Nothing Will Work Until You Do: Ideas that Inspire Me to Get To It!
I’ve noticed that a lot of us have been struggling with our mental health lately. There’s much to feel stressed about: the climate crisis, the threat of fascism, the genocide of Palestinian people, the ginormous wealth gap between the oligarchs and us regular plebeians, the price of food and housing being astronomical, any recent policy in Florida, members of the alt-right being on the Supreme Court in a lifetime appointment, narcissistic and sociopathic whole work cultures (that promote and reward narcissists and sociopaths, our very least tolerable and most abusive colleagues), mass species extinction…if you are someone with a big heart, your heart is probably hurting lately.
Additionally, as nature photographer Chris Burkard (who I went to high school with) said in a video I reposted last week, an excerpt from this podcast episode about faith and success, we’re not meant to know and have an opinion on every single thing happening in the world—it’s too much!
We each must find things that inspire and motivate us to live the best life we possibly can, despite everything that may be horrifying around us. Viktor Frankl wrote, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Read about how his book Man’s Search for Meaning inspired me to make big life changes here.
I’ve always posted quotes, books, ideas, and moments on my Instagram, Kindwarrior.co (formerly “Coffee and Kindness”) that remind me to do and be my best. I’ve recently decided to be a little more diligent in the practice, especially during such difficult times. We can focus on what we *can* do and control while holding empathy for all of the suffering and uncertainty around us.
Work It
This week the Maya Angelou quote “Nothing will work until you do,” popped into my head. I decided to make an ambitious work goal to finish a big project I’d been procrastinating on. This quote propelled me to push through moments of overwhelm and get it done, resulting in a rush of a feeling of accomplishment. Working hard feels GOOD.
Magically, the very moment I finished the biggest and most challenging part of the project, I got a notification that someone had filled out one of the web forms to work with us (the new consulting company I founded with 3 others, Tend Collective). This is our first cold lead—not someone any of us personally know.
Thanks Maya for the inspiration! That work karma came through.
Things do work when we put in the time and effort. There’s no other way.
Working hard has become very much out of fashion lately as workers everywhere notice that our hard work is enriching oligarchs and shareholders—enabling them to buy yachts so big that they can’t even leave the harbor in which they’re built. But we can work on ourselves, our own projects, and things that enrich our souls and characters—this type of work will always pay off. I’m a big fan of working hard on creative endeavors such as writing, making art, making music, or beautifying one’s home. I also find that working hard on athletic goals is one of the best highs. I’ll forever be proud of having run 2 full marathons and a trail 30k race.
Who Inspires Me to Work
So, here are the stories behind the quotes here. These authors and creators have inspired me and I turn to them when I need motivation:
Steven Pressfield’s book Do The Work was so motivating when I first read it! There’s no substitute for doing the work! Talking about the work is not doing the work. Thinking about the work is not doing the work.
Bruce Lee. This is an interesting quote since he died so young at 32 but he died an absolute legend. The person who introduced me to the inspiring ideas of Bruce Lee—I’ve been watching him create and build a luxury electric motorcycle company—so wildly impressive! His hard work and persistence have created something profoundly beautiful. Check out Tarform.com and see what I mean.
Julia Cameron. Her practice of morning pages has been nothing short of transformative in my life and in the lives of so many. My very best mornings include a cup of coffee, a spot on the floor to sit and meditate, and journaling (morning pages). Her practice is outlined in her book The Artist’s Way. Starting the day with morning pages is part of engaging in a creative practice. I write down my feelings, my anxieties, what I’m grateful for, my ideas, my wishes, and my hopes and dreams.
James Altucher’s ideas through his books and podcasts taught me a lot when I was engaging with them about 9-10 years ago. I loved his books The Power of No and Choose Yourself. His stuff can get to be a little bit culty, especially the American capitalist woo-woo grifter cult but, he’s also often self-deprecating and honest about his shortcomings.
I’ve seen criticism of Angela Duckworth’s ideas in the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. This is because a person’s zip code is the biggest determinant of their health and wealth over their life course. Furthermore, access to adequate resources shouldn’t require grit—we should create an equitable society that doesn’t make people have to claw their way out of struggle and poverty. However, I think her ideas in this book, based on her research, can be useful and motivating for individuals. For population-level data, access to privileges are going to be the biggest thing that predicts a person’s success. But for individuals, we can practice deliberate goal-making and persistent effort and watch successes add up little by little, resulting in higher life satisfaction.
I loved Trevor Blake’s Three Simple Steps for how he created a thriving business manufacturing pharmaceuticals for rare diseases. One of the steps is to go walk in the woods everyday, quietly. For it.
“Sometimes you just do things,” gets me through so many hard moments!! Any time I don’t want to do something because it’s too tedious or I just can’t believe it’s required due to the sheer bureaucratic inefficiency of it all, ultra runner Scott Jurek’s voice comes into my head. I listened to his book Eat and Run as an audiobook so it’s literally his voice saying these words as I remember them in my head. These 5 little words seem to get through all my resistance. They work wonders!
