A Better Question
Guest Blog by Scott Mautz
Originally Published on LinkedIn
The question to ask yourself, in fact, is not “What inspires me?”
Instead, real insight and application lies in the question, “How did I lose my inspiration
in the first place?”
Remember, we all had it – we started our jobs filled with inspiration. As I mentioned before, we didn’t even have to think about it really, it was just there, everywhere, like half-finished highway construction.
What happened?
How might we return to that blissful time?
When we closely analyze how it is that we tend to lose our inspiration, it reveals root causes lying under the surface that have been slowly draining our inspiration over time. Such causes derail us from all the most critical things which can self-sustain inspiration.
Furthermore, such analysis engenders more control because, when known, the root causes are things that you can do something about – so inspiration no longer has to seem so passive, elusive, or repressed.
That’s why “How did I lose my inspiration in the first place?” is such a powerful question – a question for which the answer, and its implications, will inspire you.
The Muse
Before examining this vital question, let me return for just a moment to the related but less potent question of “What inspires us?” The forces behind our inspiration have long been debated and are often shrouded in mystery. In fact, early accounts on the source of our inspiration actually linked it to madness. Socrates labeled inspiration as “a state of manic possession or enthusiasm.” Other early interpretations of inspiration attributed it to the unconscious mind, while still others linked it to the supernatural. Still others have linked it to Lionel Richie.
A more universally known explanation comes to us from Greek and Roman mythology. Zeus and Mnemosyne had nine daughters: nine goddesses who each presided over different factions of art and science. Legend goes that these daughters serve as the spirit or source that inspires an artist. You may know the goddesses by their stage name – The Nine Muses. You’ve probably heard of an artist “waiting for his muse” to gift him with the inspiration required to create and discover. The Nine Muses are so effective at dumping inspiration into the heads of artists that they need their own warehouse for the net output – the “museum”. The word “music” also comes from these mythological maidens.
Now, to blow your mind.
What if there were not only such muses at work in the real world, but there were counterforces at work as well? What if there were powerful forces laboring to actually kill our inspiration?
There are.
And guess what?
There are nine of them.
These forces aren’t goddesses, though.
They’re fiends.
And they’re hell-bent on stripping your work life of inspiration.
They are The Anti-Muse.
The Anti-Muse
I’ve discovered there are indeed such evil forces at work – but knowledge brings hope. Once you’re aware of and understand these inspiration sappers you can address them and foster the conditions that will reignite your inspiration at work - and sustain it.
Read Find the Fire to learn about the Nine Anti-Muses and how to be equip for them.
About Scott Mautz
Scott is the CEO of Profound Performance – a keynote, workshop, coaching, and online training company that helps you “Work, Lead, & Live Fulfilled”. He is also a Procter & Gamble veteran who ran several of the company’s largest multi-billion dollar businesses, including their single largest, a $3 Billion Dollar division. At P&G, Scott consistently transformed business results and organizational/cultural health scores along with it.
Author of upcoming book, Find the Fire: Ignite Your Inspiration and Make Work Exciting Again, and award-winning keynote speaker and author of Make it Matter: How Managers Can Motivate by Creating Meaning, a book that’s been named “The 2016 Leadership Book of the Year – First Runner Up” by Leadership & Management Books and a “Best 30 Book of the Year” by Soundview Business Books.