On being inspired

It’s easy to feel quite isolated from world happenings – and even though that’s desirable from time to time, rural southern Australia does seem a long way away sometimes. And it’s also easy to be despondent, fearful even, with all the doom and gloom predictions abounding. My antidotes are many – lose myself in a book, walk on the beach, spend time with those I love, learn something new, and be inspired.

I think it’s important for small businesses to invest in the business – that’s what all the pundits say anyway. And seeing as my business is moi, I signed up as a TED associate, giving me an opportunity to watch this year’s TED Conference live on the web. Why? To learn, to feel connected, and to be inspired. I haven’t seen it all – the time difference makes it tricky. Watching it today I realised the importance of the messy bits – the connections between speakers, the fillers, the impromptu happenings, the small glitches that are all part of a live conference. By seeing these, as well as the live talks, the experience is, for me, far richer than simply viewing the talks in isolation.

I think it’s the human aspect that appeals – knowing that TED is run by humans with all our frailties and idiosyncrasies, and that it is OK to be human after all. It’s a good lesson for me to remember, especially when I’m facilitating. I have feelings and it’s OK for those feelings to be visible, to be who I am.

And here’s a pic that represents who I am today – it shows me watching the TED conference live, while making a lemon and lime tart to share with good friends at dinner. I was particularly inspired by the TED wishes, and even more so by the people who stood up or emailed and declared their support by making real offers of help and excellent suggestions. Great offers all round. Which means I’m feeling pretty damn good. So have a good weekend – (or as we Aussies would say ‘haveagoodweekend’) and I hope we all survive the worst fire day in a decade tomorrow (40+ temperature, and strong winds).