What Inspires You?

Become more aware of the things that inspire you every day so that you can inspire others.

Each one of us is a leader in our own way and this quote from John Quincy Adams says it all…

“If your actions inspire others to

Dream More, Learn More, Do More and Become More,

you are a leader.”

Some things that inspire me:
The miracle of my granddaughter’s development &
her spontaneity to enjoy everything;
A completed school project of a child with executive function challenges;
Meditating & ‘wondering’ while walking our dog in the sun ….

Inspiration is a complex concept.  What is inspiration?  What is the difference between motivation and inspiration? What are the characteristics of inspired people? How do we cultivate inspiration in children from a young age? What can inspire us or fuel our inspiration?

Simon Sinek says,  “Inspiration is a spark inside of us.  It is fueled by our idealism and the love of our family and friends”.

Dr Wayne Dyer believed, “Motivation is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, and inspiration is when an idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are intended to go.”

Scott Barry Kaufman wrote in a Harvard Business Review that inspired people share certain characteristics.  They are more open to new experiences, are more absorbed in their tasks and they are more creative.  They appear to have a stronger drive to master their work and are more intrinsically motivated and less extrinsically motivated.

Wonderopolis is a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery in learners of all ages. Each day, they pose an intriguing question—the Wonder of the Day®— even a question like: “What inspires you?“

Here are a few things that have inspired me lately or that have fueled my inspiration:

• A Grade 9 boy giving me beads to thank me for helping him;
• A learning support educator forwarding my newsletter to others, including all the educators at the school she works at;
• A young man phoning me to get a copy of the Learning & Thinking Maps Poster I gave him about a decade ago when he attended sessions at my practice (as he lost his poster when relocating) and wants to use the Thinking Maps to present information to his class as part of the Mini MBA Course he is currently doing;
• Discovering new resources, books or research about learning (on a daily basis) that complement my Metacognitive REAL Learning Process, like this Retrieval Practice Concept Map;
• Figuring out how to use technology or software more effectively to do things myself, like free software to remove the background from an image (like the image of the bird). I could not do this before I did this blog and it is so simple!

Do you know what inspires you and what keeps you inspired?

PS:  In ‘My Backstory’ Video in my Udemy online course titled, 7 Metacognitive Steps to Be More, I share my inspiration for my Be More focus.  This video is a free preview in my Udemy Course.