If you consume social media, it's hard to get around it: it's a Successories world and we're living in it.
You remember Successories, right? Back in the 90s? Those ubiquitous posters and office decor with pictures of eagles and mountain climbers that featured an inspirational message along the bottom? They were supposed to motivate us to climb that corporate ladder. Instead, they usually made us feel like setting fire to our cubicles.
Hate to say it but I'm kinda starting to feel that way lately. Whether it's Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, I'm surrounded by artsy photos of insanely fit athletes that urge me to work harder, lift more, and run faster. Or photos with messages that bark out orders like Zen drill sergeants to:
DREAM MORE!
LOVE LIKE THE WORLD IS ENDING!
DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING!
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!
DON'T GIVE UP!
Oh. My. God.
Right now, if I had to make my own damned inspirational quote, it would be a few white words on a black background:
SHUT UP.
WORK.
Look, I get it. I've posted a few of these inspirational thingies myself - usually Harry Potter quotes or Winnie the Pooh or whatever. And I understand that reading these in the right mood gives you a mental surge that makes you want to run up the stairs like Rocky with that theme in your ears. YES! YOU ARE A CHAMPION!
I need that from time to time. Everyone does. However, inspiration porn (yes I went there, I called it that) is a temporary fix.
You know what really works? DOING THE WORK.
Forget what everyone else is doing (this is advice I need to take my own damned self). Focus on the work you have in front of you. And do it. Put some words on a page. Make that phone call you've been meaning to make. Outline your business plan.
Because you know what feels so much better? Crossing things off your to do list.
Truly successful people are WORKING. Their example serves as inspiration.
And I don't mean making millions.
They're just getting stuff done. Plugging away.
It's incremental. It's slow. It's "put the ass in the chair and stay there" type stuff.
Once you start making progress? KEEP GOING.
It's not sexy. But it works.
Start with the perspiration.
The inspiration will come.
- XO,
D
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