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Be Inspired Not Tired

Written by: Eva Gregory

Article Overview: Do you feel like you are just going through the motions and nothing you truly want in life is coming to fruition? Do you feel tired and drained more often than not? Are there things you know you have to get done, but you are lacking the motivation to do them? How about changing things around so that they become "inspired actions", and not "required actions"?

Be Inspired Not Tired

Do you feel like you are just going through the motions and nothing you truly want in life is coming to fruition? Do you feel tired and drained more often than not? Are there things you know you have to get done, but you are lacking the motivation to do them? How about changing things around so that they become "inspired actions", and not "required actions"?

One definition of inspire is "to exert an animating, enlivening or exalted influence upon". Even the definition sounds fun, does it not? I will go one further and say that it is also powerful and empowering. I call it powerful because it can create a great deal of positive energy, and empowering because you will gain control back over a situation. Can you image finding joy in everything, having life be lively and exciting on a regular basis? Inspired actions are those that you get so excited about that wild horses could not stop you from doing them and will usually flow effortlessly and quickly. Believe me, it IS possible.

How does one become inspired and create a world of inspired actions? It goes back to setting your intentions for what you want, visualizing it, getting into the feeling place "as if" it has happened exactly the way you want it and let the inspired action "come to you". Cool, huh? Sounds easy? It is. But if you get stuck, you can work backwards by focusing on what motivates you to complete your project. Is it your family, having free time to play, or perhaps just the satisfaction of having everything checked off of your "to do" list? Better yet, write down your tasks and your motivations. Things seem to become more concrete, more "real" when they are written down. These tools will help you turn a project or task into something that provides you with major inspiration. Just like Jack.

Jack was in the process of writing what he termed his "great American novel." In fact, he had been in the process for four years and despite what he told his friends and family, he was not feeling very inspired. His novel had become the joke amongst his friends and the proverbial albatross around his neck. When Jack decided to set his intentions and visualize the outcome, he had a difficult time doing this. He realized that he could not get into his feeling place because the story he was writing did not fuel his passion. He could not even visualize himself completing this book. His writing had taken a wrong turn, and instead of backing up or starting over, he had felt compelled to continue because of the expectations of others. Jack was so surprised and energized by this realization that he immediately started outlining the book he wanted to write. Writing had become an inspired action and Jack did not feel like it was a required one.
So, what are you waiting for? There is NO time like the present. Find a little quiet, turn on your favorite music, light a candle, and get busy setting those intentions to create inspired actions. Remember, inspired actions will make you feel alive; before, due to the planning and anticipation, during, as you will be relishing actually putting your desires to action, and after, when you are remembering the task and your feelings while it was being done. So, get out your pen and paper and get busy. The time has come to be inspired, not tired!

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Article Tags: attraction, empowering, Eva Gregory, goals, inspiration, Inspired, inspired action, motivation, positive energy, success, visualizing



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Profile: Katrinia Markoff - Haut Chocolat - As any self-respecting chocolate addict knows, there is chocolate, and then there is Vosges chocolate. The internationally lauded Vosges Haut-Chocolat was launched in 1998 by world traveler and Le Cordon Bleu culinary institute alumnus Katrina Markoff. Inspired by the diverse flavors she sampled during her travels as well as a deep passion for bringing cultures together, Katrina bravely went where no chocolatier had gone before: She began blending premium chocolate with Mexican ancho chili, Japanese wasabi, Indian curry, paprika, roots, flowers, and other staples of indigenous cultures to create her first line of exotic truffles. She wrapped them in elegant purple packages, got a small business loan, opened up a shop in Chicago, and Vosges Haut-Chocolat was born. Today, Vosges is 50 employees strong with stores in Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York City (with Japan on the way) and brings in $12 million a year. Katrina was the recipient of Bon Appetit's Food Artisan of the Year Award and was selected as one of the top 35 Culinary Artists by Food & Wine magazine. Here's how this culinary daredevil rose to the heights of chocolate chic, one to-die-for flavor at a time ... what we learned from katrina: "Hire really good people who are smarter than you are. You don't want to be spending your time teaching people and you don't need more people like yourself. Don't be scared to work with people who know more than you do—it's the best thing you can do." money for chocolate "I got started using $15,000 of my own money and grew really slowly and organically out of my house. In two years I had a good enough history to get a loan for $250,000 and I kept growing from there." find your flavor "Ten years ago there weren't any fancy chocolate companies—nobody was putting curry and wasabi in their recipes. That definitely helped. If you can be unique and fill a niche, that can be key." beyond the bar "Everything is based on an experience I've had with a certain culture or musician or artist or architect—every product has a lot of meaning. Some people just see a fancy, expensive chocolate, but once you read the story behind it, it has a strong, renegade, save-the-world voice. I came from my heart and made it about the things that are important to me and that's what resonates. Be genuine and true to yourself at all costs because people are attracted to passion, and passion speaks louder than anything." how vosges came into vogue "I always made sure the craftsmanship of my product was super high-end: I used regal colors, created luxurious textures, gathered unique flavors from all over the world, gave it a chic feminine vibe, and mixed it all in with my cause. We also sought out strategic partnerships with brands that would bring us into the lifestyle category, like Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Nota Bene, an upscale destination review guidebook." you are who you sell to "We just recently started using brokers and distributors, which is kind of late in the game for a company our size. We grew by going to shows and getting buyers one by one because I really wanted to control where we were seen. Costco has been asking for our products for a long time and we keep saying no. Maybe in a couple of years, but right now I'm focused on the first tier of specialty food stores." the green chocolate factory "We're building a green manufacturing facility that will use renewable energy. We're also coming out with more and more organic products and 90 percent of what we purchase will either be made from some percentage of recycled material or renewable resources. 'Sustainable luxury' is the phrase that encapsulates what we're trying to do." girls give back "Women are about nurturing and giving, so to really enjoy our work it has to have more meaning. This is why putting social causes into our products is so popular with women entrepreneurs. It's good for business too, because people like to know their money is going to a higher cause." learn from those around you ... "I've always been fascinated by luxury brands. My mom was really into silverware and antiques and taught me to look closely at details and to understand why certain things are so valuable. So I get marketing and branding, but I'm not a great businessperson or financier—I rely on other people to help and guide with that." ... but always follow your intuition "It was year four, and we had the store in Chicago but we weren't profitable yet, and I had the instinct to open a store in New York. I didn't tell my accountant because I knew she'd say no! 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