Category: Inspirational

“What changed?” you may ask.

“Everything.” I would respond.

I was traveling through the US and Canada for the past 6 weeks. Each time I travel, I return as a different person.

Travel changes you. You see new things. You meet new people. Your perspective changes. And you transform.

“Travel and vacations are a means to reshift and reorganize identities,” says Karen Stein, author of Getting Away from It All: Vacations and Identity.

How did this trip change me?

I have a better clarity of what I want to do. Before this trip, I was agonizing for months about what to do. How to take my writing to the next level. How to find a niche so that I can stick to it for years to come.

During the trip, I realized, that although I am passionate about multiple things, my real passion is “books.”

I love to read them, and l love to write them. But more than anything else, I love to help others write theirs. Several of my students have published their books, and it has changed their lives. That makes me feel proud of them.

And proud of myself.

During the trip I realized if there is one thing I can’t live without – it is writing.

But writing in a vacuum has no joy. Joy comes from when others read your stories and are transformed by them. Joy comes from when you can teach others what you do and they can replicate it.

I must say, I lacked confidence in myself. I didn’t think I had much to offer.

During the trip, the confidence of the American people rubbed off on me and I am relaunching my book writing course, my newsletter, and my challenges.

For the next few days, I will work on those and reveal them as they get ready.

Stay put.

“Future is so bright that my eyes burn looking at it.”

We think of motivation as an example of Newton’s Law of Inertia.

You better keep pushing that motivation ball or it’s guaranteed to slow down and stand still after a while.

As a mental model, it’s a disaster.

It implies that our default state is one of “not taking action” and we must continually push ourselves to be productive.

It sets up a subtle but powerful internal conflict between who you want to be (productive and focused) and who you “imagine” you really are (a procrastinator and a slacker).

It means you have to force yourself to do things doesn’t matter how meaningful they are and how committed you are to doing them.

Then often, you grow so resentful of all these self-forcing that you rebel by refusing to take action, defiantly asserting your independence from the internal taskmaster, by failing to achieve the goals you care most about.

What if there is an alternative?

What if it’s “taking action,” rather than “not taking action,” is our default state of being?

What if the major problem isn’t we can’t get ourselves to work on what matters, but we erect psychological barriers that get in the way of action that might otherwise occur without too much effort?

That has certainly been my experience.

When I think about all the things I wanted to do in my life but failed to do them, the lack of time or motivation was not the issue.

Rather, it’s the fears, anxieties, and lack of self-confidence that ended up placing me in my way.

This shift in perspective of “action” as the default state makes it easy to take action. It makes the whole thing a lot less unpleasant.

I don’t have to force myself to do things that need to be done. Instead, just focus on doing whatever feels pleasurable or fun.

Once the pressure is off, and I am enjoying what I am doing, the same activities that I was forcing myself to do, are done effortlessly.

Twenty-something years ago, a forty-something, overworked full-time middle manager, mother, wife, and daughter-in-law wrote a story in her head while washing dishes. She then typed that story and saved it on her desktop.

That little story gave her confidence. So she wrote another one. Then another.

Work, home, and family commitments took all her time and energy but she vowed she will continue to write little stories even if she gets to do them in the cracks of her busy days.

She didn’t share those stories with anyone. She just let them sit in a folder on her computer.

Each story boosted her confidence a little. So much so that one day she quit her job and became a full-time author.

She went on to write books and publish them.

Today she got an email from Medium.com, telling her that she is a verified author and that, one of her books will
feature on her profile page and a blue ‘Book Author’ badge will appear next to her name across Medium.

All because she dared to create.

Don’t just consume information as if it is food. While you are focused on consuming from the outside, you’re losing nourishment already inside you. Don’t make learning an excuse for not creating. Creating is more valuable than consuming.

Write a story.
Draw a sketch.
Create a melody.
Paint that painting.