Your biggest inspiration … suuuuch a juicy topic.  It’s based on a personal project that I have been doing all year which has genuinely changed my relationship with my life and my ability to move towards my dreams/goals.   I hope it makes you think a bit – and inspires you towards action too!

#inspo and role models

Hands up who’s ever put someone on a pedestal?

Yeah, I thought so.

We’ve probably all been in a place where we’ve coveted someone else’s lifestyle before.  Or at the very least, we’ve likely all looked up to someone.  It could be a friend or acquaintance, celebrity or influencer, your coach, mentor … or someone you saw on the train once who looked pretty cool.

Maybe you admired their confidence and social skills, their intelligence or devotion/discipline, or maybe it was their lifestyle or personal style that got you inspired.

Whoever it was, and whether they knew it at the time or not, they made an impact on you.

Let me ask you something…

What impact do you have on yourself?

I love this question for two reasons.

Firstly, we don’t generally give ourselves enough credit for all the good we do in our lives.

Got out of bed this morning? Congratulations.
Managed to leave the house? Way to go!
Tried a new recipe? You’re on fire*
Committed to a new habit for the last 2 days? Legend.
Made someone laugh? I love you.

*umm not literally if you’re still in the kitchen, I hope

Point is, we should applaud ourselves (loudly) every time we ace something, or when we step out of our comfort zone to try something new.  These are the times that we level up and grow, and we should be proud of ourselves way more often!

And secondly:

If your life isn’t inspiring you, change what you’re doing

Quick show of hands again: who has scrolled through IG or YouTube and wished – even for a millisecond – you had someone else’s life?

Yeah, again.  Thought so.

And we’ve all been there!

When we view a curated insight into someone else’s life, we aren’t seeing the whole picture.  If they’re on the top of their game right now, we’ve missed the all-nighters they’ve had to pull, or the months spent in trackies while they prepare for launch.  We don’t generally get to witness the tears and frustrations of wanting to be more while not seeing progress.  Or the friends that ditched them while they transformed their lives.

We all know this, I’m sure, but sometimes we need a reminder:

The process of growing is painful and messy.
And we don’t get to see other people’s process of transformation.
We all admire the butterfly, but nobody wants to see the gloopy mess inside a chrysalis (fact).

But even while you’re in the in-between, you can still inspire yourself.

In a minute, I’m going to share with you my biggest self-growth project of 2019.  It’s been awesome.

(Cliffhanger, I know.)

But before your eyes eagerly scan down to the next section, I have a challenge for you.
Grab a pen and paper, or open your Notes app.  Whatever.  Just do it.
I want you to write down every detailed answer you can think of to these question:

What do you admire most about this person’s/these people who inspire you?
If money and time were no object, what would you want to bring into your life?

Be Your Biggest Inspiration

So, my buzzword for 2019 was INSPIRATION.  And what a year it has been!  This has been the year that I stopped looking to others for ideas and permission, and started inspiring myself.

This started with taking more action.  Ultimately, as the LoA will attest to, we have to take action towards our goals, not just dream about and visualise them.

If the qualities you admire most about your pedestal-ed icons are their determination and focus, maybe start reducing your procrastination levels and try the Pomodoro technique.
Or if you love someone’s interior design style, grab a paint brush. (Note: if your sole action is creating a beautiful Pinterest board, your home won’t change.  Just speaking from experience…)

You get the idea.  I could talk about the importance of taking action all day.

My self-growth project of 2019 was to create an inspiration board … using only photographs from my life.

I think this has been the most significant theme I have ever embarked on.  Every day I would try to take a snap of something that I did or saw that inspired me.

It helped me see what was most inspiring for me in my life.  This in turn encouraged me to do more of those things!  For example, if I kept taking pictures of flower stalls at a market, that would inspire me to go to more markets, and maybe treat myself to more bouquets (or drop some hints).

I also celebrated those small victories.  Some of those selfies were from when I was having an off day but still got up and did a thing.

It kept me accountable.  If a day or two went past and I hadn’t taken an inspiration picture, I would go and do something inspiring (there’s the ‘taking action’ again).  I have missed a couple of days, despite a daily reminder on my phone.  But this accountability really reminded me how important this concept of inspiration was.

What If You Were Your Biggest Inspiration?

I have found this inspiration assignment so valuable, and I have no intention of stopping it any time soon.

Bring on 2020 and more self inspo!

(I’ve actually recommended this assignment to a coaching client already. If you’re reading this, I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures tomorrow…!)

It helped me realise what is important to me in my life, which in turn inspired me to bring in more of these inspiring elements.  It’s almost like curating your life by looking at your photos, rather than the other way round! It’s much better to focus on improving our own lives, rather than drool over other people’s IG.

I now fully appreciate that we are in control of our lives –  nobody else can navigate it for us.  We all have our own thoughts, dreams and ideas, and ultimately it’s down to us to achieve them.  Nobody can live our life for us and, if this is the only one that we get to live, taking action is everything.


So, over to you! What inspires you? Are you going to try this assignment? What can you change in your life that will make it more inspiring for you?

Let me know in the comments below, or via email / Instagram.