I hang with a lot of business owners and professional coaches, and one complaint I hear constantly is:
 
 
I want to [write / blog / speak onstage / start a podcast / start a webTV series / make an e-course / etc] but it’s so hard to sit down and make it happen when I’m not feeling “inspired.” Ugh!
 
 
I get it.
 
Eight years, when I started my coaching practice, I behaved like a lot of people do.
 
I waited for inspiration to “strike.”
 
I waited for my “muse” to show up.
 
I waited for “brilliance” to rain down upon my head.
 
I did an awful lot of waiting.
 
And not a lot of creating.
 
I learned, quickly, that “waiting for inspiration to strike” leads to a whole lot of nothing.
 
Inspiration is everywhere, everyday.
 
Because your best material is: your life!
 
You don’t have to wait for it. You just have to live it — and capture the stories as they happen.
 
Wondering what I mean by “capture the stories”?
 
Three examples:
 
1. You feel like screaming because you’re stuck in traffic. You’re about to give some “idiot” the finger. But then you use one of your yoga-breathing techniques to calm down and get zen, again.
 
Bingo! That’s a story you can tell on your blog — right before you share the breathing technique that got you “om” in one piece.
 
 
2. The guy you’re seeing cancels a date. Your “lizard brain” starts spinning, making up stories about how you’re so undesirable. Panic takes hold. You’re reaching for that pint of chunky-monkey ice cream. But then you remember a coaching exercise that helps you to clear the fear and treat yourself with love.
 
Boom! Tell that story on your podcast — and then spill the exercise that saved you from a night of self-sabotage with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
 
 
3. Your kid makes an incredible painting and shows it to you, proudly. You’re overwhelmed with emotion. Later, you realize it’s because your kid has no fear. She just does… exactly what she wants to do. She creates exactly what she wants to create. No drama. No excuses. No holding back. You realize, “There’s a big lesson to be learned, here.”
 
Zing! Share that story — and that lesson — in your next e-book. Along with some tips to help grown-ups live courageously, too.
 
 
To recap:
 
Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. You’ll be waiting a very long time.
 
Just live your life — and when moments arrive that move you, shake you up, remind you of something you’d forgotten, or teach you a valuable lesson, jot down a few notes or record a quick voice memo on your phone.
 
Those moments are your best stories… your most unique material… the gold that your audience is waiting for.
 
Capture it. Share it. Give it to the world.
 
Now that’s inspiring.

Susan