Where Do You Get Yours?

Dear High Achiever:

Questions. We get questions. I received an email the other day from one of your fellow High Achievers asking where I get the inspiration to write a newsletter every week.

Hmmm? It’s the first time I ever got that question. After 124 FYIs , I was actually quite surprised. But I realized that at live events I’m often asked a similar question, one that I take to mean -

You do something I wish I could do. That question is “Where does the personal energy come from.” Now, because it’s a live, in-person, face-to-face exchange and a physical transference takes place, that personal-energy question makes sense.

The question of “Where do you get your FYI inspiration ” is -

Similar — but different. Writing (and reading) are different from “live and in person.” Why? The medium creates a unique relationship. Now that I think about it, there are e-letters that I read from people I’ve never met face-to-face so I too have a certain curiosity about how the person is … in person.

I think those of you who have been to one of my live events or know me personally most likely know where I get my inspiration from. I’ve got multiple sources I look to.

If we haven’t met, or if we have and you’d like an Eric Taylor “ Inspiration Refresher,” there are few sources at the top of my list and I’ll share them with you shortly.

But first: My curiosity has been aroused and I’m “inspired” to ask a question of you:

Where Do You Get Yours?

It’s your turn to go, “Hmmm?” I want to change up the format of today’s FYI. I want to reverse the role and conditions of our current relationship where I write and you read. I want to ask you and -

Challenge you to write to me. My motive? In part, it’s selfish. I want to be inspired by what inspires you. But overriding that, my challenge, purpose and motivation are -

Much deeper than that. You will learn some amazing stuff when you actively think about what motivates you and where that inspiration comes from. I’m asking you to deliberately and consciously consider what gets you out of bed every morning (besides your alarm clock) and put it down on paper.

Are you with me? Will you accept The Challenge and play them game full out?

I hope you do. Here’s why.

• It will force you to think.
• It will be cathartic.
• It will stimulate your visualization process.
• It will get you to think in terms of you.
• It will get you to think how other people and the world are affecting you.
• It will get you to spend some time with yourself.
• It will be fun
• You might learn something about the most important person in your life - YOU!

My hope is that you will really do this and I will give you a platform to publicly share (anonymously, of course) the things that inspire you, make you human, and help you Go Forward!

Now here are some Eric Taylor “ Inspiration Refreshers”:

I’m blessed in that I have my health, a family that loves and supports me, and a career that could really been viewed as a hobby that I get paid for. I would do what I do everyday, FREE. (I probably shouldn’t tell my clients that, but for those of you that love what you do, you know what I mean.)

Oh, and I’ve got five children that like to eat and want to go to college and a wife that likes to shop. (Just kidding, honey - sort of.)

FYI Takeaway: Recounting those sources of inspiration is relatively easy. And it’s a good way to get the thought process moving. I hope you’re able to do something similar. But don’t stop at that.

Dig deeper. Much deeper.

When I dig deeper I come face to face and acknowledge a very personal “inspirational secret” to my intense motivation . Today I’m going to share it with you. Here it is:

I’m not “done” yet. I’m still broken. I’m not fixed. And I’ve got some wires still crossed and some internal programming that needs to be, well, reprogrammed. I’ve got a lot of personal development left inside of me. I work on it every day and I still sabotage certain aspects of my success.

This puzzle called “LIFE” makes me curious. I’m continually looking for the pieces to make it complete. And, actually, I hope I never find all of them because -

It’s a lot of fun looking. And that brings us back to the -

“Where Do You Get Your Inspiration ” Challenge.

FYI ACTION IDEA: Write down where your inspiration comes from; what inspires you. Do it some time this week — preferably today, because if you wait you probably won’t do it. It can be as long or short as you want. Brevity is good, but I want you to experience the process so, whatever works for you is cool.

FYI IDEA IN ACTION: Email it to me. You can put it in the body of an email or send it as an attachment in a Word.doc. In fact, I highly recommend creating it as a Word.doc so you can save it in a file on your hard drive for future reference.

The payback for your effort? At least twofold.

#1: For starters, FYI has always meant F or Y our I nformation and I nspiration. So this exercise , even if you do nothing more than read up to this point and consider doing it, will inspire your thinking, guaranteed.

#2: If you’re kind enough - and maybe “inspired” enough — to share “Where You Get Your Inspiration” you can Inform and Influence and maybe even Inspire others. Once I compile all the responses, I am going to put them into some format that works for the newsletter and let you read what inspires other people.

No worries. This recap and summary will be 100% anonymous. I will not publish your name. And if you are one of those people who don’t want anyone to know what juices you (”Paranoid? Me? Who wants to know?”) that’s OK too! Create a nonsense name in a Yahoo or Gmail account and send it off via that source and no one will know who you are, not even me.

Have fun with this. I’m excited to read and get inspired by you!

Now open up that Word.doc and let her rip!