So I read this book…That conference was amazing…Our conversation was just what I needed…Can you believe this documentary? So Inspiring!

Inspiration. Deep refreshing breaths that compel you into action. EXPANSIVE MIND, JUICED UP ENERGY, EXPLOSIVE POSSIBILITY. Yes Yes Yes. Let’s do this, let’s do this.

Oh this is getting hard, sticky, boring, confrontational. This uphill climb with challenge after issue after roadblock…must not be meant to be…or it would be easy right? I just need to get back in the game, I just need to get inspired again…read something, tweet something, facebook oh facebook give me the hit I need to propel me forward. Someone, please someone inject me with a dose of passionate-push-through-anything-you-can-do-this-magical-juju.

Inspiration is the spark, the beginning of the inhale, the state change that makes you just crazy enough to take the risks.

Inspiration doesn’t last. period.

sorry.

You may be lucky enough to remain inspired through much of your project. You may have the good fortune of doing work that has wave after wave of inspiration crashing in. But like any state or substance, particularly the ones that bring us higher and wider, there’s danger here. Is being inspired your end goal, where you long to have your resting heart-rate? Does nothing happen without a shot of woot-woot? If so, you’re fucked. Good work, real work, your work is going to take a hell of a lot more than possibility and good vibes…the shiny objects of the mind.

Inspiration is a resource. When used as resource rather than the target state, we get courage, clarity, a jump, boldness and energy…we move. But if we depend on being inspired to keep moving, the crash is excruciating. Losing inspiration does not mean it’s time to stop.

Important work can get boring.

Your best work may be painful.

The fullness of a breath has an inhale and an exhale and a pause at either end. If you’re going for the beginning of the inhale over and over, your breath will be shallow and panic will ensue.

Being inspired feels good. Being on a roll is awesome. But we mustn’t dread the drudgery. We mustn’t fear the exhale. Sometimes the best ideas come quietly and the best work is done by sitting your ass in the chair and rolling it out. Inspiration can help to harness the power that wants to flow into something. If the power is lost when your state shifts to neutral, the answer may not be to scramble for your next hit. It may just be learning how to exhale and sit in the pause.