Tuesday 27 September 2011 No. 10

Inspiration

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” George Bernard Shaw

Usually we think of the term ‘inspiration’ as something uplifting and encouraging.  It could be a great biography we can’t put down or a powerful movie designed to challenge our presuppositions. But what if ‘inspiration’ was actually something beyond these great outcomes that changes the course of our lives forever? For example:

1. Managing upwards. All too often we can be drowning under the demands from our boss or the perception of pressure coming down upon us that it squeezes all potential for inspiration out from within us. Well, here is a strategy. Imagine you are in a deep underground mine shaft.  Establish just one more secure roof support and sit for a while under its protection. Then think yourself into your manager’s shoes. What would make their life better?  Is there something I could do that would ease their stress? Then see if you can do it!  This will set you up for a much better working relationship with your boss, clearer lines of communication, fewer emails and more phone calls, more equal communication and the byproduct may be that the pressure flowing down to you will be more controlled and predictable.
2. The first sign of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. This oft quoted saying is so true but often busy people do not have the time or the energy to stop and consider whether they are simply proving the quote true!  Here is a strategy. First make sure that you have the measuring tools to assess whether you are getting the same results. Then make yourself find alternative methods, new approaches, a truly an inspirational response to the need. You are probably so close to the action that you cannot see any other way forward.  So ask someone else, a colleague, some of your students. I guarantee you will be inspired!
3. Habitually get around inspiring people. Have a close look at the company you keep. Are they positive or negative? Do they always find the faults and mistakes and never come up with solutions. I firmly believe that we should be intentional with the company we keep. Here is a strategy. You may have to intentionally but politely change your social grouping.  Joining a gym will usually find positive people. Joining a men’s or women’s group in your church. Join a group of volunteers who do jail visitation for example.  The options are endless if we are prepared to change our company.
4. Clear your brain and your heart making room for the new. I think it is quite normal for busy people to find it hard to find the space to be inspirational.  Here is my strategy.  It is painful, but I go into a period of ruthless pruning. I chop out as many little distracting tasks as I can.  I write lists and more lists and over a period of weeks or months get my ‘to do list’ down to a really manageable size.  This sounds easy on paper and so hard in practice but I believe it has to be done if you are to find the clear water and the space to be truly inspirational.
5. Join GB Shaw and permit yourself to make mistakes. Making mistakes is humbling, but if we can excuse ourselves to make mistakes, I think that that will encourage those around us to make mistakes also.  That is not say that we are walking around in the company of losers but we will find ourselves in the company of innovators as we try new and novel approaches to previously intractable obstacles. I often describe this as my ‘tightrope’ experience.  I am inching forward one step at a time.  At any moment disaster beckons beneath my feet, but I keep my eye focused on the next goal, the next objective, and the substance of my latest inspiration.

I hope that one of these ideas may have inspired you to do something differently in the future that will perhaps unlock a closed door in your life once and for all.