Tag Archives: inspiration

Inspiration

Inspiration is most commonly associated with the process of developing creative ideas.  The outcome can be behavioral or physical.

For example, I was inspired to run faster (behavioral) or I was inspired to build a better mousetrap (physical) Mostly the act of inspiration is considered positive, although that might not always be true of the results.

That is to say, by definition the ideas and plans arising from inspiration are exciting and something worth attempting.  Unfortunately the result might not inspire.

Where does it come from?

Does inspiration arise from logical planning and concentrated deep thoughts?  It can, but it also can just arise from out of the blue.  There is no formula to creating inspiration.

Of course deep thought can act as fertilizer for your brain and the growth that arises from the fertile soil (your active brain) could be inspiring.  Or it might not be.

Troubled thoughts, worry, frustration or concern can often overshadow your thinking process and dampen the opportunity for inspiration.

Inspiring thoughts can be helpful to resolve issues or conflicts and they are to be encouraged so whenever possible avoid stressful situations that with restrict the opportunity to come up with solutions that inspire not only yourself but others as well.

Seeking Inspiration

A word of warning, particularly for those seeking creative inspiration (e.g., poets, artists, authors, even bloggers) attempting to proactively seek inspiring ideas can backfire and dry up the well for a while.

Don’t push for it, just let it come.

Working in Front/Leading from Behind

Wayne Gretsky, the hockey player known as “the great one” coupled two key leadership atrributes.  The concept of working in front and leading from behind.

These practices are available to anyone.  The behavioural concept is not skill based, in and of itself, although ultimately skill will be need to execute at the level of greatness.

Work in Front

Wayne used to say he anticipated where the puck was going to be, got there first and thus was able to work the puck very efficiently.  In the context of leadership this equates to anticipating the need and acting.

Think of the individual who has twelve strategic requests put before him by his boss and every one was anticipated (like the puck) and completed before being asked.

This is a form of leadership by example.

Leading from behind

Sticking with Gretsky, while he was known for his play out front he was equaly admired for inspiring his teammates.  This is leading from behind.

Combining leading by example together with leading from behind is a key catalyst to development of a high performing team.  The Edmonton Oilers are surely a good example of a high performing team.

Doing the work of others , directly leading them may be effictive to some extent but combing an example of high performance coupled with inspiring, motovating and encouraging greatness in others is a very powerful path to exceptional results.

Leaders can inspire greatness but a great team is needed to achieve it.

 

Inspiration

Simply put, inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.  For me, inspiration hit  almost two years ago when I was inspired to write a blog.

I acted on that  inspiration (as regular readers know) and four or five time a week I post about a top of mind topic.  These are selected at random and derived from, well, anywhere and everywhere.

More specifically, anywhere and everywhere could be the result of discussions with friends, colleagues or acquaintances.  It could be from news or other communication sources like web or social media.  It be from dreams, hallucinations and so on.

And the posts continue

The results of inspiration are not always successful, and sometimes we choose not to act on our inspiration.  When the action derived from the inspiration does work a great feeling of accomplisment can result.

Some personal filtering is helpful to avoid acting every time inspiration hits you.  My own experience has been the best and most effective inspirations are not the ones I seek or urge onto myself but rather those that are simply organic in nature.

Desired Outcome – Personal Satisfaction

Ultimately when you act on an inspiration both the acting on what inspired you and the end results will be satisfying more often than not.  Occassionally it might make sense to ignore a sudden unbidden inspiration  but as a general rule acting on your inspirations will be a good thing.