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Inspiration Is For Amateurs. It’s Time To Take Action.

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Doing your best work isn’t easy. No way around it. Sometimes, coming up with a good idea feels a bit like pushing a giant boulder uphill. It just won’t move.

If we’re being real, creation can be downright painful sometimes. But nothing numbs the pain of doing your best work like a little shot of inspiration. Ahh, sweet nectar of motivation, let me sip thee!

I think the world is addicted to inspiration. Look on Instagram. Look on YouTube. The majority of the material on these platforms is palliative in nature. It makes us feel good about what we’re doing. Even if we’re not doing much.

Why? It feels good to get motivated — even if you don’t do anything or take any action on that feeling. Before you say anything about MY Instagram account — YES, I do post motivational quotes. I’m not saying this type of content is inherently bad. When used as a tool to get work done in short bursts, inspiration can be an extremely powerful resource. I just think that we often mistake the tool for the work.

 

zig ziglar quotes
 

Perhaps the best thing about inspiration is the deep feeling of focus and clarity you feel when you externalize your reasons for doing something and attribute your work to some source besides your own mind. That’s when you’ll catch yourself saying things like, “I watched this video on YouTube and it really inspired me….” Or, if you’re having trouble getting work done, you might say…“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m just not feeling inspired today.”

Both of those statements make inspiration seem like it’s something outside of you. Something that creeps up on you, unexpectedly, somehow taking possession of you and finessing you into action. What’s worse, because you feel like inspiration just “happens,” you actually sit there and wait for it. Then, you even take it a step further: you depend on it to get anything done.

Maybe you’ve caught yourself saying, “Yeah, I could start this idea I’ve been thinking about…but I’m just not that inspired right now.” And surprise, surprise, nothing ever gets done.

Why? Because inspiration is fleeting. It’s a temporary feeling, not a permanent state.

What’s the problem?

You can’t wait for inspiration. If you do, it’s not going to come. If it does, it’ll be a welcome surprise. But it’s not going to help you. I mean, let’s think about this logically for a second: what’s the value in only doing your best work when you “feel” like it? That’s like saying, “I only want to go to the gym when I’m feeling good.” Well, DUH!

Of COURSE you want to go to the gym when you feel good. You feel good, so everything you think about seems like a good idea, but what about the days you don’t feel good? What about the days you don’t feel inspired or motivated? What happens then?

Undoubtedly, days of exhaustion, self-doubt and creative slump will outweigh the days where you feel like a modern day Michelangelo. Should you just retire to your quiet corner until a picture of a lion on Instagram spurs change and lights a fire inside you?

No. You can’t let your feelings dictate your behavior. Feelings are variable and ephemeral: they come and go.

Guess what? Your work only counts on the days where you DON’T want to do it. It only counts when you’d much rather be doing something else. The call to your craft is NON-NEGOTIABLE.

When asked how many “reps” he did of a certain exercise, Muhammad Ali famously said, “I don’t know. I only start counting once it starts burning.” The cold reality is that, sometimes, it’s a real struggle to get your best work into the world.

 

muhammad ali quotes
 

That’s why so many of us admire great creators, artists and thinkers but so few of us will ever become one. If you wait to be inspired to do your best work, you’ll be waiting a long time. Most likely forever. Inspiration is not coming to get you. But you can seek it out.

What’s the solution?

Start the work now.

Do it on the sunny days and the rainy days. Stop giving yourself a “pass” to leave your gifts on the table, unopened. Stop allowing yourself the excuse not to create. The ironic part is, as you push through the uncomfortable stage (as all students on the road to mastery must) you’ll find that the struggle actually leads to more inspiration, despite the fact that there was none there to begin with.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo

It’s a feedback system. You don’t get inspired, then do great work. You do great work, then get inspired.

When are you going to start taking action? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

Daniel DiPiazza is the Founder of Rich20Something, where he writes about starting a business you care about, living a happier life, and occasionally, bacon.

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Success Advice

Mastering Self-Management for Success: Lessons From Peter F. Drucker

With careers no longer following a straight, predictable path, self-awareness and adaptability are essential for success.

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Peter f drucker lessons
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In today’s dynamic professional world, self-management has become increasingly important. With careers no longer following a straight, predictable path, self-awareness and adaptability are essential for success. (more…)

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Success Advice

How to Ignite the Spark Within for Future Success

All of us come to this world with our own reserve of magic unfortunately, not everyone can unleash it

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Igniting your spark
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What is it that makes some people great leaders while others remain followers? What magic do they have that others don’t? What special blessing gives them the power to bring significant change?  (more…)

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How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

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Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success (1)
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Pause for a moment and ponder two pandemic-era beliefs: First, closing schools will control the spread of a serious virus. Second, the consequences of such school closures—particularly social interruption and the prevention of immunity—are worse than becoming sick with the virus. (more…)

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Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be. 

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time. 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

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