The Spark of Action

There is a widespread misconception in our world that motivation leads to action. That’s why so many people are sitting around, waiting to be motivated and inspired to act. Even if it does come, motivation is often short lived and any resulting actions are not sustained for very long. In reality, action is what leads to motivation and inspiration, not the other way around.

Choosing to move forward into the unknown has a tendency to unleash both the creativity and determination necessary to make actions sustainable. The emotion of motivation and the feeling of inspiration are often playing catch up to your actions.

Your brain is designed to keep you alive, not to encourage you to flourish. Left to its devices, it will rarely provide you with much more ambition than is necessary to maintain survival. But if you force yourself into action, your mind has an amazing capacity to support that action with the necessary fuel of motivation and vision of inspiration. However, it won’t happen while idly anticipating epiphanies and break-throughs. In fact, often times the only difference between a breakdown and a break-through is determined and deliberate action.

Even the driest kindling still needs a spark to ignite. Let your intentional actions be that spark. Don’t wait around for your kindling to spontaneously combust.

Comments

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on

Primed for Progress

Just as some pumps need to be primed to work effectively, our lives need to be “primed” to flow efficiently. Good mornings and productive days don’t happen by accident, and by “priming” your day, you can set yourself up for better results. Does it mean you won’t have bad days? Of course not, but it’s making your day happen instead of just waiting for what happens. Once again, it’s a choice of being proactive rather than reactive. You will still have challenges and difficulties, but how you face those hurdles and respond to the struggles will be different with a primed mindset. I am sure there are many ways to prime your day and set the tone for the hours ahead, and what works for one won’t necessarily work for all. However, the process of creating a plan or a model of how things should unfold is a great place for anyone to start. Also, as I have mentioned before, how you actually start the morning is critical - the battle with the alarm clock is your first chance at victory for

Flower Among Thorns

About six or seven years ago, my wife was around three months pregnant as we eagerly anticipated the birth of another child. One night, as I lay sleeping, I had a dream that our baby was born. It was a beautiful little girl with thin, wispy hair and large, bright eyes punctuating her beautiful face. I held her proudly in my arms and stared down at this precious little creation. I carefully handed her off to her older brother, who was just a toddler himself, as he sat on the coach, arms outstretched, anxiously awaiting the chance to hold his baby sister. I helped him prop up a pillow underneath his little arms to help support my daughter and then stepped back to take in the amazing sight as he gazed down at her with both pride and amazement in his eyes. As I stood there watching them, the dream quickly faded. When I woke up, my eyes met the tearful glance of my wife. “I’m bleeding,” she said as she fought back the emotions, “I think I am miscarrying.” Those words sunk deeply i

Mindset Matters

Search This Blog