We Need Inspiration

I hate treadmills.

I hate the way the look, I hate the way they smell, I hate the way they glare at me while I’m in the gym with their stupid, judgmental, buttons and dials.

The thing that I despise most about the treadmill is the crushing boredom that I know is waiting for me as I climb onto one. No, (insert gym name here), I don’t care that ESPN is 40 feet to my left causing me to trip every time I even glance at it, treadmills are dreadfully boring. The life of a treadmill is comprised of giving me the order to run, and then putting on display for all the world to see, a barrage of numbers and metrics telling me how I’m doing.

Sound familiar?

My biggest fear as a leader is that I will one day be so distracted by the need to delegate what needs to be done, that I forget to clue people into why we are doing it. That one day I will neglect inspiring my team.

The desire to be inspired must be hard-coded into our DNA somewhere. It’s why sites like Vimeo are in my favorites, it’s why we love going to the movies, and it’s why even our most prolific creatives do what they do.

Randall Wallace, writer of Braveheart, Secretariat, and Pearl Harbor made inspiration his personal mission:

“If this story doesn’t move me, or speak to my heart… it can’t possibly speak to anyone else’s. So all I know how to do is tell the story that inspires me, and to tell the story that matters to me. And then to trust.”

I have to ask you, when is the last time you inspired your team instead of just telling them what to do, for that matter when is the last time you were inspired, after all leadership starts from within.

Find what inspires you about what you do and feed that, live in it, thrive in it. You’ll be amazed how much harder you and your team are willing to work for something that brings you life, something you believe in.

For example, the dream of unplugging treadmills everywhere while laughing maniacally.

By James Vore