Today, I learned that inspiration is not just about receiving information from successful people, most importantly, applying what I’ve received. ‘Inspiration’ means to breathe in thoughts, filling your mind with ideas, but also, don’t forget to breathe out — transforming and applying the ideas you’ve received as your output. This is definitely one of the AHA moments in my life!
Just like the author Derek Sivers mentioned, I was one of those people, constantly seeking for inspiration. During my junior high school years, I was a self-help junkie, reading ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and most self-help books by Tony Robbins, listening to TED talks, and later spending hours on different podcasts, all in search of inspiration. Yet, I didn’t feel inspired enough.
Why? Because nothing is truly inspiring unless we apply the ideas we received to our work. (“work” meaning our life’s output, whether creative, business, or personal). In other works, our work, itself, is the inspiration. These golden words of his make so much sense to me now.
“Amplify every bit of inspiration you take in through your work, and then you’ll finally feel the inspiration you’ve been looking for.”
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
You can find Derek’s original article here or check out his book – “Hell Yeah or No”