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Key points
- Inspiration represents the beginning of a process. It isn’t always pragmatic.
- Experiences that make others feel good can sometimes be used for manipulative purposes.
- If someone inspiring only seems to be interested in spreading their message, you may want to be skeptical of their intentions.
The word ‘inspiration’ and its variants are common in the workplace, sometimes included as the topic of a poster on breakroom walls, other times as memes in virtual workspaces and work-oriented social media, such as LinkedIn. The very word feels light and airy and is a favorite choice of senior management and those who are at a minimum attempting to lead a team of workers.
The beauty of inspiration is that it tends to capture the idea phase or the beginning of a perceived project or need for change, and in this phase anything is possible. This is no doubt why being inspired feels so good; there can be answers to everything without actually as yet doing anything. And herein lies the problem; inspiration, while providing a feel-good buzz, is not really pragmatic, other than it only being the start of a process. It’s a tiny piece of doing anything, but it feels the best, perhaps even better than the eventual accomplishment of the project. The grind of completing the project or self-development is not as enjoyable.
The feel-good buzz is precisely why inspiration has a dark side. Anything that can make a person feel good could be used as a tool to manipulate (think love bombing). People like to be inspired, and so when they come into contact with somebody who wants to inspire them, this person is let into their life and scrutiny is suspended in favor of finding meaning in the inspirer’s words. This gives the inspirer a great deal of power, not just in the number of followers but the potential monetary gain from this. And remember: Inspiring isn’t necessarily doing anything, but making you feel warm, fuzzy, and capable.
In addition, those who actively want to inspire others should be viewed with a healthy degree of suspicion. For a person to find inspiration on their own while on their own personal journey is a rich and rewarding experience, and makes their story more interesting to others. These stories should be shared with the message that with time spent in solitude and self-reflection, problems can be overcome if you continue and remain active on your journey of self-discovery. To have somebody try to shoehorn in their beliefs or what works for them into another person’s experience is tawdry and parasitic. What inspires a person is part of that person’s story, and is all the more magical if it is only shared with loved ones and confidants – not sold to everyone at a price. It doesn’t really matter if 99.9% of the world does not know what inspires you; let yourself be a privileged mystery and enjoy it.
If the willingness to be inspired also only goes one way, it should also be viewed with suspicion. If the inspirer’s position or message appears intransigent, their only interest in their audience is in spreading their message. If they are unwilling to be inspired by others, then they are not really interested in the person they are hoping to influence. Making somebody feel good while simultaneously not really being interested in them is exactly how to use people for one’s own ends. So, maybe it’s best to treat inspiration like love. If you are experiencing it with yourself, embrace it. If it is with another, make sure it is not unrequited.
