“The world is not to be put in order; the world is order incarnate.

It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.” -Henry Miller

A few years ago, I was the publisher of a magazine called Creating Excellence. We were nearing an important advertising deadline and were a long way from reaching our sales objectives.

I called a full staff meeting for some green-light thinking on ways we could bring in new business and fill the holes we had in the upcoming issue.

There were several good ideas tossed about with almost everyone contributing-except for Ann. Ann always had something helpful to offer, so it was out of character that she hadn’t said anything.

When there was a lull in the brainstorming, she got everybody’s attention when she said, “Let’s clean this place up!”

Everyone turned to her with puzzlement and asked her to explain. She suggested that we devote an entire day to clean the office from top to bottom.

Now, a magazine production space is a busy place and not always one that appears neat and organized. Ours definitely fit this description. It had been a long while since it had been completely cleaned.

Her suggestion wasn’t met with immediate enthusiasm, but in keeping with our rule of not disparaging any ideas brought up in a brainstorming session, Ann was allowed to outline why she thought it was more than just a good idea.

In spite of the fact we were already behind in our work, she maintained that taking a day to put our “home” in order would enable us to work and sell from a better place.

She added another dimension to something I had said many times about successful sales, “It’s not so much what you say, but the space you say it from.” She convinced us that it was indeed worth it to create a new place to work from-one that provided a new perspective.

The cleanup went beyond the Friday we scheduled and into the weekend. Some even came in to paint. With everyone helping, the entire office looked and felt different.

And so did we.

It worked! We all pulled together to hit our sales goal. Everyone felt the change in attitude. We had more pride, and we felt more organized. We also sold more ads. Our customers could sense it.

We embodied excellence, which was what we were selling.

Take a good look at your workspace. Is it inspiring? Is it enjoyable to spend time there? If not, have at it. Make it some-thing to be proud of. You’ll find yourself being more productive and experience more joy in doing so.

What exactly is inspiration? We often talk about being inspired-inspired to do something, a feeling of inspiration: “I felt inspired.” We speak about inspiring people: “She’s an inspiring speaker.”

The word inspire comes from the word spirit, the Latin spritus, meaning breath, which was derived from the verb sprre ‘breathe’. In the Augustan period, it gradually began to take over as the word for soul.

For me, inspiration is something that touches me deep within my soul. I feel it. It’s a connection with something bigger than myself. And I like it. Most people do. Is it possible to be inspired all the time-to stay in touch with something higher than ourselves, to be motivated, enthusiastic-connected? I believe it is.

Inspiring People An important key to being inspired is to associate with people who are inspiring. They’re the kind of people you just feel better being around. You feel more stimulated-more alive. An inspiring person is someone who helps us see and believe in our highest good-someone who helps draw out the very best that’s within us. Conversely, we also want to stay away from people who bring us down.

An inspirational person empowers us to stay motivated and excited about our dreams. They’re someone with a vision for a better world. They challenge us to dig deep and encourage us through the tough times.

Inspiring people are good role models. They model excellence and give us something to which to aspire. They share themselves. They’re authentic.

Stimulating Ideas and Reminders In addition to people, good books, tapes and movies can provide impetus for our inspiration. They stimulate our thinking. What we read isn’t as important as what the reading causes us to think. We feed our bodies every day-hopefully with good fuel. We need to feed our minds every day as well. Anything that reminds us of who we are and what we’re capable of becoming is a valuable tool indeed.

Staying focused on our dreams and our commitment to them is key to staying inspired. Affirmations can be very helpful here.

Music Music can touch us at a vibratory level in ways that can stimulate and tap the imagination. Music can get us out of our head and more into our heart. Find the music that moves your soul and play it-often.

Our Environment Where we live, work and play can have a significant influence upon our level of inspiration. The visual, auditory, kinesthetic and even olfactory effect of our surroundings can dramatically impact our ability to operate at our best. It’s hard to be inspired when our personal environment is depressing. Clean up and spruce up your personal space and see what a difference it makes.

Solitude Time alone is critical to tapping into our divinity. Most of us are human doings instead of human beings. Too much emphasis is placed on doing things and not enough on pondering the metaphysical mustiness-to tapping into divine ideas.

It matters not what you call it-meditation, prayer or solitude-communing with our Higher Power is essential to bringing out our full potential.

I wish for you to realize your full and divine potential. I wish for you to live a life of excellence-a life of excitement and joy. I wish for you to be inspired and inspiring.