I came across the words ‘Inspiration is Perishable‘ recently in my reading and they struck me as words of wisdom that sound so obvious and self explanatory.
After a bit of research, I found its source in a book titled ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson published in 2010.
Let’s dive in to understand this in more detail, starting with the meanings of the words used.
Inspiration refers to ‘the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.‘
Perishable refers to things’ likely to decay or go bad quickly.‘ Foodstuffs like milk, vegetables can meat can go bad if not stored correctly or after some time.
Inspiration is Perishable
Everyone has ideas
Everyone has ideas – you, me, and everyone else on this planet. We have ideas all the time.
How many of these ideas get converted into reality? Our experience tells us that very few transition from brain waves, or even paper, into the real world.
Why is this the case? Because unless we start doing something about, unless we take action on it, our brilliant idea remains just that, an idea.
Actions to convert ideas into reality are scarce
Though there is no scarcity of good ideas in this world; however, the willingness and the drive to act on ideas and convert them into reality is pretty scarce.
Think about a scenario where you had an idea, and you felt strongly about doing something about it. Did you act immediately on the idea, or did you take time to mull it over and think it through?
If you think back, you will realize that the ideas you acted on immediately, or as soon after the brain wave struck, were the ones that eventually saw the light of the day. The ones that you wanted to think through and took your time to act upon most likely are still sitting in your brain (or paper) or quite often forgotten.
This is what Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson said about inspiration in their book.
We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever. What doesn’t last forever is inspiration.
Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: It has an expiration date.
If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can’t just say you’ll do it later. Later, you won’t be pumped up about it anymore.
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson, Rework
Act immediately on inspiration
It is not sufficient to have an idea; you have to act when you are feeling inspired and motivated. When you feel inspired, you will have drive, focus, and momentum with you that will make you work harder and smarter to convert the idea into reality.
Once you lose that moment of inspiration, it is difficult to regain it. The inspiration will fade away into nothingness and possibly convert into regret later in life.
Learning to recognize that moment of inspiration and acting on it is a skill that will get better the more you do it. When you are feeling inspired (that strong urge at the back of your mind to do something about it), just work on the part that is the most exciting. Leave the mundane details or the boring parts to be tackled later.
Mark Manson in his self-help guide The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck writes:
Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s also the cause of it.
Inspiration is the source of action, but action and the momentum and result it produces can, in turn, become the source of further inspiration. Thus resulting in a virtuous cycle.
Inspiration is perishable. Act on it immediately.
I used the inspiration from reading these words to write this article immediately. 🙂
What are you inspired to do after reading this article?
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson
Key messages from Rework
- ‘What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.’ This is so true. Words are just vapour unless converted into action.
- When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.
- ‘Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day; they use it up. The real hero is home because she figured out a faster way.’ This is so true in corporate culture. Inefficiency, long working hours are interpreted as commitment and dedication.
- ‘If circumstances change, your decisions can change. Decisions are temporary.’ There’s nothing sacrosanct about decisions. John Maynard Keynes said something similar, ‘If facts change, I will change my mind.’
- ‘Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier.’
- Culture is action, not words.
- ‘Limited resources force you to make do with what you’ve got. There’s no room for waste. And that forces you to be creative.’ Start ups prove this day in day out.
- Starting a business on the side while keeping your day job can provide all the cash flow you need.
- The longer something takes, the less likely it is that you’re going to finish it.
- ‘Writing is today’s currency for good ideas.’
- Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand.
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