Company Blog

Inspired

by Adam Zack — April 10, 2018

Yoda-ish zen-like answer.

A couple weeks ago I was really struggling for a blog topic. Nothing interesting was coming to mind at all. I looked over my topic list and realized all it was saying to me was “Been there, done that.”

So I reached out to DW and explained that I was having writer’s block and asked if he had any if he had any words of wisdom to inspire me. He responded with a one word email: Inspiration. Not exactly what I was looking for. In fact I thought he was just trying to be funny. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a Yoda-ish zen-like answer, kind of like “Look within yourself, grasshopper, and the answer shall you find.” I thought about what really does inspire me on a daily basis. What am I getting from others around me that motivates me to write a good blog? Or in the bigger picture what inspires me to be a good man, a good dad, a good friend, a good husband, a good leader? I don’t think most of us think about inspiration through most of our daily activities. Once in a while some event will come up – usually someone overcoming some kind of adversity – and we will do something extra or make a change in our life. Like when the one legged man runs a marathon and we think “If he can do it, I can do it!” (note: no I can’t) or when Oprah loses 50 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches we think “You go girl! You just inspired me to lose weight and eat more sandwiches!” But the daily inspiration of offering your best to your employer, customers, friends and family every single day has to come from within you. Your standards and motivation to achieve greatness, whether seen or unseen, comes from you. And you know what? Some people really are terrible at inspiring themselves. Past failures and acceptance of status quo easily block your inner cheerleader. Time to get on your side, man. To quote Stuart Smalley: “I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!”