The Inspiration Effect: Your Role Models Are Merely a Reflection

I don’t subscribe to many email newsletters anymore, but I received one last week that really made an impact on me.

It was from a coach I look up to and he was talking about a message he’d received from one of his readers telling him that his work was inspiring.

This email was really resonated with me as I’ve received several similar messages since getting back into my own writing over the past few weeks (side note: thank you!).

But here’s the funny thing about inspiration: The reason we feel inspired by certain people (whether fictional characters or real people) is that we see a part of ourselves in them that’s begging to come out.

It’s the reason we shout for the underdog, stay glued to the edge of our seat hoping the hero will make it out alive, or feel pumped up after watching motivational videos or entrepreneurial success stories.

Or, as this coach put it: “We are only inspired by what we have the unexpressed capacity for ourselves.”

In other words, if someone inspires you, it means that same characteristic you admire is ready and waiting to come out for you, too. If you’re feeling it, it’s in there already.

So… Who inspires you?

And what exactly is it about them that inspires you?

Now, what tiny action can you take to express more of that thing right now, today? Remember, come from the place you want to get to.

I mentioned yesterday how my wife thinks I’m a robot. She also thinks I’m a world-class Facebook stalker. When I find someone who inspires me, I start learning everything I can about them, with the aim of adopting whatever habits I think would be helpful.

Success leaves clues.

I’ll read their books, listen to their podcast, watch their Instagram stories, browse their website and basically get to a point where I can speak about them like we’ve already met.

Sometimes, it leads to actually befriending them. Then, by building this relationship, I’m able to see how much closer I am to actually expressing the thing that inspires me about them.

So again, who inspires you? 

What is it about them that inspires you?

How can you absorb everything you can about them and bring out that characteristic in yourself?

If your answer to the first question was me (again, thank you), then I encourage you to dig into my previous work. Read my articles. Listen to my 100+ podcast episodes. Listen to interviews I’ve done on other shows. Hang out with me @bryanteare everywhere on social media. Or reach out to me directly.

And, if that evolves into a relationship that inspires you, then our conversations could be the thing that brings out the superhero inside of you that’s begging to come out.