My 2018 Word – Inspire

For the past four years I’ve chosen one word to focus on for the year. This idea was motivated by the book One Word by Jon Gordon. Gordon shares how most New Year’s resolutions fail, while choosing one word works to keep you focused and motivated. Throughout the last few years, I’ve chosen words like Learn, Care and Develop. My wife has joined in and chosen the words Live and Healthy. We’ve even involved our entire staffs and they’ve embraced the idea and “one word” concept as well.

The idea works, especially if you keep it in front of you and hold yourself accountable.

For 2018, I wanted to choose a word that’s been a big part of my life but has never been my main focus. To be honest, I wasn’t ready for this word to be my focus yet. I needed to learn, care and develop more.

But now I’m excited to embrace the word “Inspire” for 2018. It’s what lights me up and makes me feel alive. It’s part of my personal mission and I even opened my book discussing it in my eulogy.

On the surface, inspire sounds like just a cliche word. It sounds like fluff. Something people hope to do but never actually do. Or even if people do inspire, it’s hard to measure.

However, I see Inspire differently. To truly inspire, you need to do a few things very well.

You need to live an inspirational life.
You need to be focused on others.
You need to to be an entertaining and riveting story teller.
You need to put yourself out there and share.

This is something I can measure and I can focus on daily. By focusing on making sure I’m living an inspirational life that is focused on others, that is the starting point. Next, I need to be able to share in way that captures people’s hearts and imaginations.

It’s also important to note that there is a huge difference between inspiration and motivation.
Mainly, motivate is from the outside while inspire is from the inside.
If you are motivated, someone or something is pushing you to do something. If you are inspired, you’ve been reached from the inside. Inspiration has staying power where motivation is short term.

I never want to be just a motivational speaker because after you leave the impact fades. But if you inspire someone, they have the drive to act even after the speaker is gone.

Mainly, I believe if you reach people in their heart and spirit, you make a difference.

Internally, with our teams, I’m going to inspire our people to achieve their goals. I’m going to inspire our people to be the best version of themselves.

On the outside, I’m going to inspire people to stand out and challenge the status quo. I’m going to inspire people to think differently, create their own path and not stand for the 9-5.

I’m going to inspire people to care about others more than themselves.

The root of inspiration is that it is focused on others. This is what inspires me. How can I help people every day achieve their dreams?

That’s why I chose Inspire.

That inspires me.