Inspiration.

Inspire others and you'll inspire yourself...But I wish inspiration came in a can, or there was a recipe, a quick, easy solution and it tasted like ice cream. I guess that's the society we live in, everything that's worth it should be simple and incredibly rewarding with little or no work, and be really fattening. I'm picturing Dwight Schrute saying, "False, hard work is the only way to good beets." The thing is I love working hard, especially for things I love (or good beets). Why is it so hard to get motivated to do the things I love? (side note: Is it just me that feels like 99% of life is in the gray area and never black and white?) I feel like I've wired myself to generate as many excuses as it takes in order to stifle and kill any motivation I get for getting out and climbing, riding, skiing or just doing things that I know I love doing! I'll watch a bike movie and get to where my helmet is and quickly find myself watching mindless tv. I'll watch ski movies all week and when the weekend comes, "Meh, there's still not enough snow to make the drive worth it." Goodness sakes I live 15 min. from some of the nation's best bouldering, I've been twice this year. I don't get it, so I'm psychologically evaluating myself and writing this in order to maybe find an answer that will get me off this couch back to living the good life God intended us to live.

So how does inspiration spark motivation?
Inspiration: The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something
creative: "flashes of inspiration". 
Motivation: The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

I guess I see inspiration as a flint and steel for the fire of motivation. To continue with the poor metaphor it seems like I can never find the flint or somebody just doused my would-be fire. I think inspiration has to match up with your motivation as well. Seeing an amazing photo of a mountain biker has not worked to get me out riding! It works to get my wife excited about taking photos. But only wrapping your hands around the grips and turning the cranks can actually inspire me to keep doing what I love. 

I can blame youtube, vimeo, twitter, facebook and all the typical time leeches but I think it's more than that. Or maybe not, maybe a good test would be to drop those things for 30 days and see what happens. Yes, that's it! Living in the marketing world I'm all about a/b testing so my A was trying to get out and get motivated using things like the above mentioned social networks. B will be the next 30 days of social network and couch abstinence (ok, maybe not completely off the social because of work, just not at home) I will find my inspiration in pushing further doing the things I love instead of watching people do the things I love.

Day 1 Starts Tomorrow.