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You Must Inspire Yourself Before You Can Inspire Others

You Must Inspire Yourself Before You Can Inspire Others

Last updated on: August 5, 2011 at 5:21 am by JBW

You Must Inspire Yourself Before You Can Inspire Others 2011-08-05T05:21:09-05:00 JBW

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What inspires you?

You know what I’m talking about: every now and then something snaps you out of the weeds – some kind of internal force propelling you to embrace a bigger future, motivating you to become more engaged, more hopeful, more visionary, better able to mobilize your team to achieve greater results.

But where does it come from?

I was having lunch with a couple of friends the other day – two hard-charging CEO’s – and we got talking about the things we love to do outside of work.

One is into extreme ultra running, having recently completed a 100-mile race. “Did you get a runner’s high?” I asked, thinking about the thin line between delusional hallucinations and the psychotic desire to run for literally 28 hours straight.

“Not really.” He said. “I had a nice quiet dinner afterwards with my dad.”

My other friend talked about the lift he gets from escaping the hustle of business to the serenity of the mountains and lakes of New Hampshire with his family.

As for me, well, they knew all too well about my awesome blogging, how writing is a prime source of Xtreme joy. (Hey, big guy! You think running100 miles is tough? Try writing 250 blog posts!) Also, I crave the solitude of hiking in the Adirondacks, or taking in Picasso and Pollack at the art museum, or traveling adventures with my family.

These activities are necessary for the care and nurture of our souls; requirements for maintaining spiritual sanity.

Oddly, though, for the three of us at lunch that day, we also confessed the many years it took before we felt worthy of indulging in these life-giving pleasures. Guilt, or obligations, or overwhelming responsibilities with work and home deprived us from pursuing these hobbies well into our thirties, and, for me, into my forties.

“Why did we wait so long to do the things we love?” we asked each other, baffled.

Each of us is inspired by unique activities. But we don’t always give ourselves permission to carve out the time to do what we love.

Are you an inspiring leader?

No, this is not a rhetorical question.

Are you able to motivate those around you to do more than they thought they could? Achieve better results? Become better people?

It’s so ironic. Everyone agrees that the best leaders must be inspiring, but it’s so easy to get forever bogged down with the urgent or the routine.

One thing is for certain: You can’t inspire others unless you are inspired yourself. It is only then that your spirit can be moved to thought and action in a new way that positively impacts the world around you.

So back to the original question: what is inspiring you?

If you are in the Princeton/Philadelphia area, join the leaders of A New Equilibrium on Thursday, August 25 for a wonderful dinner, a speaker and greatdiscussion around the topic: Inspire Yourself – Inspire Others. For more info, click here.

Inspiring photo by the inspirational Nancy Marie.

Leadership

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