our happiness.
I would argue a picture can also be a good motivational prompt. A landscape of where you want to travel to. A product you want once a goal is reached. A picture of a thinner you before the babies…before the c-flu additional pounds. A picture of your family or whatever else you are grateful for.
Your motivation is as unique as you are. Your why is different than mine or Fred’s or Jennifer’s or Karen’s. And your inspirational wallpaper should reflect you!
3) Mindset
A photo, along with inspiring and motivating you, can improve your mindset.
A new study shows the average person thinks around 6,200 thoughts per day. There are only 1,440 minutes in a day and almost 500 of those minutes should be spent sleeping. That leaves 6.6 thoughts per minute. A lot of those thoughts are repetitive from yesterday and negative. Some research says up to five thoughts per minute are negative.
Our brains are efficient and wired for survival, but can, at the same time, be lazy. It’s easier to think the same thoughts as yesterday than it is to create new thoughts and new pathways in the brain. So the I’m worthless thought from yesterday will happen again today. Or No one cares, Nothing ever works out, our brains will take the familiar ruts and follow the same path as yesterday.
Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy.
Philippians 4:8, the Voice
An inspirational wallpaper can help you create new pathways away from these lies to what is true. Screen capture of an email praising you for a job well done, a picture of a trip that worked out, a quote of someone worse off than you who succeeded.
Conclusion on Inspirational Wallpaper
Whether you choose a motivational quote, a scenic landscape, or a screenshot of an email praising you make sure you can see the inspirational wallpaper you’ve chosen! Reduce the clutter of your home screen by creating folders for your apps or for your documents. The decluttered screen will allow you to take a moment and remind yourself of the truth, of a goal, or just allow you to take a moment to breathe.
The scientific definition of inspiration is “the act of drawing air into the lungs or to breathe.” So, set up your inspirational wallpaper today!
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