Are You Truly Inspired or Just Following the Crowd?




Nothing sparks more debate than Beyonce performing on television. It's never her classy subdued, ballad singing operatic ones, just the bold, brash, I'm sexy and I know it, move out my way, I'm about to kill it with an army of dancers ones. And you can never be critical, not online anyway. Beyonce's fans are like a mob of Johnnie Cochrans just waiting to defend their queen.

There's no problem in sticking up for your favorite artists. The problem lies when you are so closed minded you fail to listen to the truth. You fail to understand that everyone isn't being a hater and that it's okay to look beneath the surface.

You should know when you are being marketed to. You should know when something has been crafted to shape your opinion. Critical thinking is a skill we start learning in elementary school. The problem is that some of us fail to tap into it.

So when you say you are inspired, what are you truly inspired by or are you just saying that because something looks good and everyone else is saying it's great?

The amount of work and strategy that it takes to perform and craft something unforgettable that will have people talking way past 15 minutes, is what can inspire you. Beyond jumping on social media to share a pic or to join in on praise to show you are down, you should be taking down notes.

It takes vision, seeing what those before you have done, creating a strategy, and then going forward. Nobody just wakes up great. There is a method.

How do you plan to "slay" past 15 minutes or do you care more about the likes from the crowd?


1. Decide what do you want to accomplish? What will the end goal look like? How do you want people to feel?/How do you want to feel when all is said and done?

2. Who has done it before you and how did they go about it?

3. What inspired you about your predecessors? What did they get right/wrong?

4. Craft your strategy.

5. Gather those who can help you, if necessary.

6. Execute

7. Go over what you learned.






- Jamillah Y. Johnson