What Keeps Me Going When I Need Inspiration
After BCR won last week’s Challenge, I’m feeling pressure to make a meaningful entry this time around. Here’s the assignment:
Everybody loves a success story. New business owners find them inspiring. Tell Kay [our fictional entrepreneur who’s the subject of the Business Channel’s Apprentice-like challenge] a success story that inspired you - it could be a famous person, a company, a family member. No restrictions on length - as long or as short as you want.
It got me thinking about what has inspired me to keep going with my career. And maybe this isn’t a success story, but it’s real and it’s what I really want to say, so I hope you don’t mind too much.
There’s one particular person in my life who leaves me frustrated every time we talk careers. “The problem,” I say, “is that you’re so afraid of failing that you won’t even let yourself make the attempt.” “It’s less scary that way.” “Yeah, but it’s also guaranteed failure.”
Last week, I shared the best business advice I ever received. This week, I’m going to share the best life advice I ever received:
It’s better to regret something you did than to regret something you didn’t do and spend your whole life wondering if it would have made a difference.
I wish I could tell you who shared that with me — maybe I just dreamt it and it stuck with me when I woke up — but it is a driving force in my life. Making mistakes is part of the process, and if you’re too afraid to try, it means you’re never going to succeed. Fear of success is almost more terrifying than fear of failure sometimes, and it’s okay to be scared. But you have to work through it. It’s what makes us strong business women.
The biggest inspiration I get in my business is when other people tell me that I have inspired them. It happens every now and again, and it takes my breath away. I’m just me, just this girl who’s figuring it out as she goes along and letting the world in on the story. How is that possibly inspirational? But what I hear over and over again is that trying and not being afraid to fail and tell other people about it gives THEM the confidence to try something new for themselves. To try striking out on their own or making that career move they have always dreamed of. And that, as far as I’m concerned, is the biggest success story I have ever heard. Knowing that by just trying I can do what others did for me, give hopefuls the confidence to become actuals, is amazing.
I don’t care where you get your inspiration so long as something you experience moves you. Whatever it is, a religious moment or a magazine ad that just grabs you or some stranger’s ramblings on a blog, it’s important. And the fact that you try, well, that’s what inspires me. And reading about other people’s experiences and attempts is what gave me the courage to do my thing, so maybe it’s not that hard to understand after all.
What inspires you? Leave a comment with your story.
(photo via SXC.hu)
Tags: women and business, inspiration, advice
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POSTED IN: Business Success, Work-Life Balance
8 opinions for What Keeps Me Going When I Need Inspiration
What Inspires You? | Inkthinker
Dec 19, 2007 at 11:46 pm
[…] Apprentice-style challenge in the b5media Business Channel got me thinking about inspiration and how it’s played a role in my business. And when I started mulling over what inspires me, I realized that I owe all of you a big, big […]
GP
Dec 20, 2007 at 11:31 pm
As a fairly new innkeeper, have been frequently asked “how were you able to leave the comfort and security of the “known” and open a bed and breakfast” Early everyone dreams of moving to the country, but few people are crazy enough to actually do it. I’m one of those few. Actually when I was “knee high to a grasshopper “as they say, I had said I wanted to live in Montana because of its sense of adventure and limitleness. We finally had enough of the left coast and came up with the Montana move plan. Armed with an overenthusiastic sense of adventure, and lots of naivete, we ended up in our dream log home . It subsequently became the “dream home” after much renovating.
A combination of “feel the fear and do it anyway” and “The greatest of all victories is to be victorious over yourself” inspire me Along with Teddy Roosevelts ”
Far better it is to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered with failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that know not victory or defeat.” inspires me.
Kristen King
Dec 21, 2007 at 10:20 am
That is an awesome story! Thank you for sharing it, and congratulations on following your dream. :]
Kristen
“My Mother, The Country Grocer” Wins This Round of Business Channel Challenge!
Dec 21, 2007 at 4:22 pm
[…] in this week’s contest was Biz Chicks Rule with the post, What Keeps Me Going When I Need Inspiration. This is their second week in a row, either coming in first or as a […]
“My Mother, The Country Grocer” A Winner!
Dec 21, 2007 at 4:56 pm
[…] in this week’s contest was Biz Chicks Rule with the post, What Keeps Me Going When I Need Inspiration. This is their second week in a row, either coming in first or as a […]
My Mother, The Country Grocer…a Winner!
Dec 22, 2007 at 8:01 am
[…] in this week’s contest was Biz Chicks Rule with the post, What Keeps Me Going When I Need Inspiration. This is their second week in a row, either coming in first or as a […]
“My Mom, The Country Grocer” Wins This Round of Business Channel Challenge! | money news blog
Dec 25, 2007 at 11:25 pm
[…] in this week’s contest was Biz Chicks Rule with the post, What Keeps Me Going When I Need Inspiration. This is their second week in a row, either coming in first or as a […]
Peter Cook
Dec 26, 2007 at 9:21 am
Hi,
Re what keeps you going I’d like to mention a Leadership Film just out via the UK Institute of Directors which has a number of inspiring contributors.
You can see it on http://www.business100.co.uk
Declaration of Interest: I have a cameo role in the film as the author of ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n'Roll - Leadership Lessons from the Academy of Rock’ - Business Leadership and Personal Development ‘tamed’ with popular culture!
Happy holidays
Peter
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