You often hear these two words, inspiration and motivation, used interchangeably. But they are significantly different. Abraham discusses this and I had never really differentiated them before hearing it from him.

Motivation comes from the external, outside of you; inspiration comes from within – it’s internal.

Which do you think is more powerful?

Take this picture for example. When you hit bottom, people can cheer and jump up and down yelling at you to get up and keep going (think “Drill Sergeant” or perhaps “volunteer” 🙂 ). Think about this situation. Would that make you get up and bounce right back into the fray? It might help but what will really get you back up and raring to go is what’s inside of you – what’s driving you to keep going.

Think of Diana Nyad who right now is almost 24 hours into her swim of about 103 miles. This is probably not even 1/3 of the way – swimming continuously, no stops (has to tread water to eat and drink), no sleep, no rest, nothing! You and I got to go to sleep last night. Or even if we were good friends and wanted to continue to track her, we would not be exerting every muscle of our body over and over again with no end in sight.  Do you think that the motivation that Diana is receiving from her support team and friends is enough to keep her going through such fatigue, hallucinations, pain, exhaustion, etc? Heck no! That would never be sufficient to get her to “bounce back up” or keep going. Of course it helps and is actually vital in someone’s success.

However, this kind of drive comes from within – deep within. It has to come from within or otherwise there is absolutely not definitive reason to put yourself through all this. Even love can’t provide that much inspiration. But when you combine love with a dream, there is NO stopping you at all. That is what is driving Diana. This is a dream she has held within and cultivated for 35+ years.  Think of wine and how valuable it is when it’s aged. People cherish it and know how much it means. There’s no difference with this. Diana’s dream has been planted, marinated, loved, nurtured and even brought out to see if it was “ready” for fulfillment (her other attempts). But it wasn’t ready to be put out there as complete. Now it is. And it will be her internal inspiration more than anything else that will get her across the Ocean. She has pulled out all the stops to conquer those darn Box Jellyfish and now is her time.

Take today to look within and find out what your true desire and inspiration is.

Go Diana, Go!

Terrie