Daily Inspiration: “Make moments that matter, matter more!”

“Make moments that matter, matter more!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Avoid going on autopilot. Beware the dangers of complacency. Don’t just show up. It’s easy to fall into the trap of routine, the path of laziness, the road of marginal performance.

Put in the work.

In my own case, I’ve had moments where I’m not terribly proud of the effort I gave to something – where I didn’t put in the work, but instead, simply showed up.

I’ve been out on stage for close to 30 years at this point in time. Heck, when I started out, Powerpoint didn’t yet exist, and I used 35mm slides in a carousel. And I know as I look back at some of those years that I didn’t give each performance my best. I know for a time that I hated the road life, the travel, the complexities, the challenges. It began to wear on me, tore a hold inside my passion, and began to impact my work. I wish I could take some of those events back and give them another go!

But I also know that the last six years have seen some of my best work ever, both in terms of the scope of the research I’ve done and my ability to hold the audience in the palms of my motivation.

I guess I decided somewhere along the way to give each and every keynote my maximum effort. It shows in the video clips that I’ve been assembling since. I’m proud to say that I’ve mastered the moment, making each and every moment matter more – which was the original version of today’s quote!

Some years back, I wrote this:

Don’t be overwhelmed by the challenge, intimidated by the effort, nor complacent about the complexity of the voyage. Instead, be inspired by your passion for the purpose, the ultimate goal of the project, always in awe of the impact of your efforts!

We always have those moments when we are struggling with some challenges. Deep inside, we might have a lot of passion for our purpose but will find that our enthusiasm has waned. It’s not uncommon – you can be wildly successful, and yet deep inside, you can lose your spark and struggle with your efforts. It can cause you some deep pain to see your enthusiasm wane and witness the impact of a marginal effort. If that is the essence of our DNA, then it becomes soul-crushing to see our flame dim, become less bright – or in the worst case, become extinguished.

The goal at that point is to figure out how to ‘bring it back.’ That means searching deep inside to rediscover your original passion and our purpose. It involves jumping back to see the world as bigger than ourselves and learning to love again the challenge of change.

This is why when things get to this point, it’s best to regroup, rethink and reimagine our potential, our ideas, and our actions.

So that we can once again, master the moment so it matters.