Inspiration.
Ephemeral?
Too soft to measure?
Impossible to quantify?
Maybe…
Last week I wrote about inspiration.
WHO DARES WINS was a summation of my thoughts and Yoda…wise Yoda channeled NIKE – who knew?
But as I stared at the pictures, which I have been doing a lot – believing myself humbled and inspired – I realized that I was missing the point – completely, in fact – completely and totally.
Listen:
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
See the point?
No doubt I was being inspired – but I was being inspired to look, and admire. They were the true geniuses – they were the ones sweating, sacrificing, calling on their inner reserves to make a point – they were inspired to do, and by doing so, they fulfilled the WHO DARES manifesto.
Made me stop and rethink – inspiration can easily be an excuse for inaction and what a poor way to honor the true perspirers who really do move us.
So next time you feel truly inspired?
If you don’t sweat – at least a little – you are really just fooling yourself….
From a sweaty laptop….
What do you think?…
Having been “moved” by last week’s ramble, I sent the link to a friend who I thought would also appreciate it. (He did).
My response to said friend’s suggestion that we “try” to do 10 miles on our weekly bike ride that evening was – “We will do 10 miles, ‘there is no try’ remember?”
With more than a little perspiration, we arrived home feeling great (like winners!) & having completed 11 miles. (6 was my previous best).
Thanks again for the inspiration!
No…thnak you for the “Genius”!!!
Hola,
Try to find anything by Jorge Wagensberg in English. I think you would love it.
‘only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly’ ~robert kennedy
I wouldn’t say that 99% perspiration was involved in every great idea, from arts to business, however, perspiration is indeed needed whatever degree of talent you do have.
To always inspire and be inspired? Now thats an inception worth planting!
The perspiration has to squeeze its way out of the pours of our lives though.
Time burnt in commutes to work, 40 hours a week at the office, after hours calls, meeting tight budgets. Our dedication to our partners, families, friends. The very things that enrich our lives and challenege us day to day which we love perhaps detract us from the time and space and focus to work on the creative tasks that we wish to do. And as an artist I see a disparity – there are those who make the art second and live a life full of the other commitment and those who have taken a huge leap of face to struggle as a starving artist and through their complete comitment and dedication and inspiration and abandonment of security to live their dream, they have crafted the space to sweat on their labors of love for weeks on end producing huge pools of output. But as business person I also learn the skills of time management, productivity, organization and efficiency. It is with these skills that we learn as professionals that we instead of dedicating pools of time in faith that it will work, we instead intelligently ‘grout’ our lives – our days and weeks and months – with minutes or hours where they fit to work on the things we love. It’s spinning records for her while she makes dinner, or making dinner for her on her way to work to get closer and closer to being able to make the perfect thai curry, instead of flopping down on the couch and ordering pizza. It’s staying up all night writing beats when she’s on midnights so we can spend a lazy saturday together. The grouting planning thinking ahead makes it possible to live it all. And further, learning to improve your creative processes themselves allow a faster and more inspired output of work without struggling with the tools which we use to produce. After all, in the age of technology, art is not a right brained activity any more – it is often technical and creative – a fusion of hard skills and lateral thinking and vision. We are not musicians or artists alone – we are creative engineers blending together all of the resources we have available to us to bring our visions to life.
that is some Manifesto — Creative Engineers — blending all aspects of our lives together — maiking the connections work — seamless — no guilt — only value add –