I just finished reading Rework on my back patio this afternoon (weather is unbelievable today).  Great book - ultimate page turner.  Its 250+ pages but very short chapters and many illustrations keep the content concise and impactful.  Rather than drone on with a long review about the book and what impact it had on me, Im just going to sum it up with the short “conclusion” chapter from the text because I dont know that anything I could type in this space would describe it better for you. 

We all have ideas.  Ideas are immortal.  They last forever. 

What doesnt last forever is inspiration.  Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: it has an expiration date. 

If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now.  You can’t put it on the shelf and wait two months to get around to it.  You can’t just say you’ll do it later.  Later, you wont be pumped up about it anymore. 

If you are inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project.  When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in 24 hours.  Inspiration is a time machine in that way. 

Inspiration is magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator.  But, it wont wait for you.  Inspiration is a now thing.  If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work. 

Period. End of Story!

I found this video compilation of Will Smith on another Blog.  I’d never seen this side of him before.  There are a lot of great one-liners in this video.  Take some time to watch this video - its refreshing. 

Seth Godin Writes a Great Daily Blog. If you dont read it, you should check it out.

Today he wrote a short but great article - I Don’t Feel Like It …

What’s it?

Why do you need to feel like something in order to do the work? They call it work because it’s difficult, not because it’s something you need to feel like.

Very few people wake up in the morning and feel like taking big risks or feel like digging deep for something that has eluded them. People don’t usually feel like pushing themselves harder than they’ve pushed before or having conversations that might be uncomfortable.

Of course, your feelings are irrelevant to whether or not the market expects great work. Do the work. Ignore the feelings part and the work will follow.

One of my favorite authors and speakers, Matthew Kelly, always says that our culture teaches us to judge an activity by how we feel when we start it.  As a result we usually end up avoiding doing the things we know will have the biggest impact on our lives because we rarely “feel like” doing them.

We rarely feel like it because its difficult.  Self discipline is not fun, its not sexy.  Naturally those things we dont feel like doing usually provide the most satisfaction and the greatest rewards once we actually take initiative and actually “do it.”

Challenge Yourself Today.

I know we are a bit past the point where information about this game is still relevant.  However, I was so struck by his conviction during the post game hoopla, and Im not easily struck by that kind of stuff.

Its usually very easy for me to tell those that actually believe what they are saying and those that are just paying lip service. I think that I probably would have said something similar to what Colt said after the game but I dont know that I would have really meant it in my heart.  I believe he did.

Ive been waiting for someone to write this article.  The fact that it is written by an Alabama fan gives it even more impact.

Enough Said