Inspiration without Action?

A while ago, I was inspired by the story of Nick Vujicic. If you don't know who I'm talking about, click here.

His story puts life into perspective and removed any excuses I can ever think of for not pursuing my dream. His courage is amazing. For the first few days, I was moved, excited and motivated.

Predictably, a few days later, life went back to normal.

How many times have we been inspired but failed to follow through?

We felt recharged, energized and ready to go but the weight of real life settles back in and we do nothing.

What's worse is sometimes that inspiration turns to envy as we see others having much less achieving much more. What a bad way to focus our energy.

So, what can we do?

For starters, we should take it easy on ourselves. Don't throw good energy after bad.

Here are 3 things you can do to inspire action:

Step 1 - Restart: Just because you didn't follow through the first time doesn't mean you won't follow through this time. Remember that the past does not predict the future so don't defeat yourself before you even start. Just reset and take the next step.

Step 2 - Renew Commitment: Reclarify the reason for doing what you want to do (insert link). How is it relevant to YOUR life's purpose? Inspire yourself.

Step 3 - Track Your Progress: You get what you measure. If you are not writing down your goals and tracking it on a daily basis, it will be tough for you to get what you want in life. I do my tracking on an excel spreadsheet and I make sure that everyday I'm doing something that is going to bring me closer to my goal.

It's easy to get hung up on whether we're doing the right thing and end up doing nothing. I have my own fits of self-doubt that creep up on me from time to time. What helps me to keep going is realizing that no matter what happens, I will learn something important that will help me achieve what I want. If I'm wrong, I know what not to do. If I'm right, I know what to do more of.

While it's great to be inspired by others, it's time to be our own inspiration by committing to our dreams.