During our inspiration session last week, the guy who was leading the session, Martijn, asked Tribe 4 & 5 three questions to help us create our own inspiring story.
First question was What drives you?
What do you do that gives you energy while doing it. What do you do that makes you be in the moment and in a state of flow?
Everyone in the room had to write down what drove them. Then we shared them with everyone. Tom said something really that hit me before we all started to share. He said there’s no reason to be ashamed of the things that drive you so there’s no reason to be afraid to share. I think his line goes with basically every situation when you feel vulnerable. There is no reason to be ashamed of who you are and sharing what’s important to you. Shame is what holds us back from getting what we want and need in life. I could go on but that’s not my topic today.
Ok here are my drivers in my life currently…
- Inspiring people
- People who go after their dreams
- People who choose to be themselves and not let society stop/deny them from being themselves
- Possibility
- Wanting to live a remarkable life
- Fear of being mediocre
- Helping others achieve their dreams/goals/live a remarkable life
- Change
- Adventure
- Laughter-connection with others
- Challenges
- Creating something from nothing and reaching the goal
- Learning/curiosity
- Seeing what my limitations are mentally and physically
- Feeling of bliss
I read these now and I feel good about them. I wrote on my paper for this questions, “I feel like I’m missing an important one.” I did add more once I heard what drove others (the power of sharing). After I read mine, Martijn thought for a moment and said, “Sounds like you want to be a coach.” AHHHHH interesting observation and I do but I don’t. Again, another blog post.
2nd question was Who do I want to be?
Warning, this is a long list because my brain is not good at regurgitating adjectives (and feelings and needs for that matter) so I searched on my iPhone a list of 1100 adjectives. Here are the ones that I want to be.
- loving
- vulnerable
- open
- courageous
- independent
- grateful
- clever/witty
- helpful
- peaceful/calm
- tender
- powerful
- funny
- kind
- gentle
- charming
- classy*
- spontaneous
- focused
- creative
- successful
- confident
- positive
- responsible
- serene
- inspiring
- honest
- abundant
- acceptable
- adaptable
- adventurous
- fearless
- healthy
- fit
- strong
- encouraging
- enthusiastic/energetic
- outgoing
- knowledgeable
- initiating
- giving
- happy
- action taker/doer
- free
- accountable
- emotional/expressive
- compassionate
- affectionate
There are probably more because I only got to the letter K in the list but it feels good to have a starting list. The 1 adjective that seems the hardest for me is vulnerability so I’m making more of an effort to be vulnerable. I watched the TED talk about vulnerability again on yesterday and I grabbed a great quote from it.
What makes you vulnerable makes you beautiful.
This is what people who embrace vulnerability believe according to the research done by the speaker. Maybe this will be the first tattoo I get (haha kidding mom).
Martijn’s suggestion was to put this list by your toilet so every time you go to the bathroom you are reminded of who you want to be and are. I am going to tape them up after I get done with this post.
*The whole room laughed when I said classy which was funny (2 points for being something that I want to be) but also it makes me wonder what vibe I’m giving out to the world. It may have to do with the fact that I wear yoga sports wear every day. Or that I can be a goofball. Can’t you be it all? Can’t I be a living paradox. Maybe it’s the Gemini in me.
The 3rd question was Where do I want to go?
This is the toughest question for me to answer right now but it helped to be forced to think about it.
I want to…
- Be in a place where I can go and do anything. Where money isn’t a problem.
- Be in a loving relationship
- Inspire others to live a remarkable and courageous life
- Create a company that moves people and has a social impact
- Travel to countries and create adventures
- Move a group of people into greatness
- Be living freely (I think what I meant was having the freedom to do what I want but who knows)
- Push my body to the limits mentally and physically
- Be surrounded by a loving community
So there you have it. 3 questions to ask yourself to create your own inspiring story.
Was I inspired after this? In terms of writing about it yes. I thought these were 3 great questions. I also found myself getting lots of energy from it so yes I was inspired. Listening to other people’s dreams get’s me excited, energized, and inspired to think bigger in terms of what I want out of my life. I actually found myself participating in Power Hour (where we clean all of Knowmads) right off the bat and cleaning way more than I usually do. Had to do something with all that energy!
The most important thing I got out of this day was Martijn’s definition of success.
Success = being able to create the world around you that you want
Maybe I’ll create one of those motivational posters that you see all over Pinterest with this quote. Just a thought.
This is not the motivational poster 😉
kristin goes knowmadic 