Inspiration is Perishable

This is a continuation of a series of postings based on ideas from the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Random House, 2010)

"We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever. What doesn't last forever is inspiration." (p.271)

We all want to be inspired and impassioned about something--we know it's power. So we wait for inspiration and passion to show up and transform our lives without any real effort on our part.  I compare waiting and watching for inspiration to waiting and watching for UFOs. Hey, it could happen....

There is a lesser known Chinese proverb that summarizes the need for us to get out of our comfort zone and move forward when we are apprehended by inspiration. It goes, "Man will stand for long time on hill with mouth open before roast duck flies in."

Can you imagine standing on the side of a hill feeling hungry for roast duck, and simply opening your mouth expecting one to land there? It is silly right - even childish. You know intuitively you'd be standing there an eternity before satisfying your hunger. Yet, many of us go through life just that way. We wait with our proverbial mouth open waiting for the right job, the right relationship, more money, more peace and harmony without really doing anything about it. We wait for others to satisfy our hunger.

We would all benefit by getting out of this eternal waiting mode, get out of the child's position and assume responsibility for making ourselves happy and fulfilled. If there is something we need to learn, learn it. If there is someplace we need to be, be there. If there is a decision to be made, make it. If there is a letter we need to write, write it. As we begin to respond to our own hunger, and take responsibility for satisfying it, wonderful things begin to happen. We find ourselved inspired!  We lighten up, we experience an interesting new freedom. People come out of the woodwork to help us. Only as you move away from that hillside hoping a roast duck will show up, do you experience that you don't have to do it all yourself and it is a magical thing.

What do you want to make real? When we start answering that, we open ourselves to living larger, as a true citizen of creation. As a Hyatt ad once went, "Having your dreams fulfilled can be more therapeutic than having them analyzed." Dreams come true by taking that first step in the general direction of their fulfillment.

They say inspiration is perishable because it has a short shelf life. It prefers to act now, not later and it won't wait for you. If it grabs you, grab it back and make some magic in your own life and in the lives of others.