Inspiration facilitates progress toward goals. In a recent study conducted by Marina Milyavskaya and her colleagues, college students were asked to report three goals they intended to accomplish throughout the course of the semester. They then reported on their progress three times a month.
Those who scored higher on the Inspiration Scale displayed increased goal progress, and their progress was a result of setting more inspired goals. Therefore, people who were generally more inspired in their daily lives also tended to set inspired goals, which were then more likely to be successfully attained.
Importantly, the relationship between inspiration and goal progress was reciprocal: goal progress also predicted future goal inspiration. Inspiration increases well-being. This inspiration was not transitory though, predicting positive well-being e. Inspiration was more strongly related to future than to present satisfaction. The extent to which inspiration lasted was explained by self-reported levels of purpose and gratitude in life.
These findings show that inspiration matters a lot, which may cause someone to feel pressure to become inspired and helpless to do so considering the evocative and spontaneous nature of inspiration.
I agree with Gilbert that one should not put pressure on oneself to become inspired. These key scientific findings suggest that inspiration is not willed—it happens.
Knowing this should free you from the pressure to make inspiration happen. This does not mean that inspiration is completely outside your control. Contrary to the view of inspiration as purely mythical or divine, I think inspiration is best thought of as a surprising interaction between your current knowledge and the information you receive from the world.
There are things you can do to increase the likelihood of inspiration occurring. You might commit to traveling once every six months or take a few hours every Friday morning to read articles and books or set a goal to meet three new people in your field each quarter. Bill Gates was known for having a twice yearly think week , spending full weeks away from his office, reading and mapping new ideas.
Find new friends. The people we spend time with affect our energy and our mood. They also tend to reinforce our beliefs. We can easily get into a situation where we speak to the same people about similar topics, week in, week out.
Make a list of people who have qualities that you admire. Aim for a few qualities rather than perfection. Narrow your choices.
Too many options are paralyzing, as psychology professor Barry Schwartz discusses in The Paradox of Choice. Too often, we feel overwhelmed and do nothing.
These types of people can stimulate new ideas with the added bonus of learning from their vast experience. Furthermore, think about friends whose qualities you admire tremendously. Try and focus on qualities, not perfection. They do not even have to know you are trying to emulate them in certain aspects. It is actually better to be a distant observer due to the simple fact that you can extract and dissect the necessary information much easier.
When questioned, most entrepreneurs and business people say that their passion and inspiration derives from their desire to serve their customers, to lead a company in an upward direction and to support the development of a product that may revolutionise the market.
Unfortunately, inspiration and passion can fade away and, of course, people start questioning themselves. It begins with the slow erosion of spirit and enthusiasm due to the fact that there is no longer any purpose in their work. People start feeling trapped, restless and they see no end in sight. This happens because people start confusing the achievement of daily goals with accomplishing truly meaningful work. Thus, they continue to worry and set goal after goal, until they realise boredom has set in.
When this happens, it is imperative that people respond to this problem through a conscious choice on how to solve it. When you do your best and receive positive feedback for your good work it inspires you to perform even better. So, keep yourself motivated to make the best of your talent. Do everything possible to create an atmosphere in which you feel happy to work.
Want to become a leader who gets things done? Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She currently runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes.
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