Yesterday I posted a status on my Twitter feed which said: 

Be motivated to be the best everyday, not just on days it suits you. Inspire, create and achieve. I realized this was a great blog title!

So why the status you wonder? Well, many times (and I am known to do this myself on occasion) we are motivated only when we have an immediate goal. Like “Oh, I have my friends coming for dinner tomorrow, time to do that spring cleaning I have been putting off for weeks!” or workforce related “Evaluations are coming up in a few weeks, time to work hard so I get a good one!” These are just a few things we all do, and I think it is a bad habit. Why?

Because it takes time away from things you could be doing. I am serious. Think about it. Let’s take the first example, your friends are coming for dinner. You had time to do your deep cleaning the last two weekends but put it off because you didn’t feel like it. Now, they come tomorrow. Oh the stress we put ourselves through. Time to rush, you get cranky, you realize you need to run to the store for some ingredients and on your way home you realize you forgot the trash bags. You run back to the store, grab them and are on your way home. Time to make dinner, ugh more dishes, you have kids?, they can help clean too. You look around and realize your ceiling fan collected a dust bunny army and while scanning the room you decide everything needs to be dusted. Your husband comes home and points out that while you are cleaning, the windows have your children’s lip stains on them and could also benefit from a cleaning.. I am sure you get the drift. Instead of just having to do what you would do every day anyway, you are now facing a mountain, stress and by time you go to bed you probably wonder why you invited them to begin with.
What about work? Same thing. Your boss (if he is a good one and I hope so) knows your work ethic throughout the year. He/she knows if you spent your majority on facebook or google images looking at funny cats. They know if you do the bare minimum expected or go above and beyond because you love your job and want to excel at what you do. Starting a few weeks before evals looks bad in my opinion; even if they actually believe you are now motivated and give you a decent eval. You should put your best image forward at all times, you never know who is watching and who sees potential in you!
Had you not procrastinated you could focus your energy on decorations, extra work, or just yourself.

Inspire!
Inspire others by what you do. Be positive, challenging, encouraging and share the love and passion you have for whatever it is you do. You don’t need to come from nothing and end up rich to be inspiring. YOU are special in your own way, you have qualities that others don’t have. Even if you feel that you are a regular Joe Blow, I know there is something. Take a minute to think about it, what do your friends say about you, your family, your co-workers? Are you funny, quirky, are you the one that always says “We can do this!”, are you a photographer who can bring out the best in people, a writer who paints with his words, an amazing coffee brewer (YES THEY ARE VITAL AND MAKE MY DAY!), a home cook with a knack for amazing deserts…? What is it that stands out? Now that you have found it, (and if not email me, I’ll help you figure it out) use it to your advantage. Focus on your good qualities and don’t fret the bad.
I for one have a never ending supply of optimism with a healthy dose of realism. I am not one to give up and it has inspired people to keep going too. I may not immediately know how I will achieve what needs to be done, but I will find an answer and I will make it happen to the best of my ability. It is so easy to give up, don’t.

Create!
Now, we talk creation. Create what? Anything really. You know, you are that amazing home cook I mentioned? Go ahead and make some desert for your co-workers. It may just inspire them to a new idea, to bring something too (good for morale) or it may just make them smile.
When we drive somewhere, I love to just look out of the window and take in my surroundings. We stopped at a red light and the people who stand there make me a bit uneasy. (I know stereotyping) Anyway, this guy held up a big cardboard sign that said: “Share my smile, it will make someones day” Before I had read the sign, I didn’t even look at him. When I saw his smile it made my day. I had to smile, I couldn’t help it. He could have asked for money, or help but didn’t. He was just there to share a smile. He created not only the sign, but smile, after smile, after smile. And I did share his smile. While I wasn’t quick enough to take a picture, I did share smiles. I don’t know if it actually made anybodies day the way it did mine, but I made sure to smile at people. To be kind and smile. I received an amazing amount of smiles back and shared the story with one or two people that day and asked them to share the smile.
How easy and awesome is that? Such a big impact with something so easy and free!
But creation doesn’t just happen to inspire others, it also happens when we get inspired and doesn’t have to be for other people. I create things all the time, if they have a positive effect on people AWESOME!

Achieve!

You are inspired, you create things now achieve things. My last blog talked about dreams.. Some dreams can and should be achieved. You want to write a book? START. You want a new job? LOOK. You want to de-clutter you garage? DO.
Achieving happens when you are active. Daydreaming is great but that alone won’t achieve anything. Actions achieve results. Stop putting excuses first and get motivated! Ah yes, fear of rejection.. Isn’t that the problem in life? We fear to get rejected or fear we can’t do what we set our mind to. You fail, you get yourself up, dust off the negativity and start again. Find the good and work with that instead of the bad. So your garage takes two weekends to achieve and you are annoyed after one? Turn on some fun music, have a beer (I prefer wine), dance around and sort through it. Make it fun, look through it and think about the memories and LAUGH. That job you wanted but didn’t get, well maybe it wasn’t for you and there is a better one out there. You need to look, you need to apply and you need to put your best effort forth. Stop thinking about it and do. Make a plan of action, get inspired, create a way and achieve!

Some things will give you immediate gratification and some things take time. Like building your own business. You are inspired, you create and then you achieve. You can build a positive image online with the help of social media. You want to start a non-profit because you are that passionate and want to share it with the world, go for it. You are inspired, go create and then achieve great things for your community! Blog about it, get ideas, use facebook, Google, Twitter whatever helps you to get it out into the world.
Or just share that picture you took on your way to work of a beautiful sunset with your friends.

No more excuses, no more tomorrows, no more I can’t do its, no more what I have to offer doesn’t matter. It matters to someone. Ripple effect.

On a last note. What it really boils down to is being positive. To find the beauty, greatness and inspiration even in bad times. Sometimes it is really hard to find anything good about rejection, finances, illness and in a few cases there just is no benefit at all. BUT there is YOU. YOU can choose to let it get you down or you look around until you find something that will light up your day. Even if it is the smile on someones face, the butterfly flying by or the warm sun touching your face.

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

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