Who inspires you ?

The life coach, Fiona Buckland, ask a question in her self-reflection website. “Who inspires you?”.

It is, without doubt, a very difficult question to answer. For me, I vaguely remember being inspired by characters in science fiction television programs and books. So I guess an inspirational figure for me would be the star trek enterprise’s Scientist, Mr Spock. Perhaps chief engineer?Montgommery Scotty would be more appropriate seeing as we are both problem solvers.

Who inspires you ? As is vogue I looked for answers on the internet and came across a webpage on interview advise and how to answer this popular question. They suggest answering with Mother Theresa because she was compassionate, kind humanitarian.

Perhaps, they suggest, you answer with Albert Einstein, the great scientist who overcame obstacles, prejudice and?managed to turn the world of physics on its head.

There is always the ‘heart warming’ answer of mother, or father which brings an element of homely family feeling to the question.?All appropriate answers but do they really honestly answer the question for you ? Do you really spring up in the morning and think, ‘Ah another glorious day to work on my quantum ?’

So where do we go to find the answer that is most appropriate to us personally ? In my case the answer came from a misdirected train ride. The usual story of a ‘northern line’ train being diverted to the other track and a personal choice to walk the thirty minutes to the office. As I walked I asked myself who inspires me and I came back with the following thoughts.?

There are these two people. One person is a lazy arse. Drinks too much, smokes too much. Wastes too much time watching nonsense on the internet. YouTube, Netflix, prime. Never does any exercise. Never spends time with family.

The other person is someone who is working towards his life goal of becoming a writer. They created a dozen or so articles and stories per month. They eat sensibly and exercise in a worthwhile and pleasant way. They have not wasted their valuable time on nonsense. The drink but they do it in moderation. They do not binge. They have a list of goals and they work ever day on achieving these goals. They have projects they enjoy working on. They are living the dream.

Out of these two people, who would be an inspiration to you ? Who would you want to be like ? ?

Both of these people appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Perhaps most people would like to be the later of these two. The one who has a goal and direction in life. They inspire.? Now let me tell you that these two people are the two potential extreme versions of you in the future.?Everyone has the potential to be either of these two extremes. While it is true that fate has a strong influence on which of them they will be come, we all have the power to change our fate.

The person who inspires you the most should the ideal extreme version of yourself in the future. Imagine yourself being the ideal version. In six months you look back on yourself. You remember how you went from where you were then to where you are now. ?