Are You Taking Inspired Action…or Are You Just Crazy Busy?
“Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Have you heard of the term, “Inspired Action”?
Up until a couple of months ago, I hadn’t. But since learning about it and implementing it into my daily life, I gotta say…good things seem to be happening an awful lot faster!
For when it comes to achieving goals and bringing dreams to fruition, I have been in the process of doing just that for a very long time.
Although I am still nowhere near to achieving all my professional goals and bringing my many dreams to life (i.e. seeing my creative ideas manifested/produced in the physical world), I am definitely well on my way.
And one of the most important things I have finally figured out is this:
There is a big difference between taking inspired action & being crazy busy.
Taking inspired action, day after day, moves us closer to achieving our goals and dreams a heck of a lot faster than just being crazy busy – often doing the wrong things, yet! And even if we are (mostly) doing the right things, being crazy busy inevitably leads to exhaustion, burnout and illness…which really slows down progress. Or halts it all together.
But here’s the thing: “inspired action” is not quite the same as “action.”
So what is “inspired action”?
First off, here’s what it’s not:
“Inspired action is not about taking action for the sake of proving you tried.”
– Jessie DaSilva, The Witch’s Way to Wealth
When it comes to achieving our dreams, trying isn’t good enough.
Yes, you read correctly. We either believe enough in the importance of our dreams, goals and fulfilling our purpose to put in the necessary work, day in and day out…or we don’t.
Yes, of course we can try all sorts of different things in our journey and fail along the way – that’s all fantastic intel/feedback about what doesn’t work! Just as long as we learn from our mistakes and tweak accordingly…versus just (busily) doing the same damn thing over and over again and then acting all surprised when we wake up one day and realize that, despite our insane busyness and hard work, we aren’t much closer to actually achieving our goals and dreams.
“What separates the most productive people from everyone else is that they make course corrections every week to gradually get better at everything they do.”
– Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project
Because here’s another thing: if we have a dream, that’s probably because we’re supposed to have it. In fact, our dream might be a significant reason why our soul is here in the first place! If I’m right about this and we’re supposed to have the dreams we do, then call me crazy but we’re probably also supposed to fulfill those dreams…bring them to life.
Otherwise, that would be like a client hiring a construction company to build them a building…but the workers just showing up to the construction site and putting in a few hours here and there, year after year, is good enough. No need to actually ever finish construction so that people can USE the building in the way it was intended…as condos or office buildings or whatever. You get my drift.
I mean, that would be ludicrous, right?
Well, same goes for our dreams. If we have a dream, it’s probably because we are meant to fulfill that dream…bring it to life. And if this is the case, then it stands to reason that the Universe/God/engineers & architects, etc who work for the construction company 🙂 are standing by to HELP us do just that!
Which brings me back to “inspired action”…
“Inspired action is about taking action based on a moment of inspiration that shows you how to connect the dots from where you are to where you want to be,” explains author Jessie DaSilva. “It’s less about taking a ton of action that keeps you busy and more about zeroing in on specific actions that come from a place of inspiration and intuition.”
And in my experience, the best way to tap into that inspiration and intuition is by having quiet time alone, every single morning. As soon as I wake up, I light a candle and have a cup of coffee by the fire. I do not look at my phone or computer. I just sit quietly for about twenty minutes…and allow any insights and ideas to bubble to the surface of my mind. If something resonates as important, I’ll jot down a quick note.
Now, although I have already planned my work tasks for the day (I do that at the very end of the day before), if I happen get an idea or insight or suggestion to call someone, etc, that intuitively feels like I should do it sooner rather than later, I may add that to my task list for the day. More likely, I will put it on my task list for the next few days.
But what I won’t do (anymore) is allow that important ‘inspired action’ task to get buried beneath the never-ending pile of work tasks that keep me busy but may do very little to actually move the needle forward on me achieving my goals and dreams.
“Productivity isn’t about doing more, faster – it’s about doing the right things, deliberately and with intention.”
– Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project
How about you?
Do you start your day with quiet time…just you, your thoughts, your soul & no external distractions? If not, perhaps give that a try tomorrow morning and see if an idea, suggestion or reminder pops to the surface. If so, considering making time to tackle that ‘inspired action’ task sooner rather than later. You might be pleasantly surprised at how fast things start to happen.
Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.