photo credit: me

I believe every person should live life thoughtfully, being fully who you are, fully aware of your gifts and fully using them. (Okay, I will not stuff the word ‘fully’ into any more sentences. Scouts honor). Here’s my top 10 ways that I keep myself inspired to go and get the life I want…

1. Read Often. Read Broadly.

Books

Dave Ramsey is so forward as to say that if you only read fiction you are probably on the losing path. Nowadays, it’s downright easy to read just about anywhere. Take advantage of your local library – hello, free?!?! Lately, I’ve been adoring my Kindle. I got the cheapest one that’s only a reader, not touch screen so that I wouldn’t be tempted to play Angry Birds on it all day. It only reads! It was $79 and well worth the investment.

Blogs

Read niche blogs on the areas you want to grow in. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with learning about blog growth, marketing and writing. I keep a bookmark folder in my Firefox toolbar, and about once a week I go through and catch up. I also use Feedler Pro, an iphone app which keeps all the blogs I read in RSS available and organized at my finger tips.

I’m trying to get into blogs about keeping a cleaner, less cluttered house. Lord knows, I need it.

Ebooks

Many niche bloggers create really wonderful ebooks. Either they offer them for free or .99 cents. Download the PDF and you can email the PDF to your Kindle account. (You’ll need to set up a kindle account, even if you don’t have an actual Kindle). At this point, you can read the ebook on a Kindle app on your iphone, ipad, ipod OR your computer screen. You don’t need a Kindle to take advantage of many inspiring nearly free ebooks. Right now, I’m reading the -free- ebook, Engagement From Scratch by the marvelous Danny Iny.

2. Listen to Inspiring Podcasts.

I use an iphone app called instacast for all my podcasts. That way I don’t need to bother with itunes and downloading and hooking and synching, etc. (one headache after another if you ask me). You open up Instacast and choose which podcasts to listen to.

My absolute most inspiring podcast is The Entreleadership podcast: Lessons from Dave Ramsey on business, team building and leadership.

My second favorite podcast is TED Talks (audio) – Motivational and inspiring leaders from around the globe sharing their stories and wisdom in a very engaging way.

My third favorite podcast is The Moth – Regular old average joe’s sharing personal stories of love and loss with wit and humor set in a bar like setting in New York City, Atlanta & Detroit. It’s fascinating and always makes me want to be a better person.

I also love This American Life, WNYC’s Radio Lab, Dave Ramseys podcast on money & Stuff You Should Know.

3. Listen to Audiobooks when you don’t have the time to sit and read.

I travel quite a bit for my job, both air and car so I love listening to audiobooks to get a little of that extra “reading” time in. I’ve also grown quite fond of listening to audiobooks while I’m cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping or vacuuming.

Audible, also has an iphone app, so you can download right from the app skipping the itunes part all together. What I love about Audible is that you buy 1 or 2 credits each month to “spend.” You can buy a $8.95 book with one credit or you can buy a $42.95 book for that credit.

My favorite inspiring listens on Audiobook have been:

David Allen’s Getting Things Done – an inspiring way to organize your life which I still have yet to master.

Chris Gardener’s The Pursuit of Happyness – an inspiring rags to riches against all odds story.

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers – how to be the best. period.

…and many more.

And of course you can read my post on my my favorite 8 books or series, Audible Audiobooks of 2011.

4. Read the Bible

Even if you have never read it before. Start with the books Matthew, Mark, Luke or John which focus on Jesus, who was and is ultimately the most inspiring person of all time.

5. Search for Inspiring Images on Pinterest

Or anywhere for that matter. Pinterest has made it easy to bring like-minded people together. For example, today I did a search for “inspire,” “inspiring,” & “inspired.”

I came up with this. And this…

If your not quite a visual learner, word art and beautiful pictures may not inspire you as much, but I’d suggest you try it at least once.

6. Subscribe to Inspiring Bloggers

As a blogger, I’ll give it to ya straight, yo: most of us want to be read, faithfully. We want to produce material that will grow, give hope to and inspire YOU. We want to be trusted enough with your email address and have no desire to spam you. All that said, when I find a really inspiring blogger (for whatever reason it may be) I subscribe to get their blog posts delivered right to my inbox doorstep.

If I inspire you, please by all means, head on up to the top right and subscribe by email. I would love it. Reader engagement is way high up there on my list of reasons I blog consistently.

An inspiring blogger I follow faithfully is Danielle LaPorte who regularly blogs about freedom, compassion, truth, liberation in a captivating way.

…and many others. The great thing about email is it allows you to eat the meat, spit out the bones. Quickly.

7. Go and do. Try Something New.

I once heard someone say (I think it was Zig Ziglar) “make a plan and then implement like hell.” But at least try. That’s what I’m doing with blogging, that’s what I’m doing with book writing. I’m at least getting out into the race and trying. As it turns out, I love doing them both. I tried to be a marathoner. I ran the marathon, finishing at the snails pace of 5:45! I realized I didn’t love running long distances. I enjoy running for exercise anywhere between 2-6 miles. After that, it’s not fun for me. But I tried, and I found a strength within myself that was seriously empowering, y’all!

So. Go and do. You think you might want to paint, act, provide fresh water to African babies, write a book, be a stand-up comedian or keep a beautiful home. Give it a shot! And don’t finish implementing the plan until after your pre-set agreed upon time that you will stop.

8. Pray for Inspiration

Ask God. You don’t even need to get down on your knees, just speak out your prayer to God and ask for help and inspiration. Ask God what your gifts are. Ask God to show you how to make this world a better place. Ask God for the courage to take that first, second or third overwhelming step.

9. Push through Lethargy

If your going to use your gifts, you are going to have to practice. I would even venture to say, your going to have to fail. I mentioned a few weeks ago just how many times I failed, lost a writing competition or been rejected. Not only that, I often feel lazy, overwhelmed by my messy house, messy marriage or downright depression. In those times, I’ve needed to DIG DEEP to find out what I’m made of. Ultimately, I have to choose push through lethargy. And so do you.

Often, what zings me out of inspirational-apathy is sharing. Giving money, giving my time, giving my energy to other people. Seeing others benefit from my gifts —even the simple ones like keeping the house cleaner for my ADD husband— can be so helpful in my overall attitude towards life.

10. Write it Down!

Many studies have shown that people who write down their goals and dreams are elleventy-billion more times to be inspired to carry them out than those who don’t write them down. So. Sit down with a piece of paper as you pray and start writing out your dreams in small doable, attainable steps.

Many carry journals. Because I’m often on the go and inspiration strikes at random, I use an iphone app called Evernote, which syncs to my ipad and laptop all day. I also spend 3-4 hours a week journaling out my thoughts, prayers, dreams, hopes, and woes all over the pages of the many journals I’ve filled in the last 17 years or so. (Confession: I wrote this post into my Evernote app last night under the covers while trying to push through the boredom of insomnia. Not even kidding).

A few years ago when I was reading The Artists Way, the author asks you to write on paper something that you aspire to. She asks you to write it in sentence form ten times. I found the exercise to be redonkulously difficult to do. I kind of laughed at it, embarrassed and red in the face, hot in ears, struggling to put pen to paper. After ten long minutes I finally got myself to write it down:

Grace Biskie is a New York Times Best Selling Author

Let me tell you, it was a POWERFUL exercise. I have thought about it many times since then. Eventually the idea burrowed itself in my head like a worm burrowing into the ground. I thought to myself, “well if this is ever going to be true I may as well get started!”

If you are anything like me you may be wondering, ‘but what if you never become a NYC best selling author or what if I never live out my dreams the way I imagined them?’

Fair enough. Let me ask you this?

Are we going to be any poorer for trying to be live better or work harder all while inspiring ourselves to be better people?

Chances are no. It’s the journey, y’all that counts. In the cliche-words of someone really famous: It’s the Climb.

Get Inspired. The world is waiting for YOU! It’s waiting for your greatest gifts and desires to collide with it’s greatest needs.

Fist bump, (of the you-can-do-this variety)

So. Which of these things can you incorporate in your life today? Let me know in the comments. What do you struggle with? Is there anything I can help you with? Leave it in the comments & I WILL answer you. Scouts honor (again, I know).

And if you enjoyed or were inspired by this post SHARE it on Twitter, facebook or pin it. Share the inspiration, dahling. =)