Daily Inspiration #1000! – “Oddly enough, you might one day discover that your very own personal reinvention was actually to be found in your efforts to help reinvent those around you!”

“Oddly enough, you might one day discover that your very own personal reinvention was actually to be found in your efforts to help reinvent those around you!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

A milestone, of sorts. This is post #1,000 of what has become my “Daily Inspiration”. You can find them all right here:

https://jimcarroll.com/category/daily-inspiration/

and here:

Daily Inspiration – Unique Trends, Motivation and Innovation Insight from Futurist Jim Carroll

Way back in late July 2016. it became painfully obvious to me that I was nearing burnout; a personal crisis made it blunt to me that I needed to reinvent myself, recharge my batteries, and refocus my future. I loved my life on the stage – I hated the travel. I lived for the moments to explore with a client some unique future oriented topic – I dreaded the process of getting to the event. I was inspired by the future I was discovering and talking about on stage – I was horrified by the future I was creating for myself. I lived for the evenings – I hated the mornings.

I needed to find some steps to lead me out of this conundrum – and knew that if I could reinvent my mindset, I could reinvent my future.

And so one workday morning in August, I took one of my most memorable career pictures, and put a little quote on it.

I think that was what I was thinking at the time – in love with the continued potential of my career, I had hated what it had become. I had been invited in to speak to NASA (twice) and was in awe of my accomplishment; I knew that my opportunity to reach for the stars once again was slipping away if I did not take a step each and every day to better myself.

And so with that simple post, my “Daily Inspiration” began. The mere process of putting those thoughts to ‘paper,’ so to speak, proved to be cathartic. A few days later, I did it again – I took a photo from one of my stage presentations, and wrapped a little personal quote to it. Something that resonated with what I was feeling inside ; something that came deep from my soul; something that perhaps I was trying to tell myself.

That provided me a bit of an inspiration hit!

So I did it again the next morning. And the next. And the next.

And so here we are – with 1,000 of these small little efforts that have become my morning mediation, my daily chance to prepare myself for my day, my moment to think about what it is I am trying to do and who I am trying to be true to. Almost 4 years in, these daily quotes have become a big part of who I am today. Someone who continues to be inspired by the opportunity to potentially inspire others; motivated by my moment to maybe motivate others; to realign others who might potentially need some realignment in their future.

I have not missed ONE SINGLE POST in this entire span of time. I have worked on my ‘daily post’ while in the air over the Atlantic on the way to Dubai and Oman; over the Pacific on my way to Tokyo for an event; I’ve been thinking about what I might say the next morning while riding on a camel in Morocco, on a golf course at Torrey Pines, while visiting a shrine in Kyoto – or putting together a short little broadcast in my home studio.

I seem to have become obsessed by my ongoing effort to turn my thoughts or observations into guidance – a good friend of mine would often give me a knowing look when he saw me thinking about what he was saying, and knowing that he would see it appear in my “Daily Inspiration” the very next morning. My family will become most annoyed with me when I bolt from the dinner table to write down a thought that just exposed into my head. I’ve literally paused in the middle of the golf course to email myself a nugget of inspirational lightning that just crossed my path.

Along the way, I began to discover that my “Daily Inspiration” was actually making its way into hearts and minds and souls of other people. It comes as a shock to me every time I receive an email, observe a comment, or get some reaction and know that someone, my tiny little nugget of insight has managed to help to get someone else through their day and into a new future.

But wait! There’s more! A few of the quotes actually made their way into my latest book, released in January, which seems to have sunk into a stone of oblivion because of a global pandemic and economic collapse. Whatever – the fact that this odd little voyage led to my 38th book is itself a fascinating thing!

So what does it all mean? I probably really have no idea. All I know is that when you find what works, you stick with it. You do it. You repeat it. One day at a time!