Like many writers, I have a strong affinity for Nora Ephron. Her witty prose, acidic descriptions, and heartwarming surprises set a standard for writers who wish to share their personal lives and use them to inform their own fiction writing. The big question I had to answer for myself was how much I was inspired by her work and how much I aspired to have a body of work like hers. Inspirational and aspirational targets can overlap, but they’re not exactly the same.
Inspiration is “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” It comes from the Latin compound verb inspirare, combining “in” and the verb spirare, meaning “to breathe.” You can also translate the verb spirare as “to breathe the spirit of.” When you find someone inspirational (the adjective form), it’s like a transfer of the spirit of creativity into you.
Aspiration, on the other hand, looks upward. “Aspiration” means “a hope or ambition of achieving something.” Its Latin verb root, aspirare, comes from combining spirare with the Latin preposition ad, meaning “to, up to, toward.” An aspirational figure is someone that you view on a pedestal. Their work gives you a goal to work toward.
Inspirational figures tend to be those who tell you that you already have the power within you to do what you want. Take, for example, Angela Duckworth. She’s a psychologist and author of the popular book Grit — she advocates for people to pursue their passions with perseverance and achieve their long-term goals.
The Oxford English Dictionary identifies “aspirational” in the context of Christianity, but also in the case of marketing. In 1981, The Wall Street Journal identified the phenomenon of “aspirational TV advertising” to present viewers a vision of how they could get to the top of a pedestal. Think of all the beautiful celebrities who act as brand ambassadors for perfume or beauty products — their images are a goal to work toward.
Both inspirational and aspirational figures can be helpful. Nora Ephron’s pithy quote “everything is copy” is inspirational to writers because it encourages them to look within to write. Her career highs are aspirational for writers who want to achieve cultural cachet. Whether you’re looking inward or upward, you’ll find something motivating.
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