So many times we wait to start something until inspiration strikes. And when that inspiration wanes, we stop. We are waiting for the time to be right, for that elusive day when we’ll have more time and more money and can start the thing we really want to do in life. It doesn’t matter if this is a health and fitness plan, a novel, or any other big endeavor. When Somerset Maugham was asked if he wrote on a schedule or when struck by inspiration he replied, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” As Pressfield writes in his brilliant little book, The War of Art –

“Maugham reckoned another, deeper truth: that by performing the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, he set in motion a mysterious but infallible sequence of events that would produce inspiration, as surely as if the goddess had synchronized her watch with his. He knew if he built it, she would come.”

Therein lies the key to success. Sit down and give your current initiative your best hour of the day. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, open your email – that is like opening Pandora’s box and you’ll be lost inside it for hours. You’ll have squandered your freshness on some stale email. Instead, give your first and best hour of every day to your special task, big project, creative endeavor, etc. Make this practice sacred and your muse will find you and sit perched on your shoulder.

Enjoy!
Talane

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