Inspiration?

I can tell I am rusty. It’s been weeks since I have done any routine writing and today I determined to write whether I felt like it or not. The big question - what exactly to write about? No idea. All I knew is that if I didn’t sit my butt down and start, nothing would get done.

Have you ever been here? Have you ever known full well that you needed to accomplish something but you just didn’t have any clue on how to get going? While inspiration tends to be the first thing we look for in order to “get going”, I gotta tell ya, inspiration is a concept that has become tremendously over-rated. Personally, inspiration as of late was in rare commodity and yet, I wasn’t allowed to shirk my responsibilities due to its absence. I can’t think of one person who wouldn’t have laughed in my face if I told them I wasn’t inspired to take care of my obligations. Knowing this, I had no other option but to just get to work. And you know what happened? Once I got busy, I became inspired.

That’s right, in the midst of my draught where inspiration and even motivation are all but absent, the best thing I can do for myself is to take action. It’s my experience that action tends to lead to more action and before you know it, your accomplishments no longer hinge on whether or not you feel inspired enough to get busy. You just get busy. And when you get busy, stuff gets done. I ask you, is there any better inspiration than that? Seeing stuff get done? (This is where you shout “Preach It Brother!”) I can’t think of anything more rewarding than taking care of business and seeing my “To Get Done” list shrink. (Notice that I called it my “To Get Done” list, not my “To Do” list. But that’s another topic in and of itself...)

No matter what line of work you may be in, no matter what responsibilities you have at home, no matter what obligations you lend yourself to, the bottom line is this; it’s all about accomplishment. Success does not lie in the amount of work we take on. Success lies in the accomplishment of the work we take on. And accomplishment has nothing to do with inspiration. All too often we focus so heavily on the activity of getting things done, that we become discouraged and defeated before we even start. We search for the inspiration to get us moving, but it never comes, and we fall into an overwhelmed mindset. If we spent as much time staying busy as we did looking for the inspiration to get busy, our accomplishments would be huge.

And isn’t there some kind of law in nature that speaks to this phenomena? I believe it’s called momentum. Think of a snowball that rolls down hill picking up more and more snow and speed. It doesn’t stop and say, “Y’know something, I think I’m going to wait until I feel inspired before I go any further.” No, it just keeps going, and all the while, it gets bigger and faster until it’s a freaking boulder! Talk about accomplishment.

Each and every one of us has our own reasons for doing what we do. Most of us need to work for a living to provide for ourselves and our loved ones. In most circumstances, work equals pay. So what do you think would happen if when we got to our jobs, we turned to our boss and said, “I’m not feeling inspired today, so I might not be able to work.”? Any boss in their right mind would either send that person home without pay, or worse, fire them. How’s that? Feeling inspired now?

Don’t fall into the trappings of “Inspiration Equals Work”. Inspiration does not equal work. In fact, inspiration could be your biggest distraction form getting things accomplished. While you’re waiting for inspiration to do something great, someone else has already taken the initiative and accomplished what what you had only been dreaming about.

What’s been true for generations, remains true to this day. Hard work equals accomplishment. Inspiration has it’s place, but it is not a substitute for action. As I said, action tends to lead to more action. Waiting for inspiration tends to lead to more waiting. Take action, get to work and watch the inspiration build.

Be the snowball.


Tommy Wittig
© 2012 T-Dub-Ya Words

For My Son

For my beautiful Son. That's right, he IS beautiful. God entrusted this perfectly made boy into my care and said, "You will be his father. I have given you a precious gift."

I said, "What do I do? I don't know how to be a dad, much less a GOOD dad."

He said simply, "Love him. It is the beginning and end of all the answers you seek."

I said, "I'm scared Lord. What if I fail? What if I make mistakes?"

"Do it afraid." He told me. "Have faith in me and let me be your strength and wisdom."

"But what if I can't be there with him. Will he make the right decisions? Will he know how to make the right choices?"

"Show him the way and he will follow."

"Will he Lord? Will he? Because right now he is hurting. He is so sad and I don't know how to help him."

"Show him the way." He said. "Show him what faith can do."

This is for my beautiful Son Jayden. Because I love him... so much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7elxC8LXfzE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Biggest Obstacle

One of our biggest obstacles in getting any work done is simply not getting to work. If you have something to do, get busy. Accomplishment requires activity so get up and get moving.

Positively Successful

Genuine success really does start with a positive attitude. Generally speaking, we may live in a pessimistic world, but without a positive attitude you're just clinging to the same mediocrity as everyone else. Learn to remain optimistic, cultivate a Can-Do mentality, and avoid anything and anyone that would only want nothing more than to watch you fall into their negativity.

Boundaries

Parents, teach your kids why boundaries are important. Teach them that boundaries are not meant to keep them locked up, but rather, to keep them protected. Within these boundaries is a safe freedom. But when they get outside of the boundaries, that is where they become susceptible to harm.

As a parent it is your job to communicate this to them in a way they can understand. To expect that they should just "know this" is not only naive but grounds for failure.

Yes, at some point they will test these boundaries, but if you've done your part in communicating the consequences of going beyond and the benefits and privileges of staying within them, they will soon learn that what waits for them on the other side is not freedom.

Beginnings

Better to begin what you say you’re going to do than to say what you’re going to begin.

Thoughtful Reactions

The other day I spoke about giving others the job of making us happy.

http://www.powersharing.com/m/articles/view/Whose-Job-Is-It

Our happiness does not hinge on other people or circumstances.

I also spoke about Short Cut Thinking and how easy it is for us to keep digging into the same old ruts of habitual thoughts and reactions. Instead of taking ownership of our thoughts and reactions, we tend to take the easy way out and allow our habitual patterns take charge.

While it is not easy to be in total control of our initial reactions, personal responsibility still demands that we learn the importance of taking charge of our actions and reactions.

As creatures of habit it's unlikely that our first reaction to our situations will be under total control. But we can do something about the second reaction and those thereafter. In order to avoid the downward spiral out of control, we need to recognize when we're in Short Cut Thinking mode. Let's take responsibility and make a conscious decision to act like grown ups. In other words, let's put on our big boy pants and stop throwing tantrums like a bunch of babies.

Even though our habitual thinking will tend to be our first response, the willingness to assume responsibility and seek out intentional, positive responses will bring about solutions with successful outcomes.

Tommy Wittig
(c) 2011 T-Dub-Ya Words