A Coaching Power Tool Created by Anna-Karin B. Kruse
(Inspirational Leadership and Life Coach, ITALY)
A mighty flame follows a tiny spark.— Dante Alighieri (www.goodreads.com)
What is Inspiration?
Inspiration has helped me persevere and move on in life. People get inspired by a multitude of different experiences. Traditionally, inspiration is defined as a momentary experience, where a situation, event, or person sparks new possibilities, capabilities, and actions. To have a positive impact on our work and lives, inspiration needs to be sustained over time and translate into action.
How people find inspiration is unique to each person. In his article on his blog about “why you should stop waiting for inspiration and start acting on it”, Adam Sicinski suggests that “inspiration typically come under the following conditions:
Adam Sicinski (ibid.) further suggests that conditions such as the ones he mentions above will present people with “an opportunity; an opportunity to find that special something that will help spark inspiration.”Holzer, A., Spataro, S., and Baron, J. G.in Dare to Inspire (2019:7), define the spark (this initial moment of inspiration) as “the intersection of possibility and invincibility.”They provide the following table of Inspiration Engines divided into the three categories of ‘sparked by you’, ‘sparked by others’ and ‘sparked by situations’ (2019:261-262):
Sparked by you:
Sparked by others:
Sparked by situations:
Adam Sicinskisuggeststhat one will “typically struggle to find this spark if [one is] unable to effectively manage [one’s] emotions [or struggles] with limiting beliefs and/or unrealistic expectations. All of these factors will simply sabotage [one’s] progress and prevent [one] from moving forward optimally.”
“Inspiration can [though] be actively sought after and sustained over time”(A. Holzer, S. Spataro, and J. G. Baron, 2019:13), and I strongly agree with Adam Sicinski’s conclusion that “inspiration is not a passive act but rather a proactive venture that reveals itself through the actions we take in the pursuit of our goals”. This is where I see how coaching can help frame people’s perspectives to embrace inspiration and guide them towards moving forward and take action to reach their objectives.
What is Holdback?
The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary defines holdback as:
Something that retains or restrains” and as “to keep from advancing to the next stage, grade, or level.
The reasons for people feeling/being held back, might well be the same ones as suggested by Adam Sicinski to make people struggle to find inspiration, such as being “unable to effectively manage [one’s] emotions, or struggling with limiting beliefs and/or unrealistic expectations.” Other factors might be limited financial resources, limited knowledge, skills and capabilities, fears, and so on.
How to move towards a perspective based on Inspiration
Often, people do not even recognize exactly what is holding them back from reaching their goals. And even if they do recognize the reason, this is where a coach may support the client to move towards a perspective based on inspiration to reach the desired outcome.
As earlier noted, inspiration is fleeting. It comes and goes just as quickly and inspired you can feel at one moment you may feel deflated the next”(Adam Sicinski), and to have a positive impact on our work and lives, inspiration needs to be sustained over time and translate into action.
It is further suggested that“when you are feeling most inspired, that is the time to take massive and immediate action to bring your idea to fruition. The purpose of that burst of inspiration is to immediately encourage you to take positive action towards your desired outcome. Moreover, it encourages you to go the extra mile and to persist in the face of adversity and uncertainty. When you’re feeling inspired you kind of feel fearless. All the fears you worried about no longer have the same hold on you. You have suddenly become a free spirit who is willing to take risks and do whatever it takes to accomplish your desired outcome” (Adam Sicinski). One can make a connection here to the definition by Holzer et al. (2019:7)earlier mentioned of the spark of inspiration as “the intersection of possibility and invincibility.”Inspiration enables an“optimal state of mind that allows us to pursue our desired aims with more confidence, courage, and positive energy”(Adam Sicinski).
To make full use of inspiration, “a balance between thinking and action is needed to help bring desired outcomes to fruition” and inspiration “often comes to those who are flexible in perspective and who approach each situation with an open mind. What seems impossible is possible, and what won’t work could very well work under the right conditions and with the right frame-of-mind”(ibid.).
Adam Sicinski further suggests that it is within those moments that one spends with oneself, “literally leaving the outside world behind and instead of spending time within the confines of [one’s] own imagination where anything is possible, [that one can sharpen one’s senses and] tune-in to the subtle things that will spark one’s inspiration.[While external events and circumstances can spark inspiration,]that inspiration always comes from[within oneself and] internal sources.[It is further noted however that]no matter how inspired [one] becomes, this will never lead to proactive action if[one is] lacking the necessary knowledge, resources, support, and/or skills that can help bring [one’s] goal to fruition.[One may come up with some fantastic ideas] but simply lack the necessary resources to follow through with those ideas. As such, later in life, many people struggle with regret about what could have or should have been if they had only acted on their idea. To avoid these pitfalls and regrets, we must dig deeper into what it truly means to act on inspiration.”(ibid.).
Coaching application
As we have seen from the above discussion, positive proactive action in the pursuit of one’s goals is normally the best way to find inspiration and it is not necessarily within the moments of contemplation.“When we are moving, doing, talking, and grooving our way towards our goal, that is when all the pieces start to come together. [Suddenly what initially did not] make any sense at all, or what in fact might have looked like a dead-end finally starts to make perfect sense. Uncertainty turns to clarity and the path ahead is now in full view”(ibid.).
As coaches, we can support our clients to move towards this perspective of inspiration and positive proactive action to reach their goals. I amusing the coaching model MOVES (Anna-Karin B. Kruse, April 2020). The model aims to support clients to use the lens of inspiration to shed light on opportunities and resources for them that can help them move forward, continue learning, grow, and find their way. By supporting clients to find their inspiration this can help them feel lighter and sustained in their moves towards their objectives and help them move proactively out of any feelings or issues of holdback in their lives.
I take my clients through the following steps of the MOVES coaching model to find and sustain their inspiration to support them in moving proactively towards and reaching their goals:
M: Define your motivation for what you want to do/achieve and what makes it important for you to achieve the desired outcome: this phase of the process helps the client come to a commitment by defining clearly the reasons for moving towards the goal early on in the coaching process as well as what is the success criteria and what needs to be addressed/resolved.
O: Discover/uncover the options you have at hand and looking into what other options there are to enable action towards reaching the goal: this phase helps the client shed light on options and resources available.
V: Verify the options and resources and evaluate what you may have to resolve to get to your desired outcome: this phase helps the client to learn about and be aware of the current situation and possible issues that need attention as well as of what s/he can learn about her/himself from the exploration and the coaching process so far. The client can also identify any feelings or issues of holdback if this has not emerged earlier in the session.
E: Explore what can energize you and help you find inspiration: this phase helps the client explore an accountability structure that will help sustain her/him in taking proactive action towards the goal and to move out of any feelings or issues of holdback. This is where I challenge the client to ‘think out of the box and to help her/him to move towards new or expanded ways to think about the situation and her/himself.
S: Elaborate a strategy for how to push through to action and reach the desired outcome while staying focused and inspired: this phase helps the client set up an attainable, measurable, specific and time-bound plan for their actions, including strategies for how they can keep nurturing their inspiration and looking into how the accountability structure relates to it all.
Inspiration has been such an important and positive ingredient in my life, and as a coach I aim to support my clients to find the spark to their inspiration too and to sustain it, to help them find their way and reach their desired outcomes. While motivation and determination are important to reach one’s goals, inspiration is that special stimulus that helps one really pull through, succeed, and feel invincible and unstoppable.
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.— Pablo Picasso (www.goodreads.com)
Reflection
- What is holding you back in life? What will life hold back from you if you do not move towards your goals?
- What inspires you? What sources of inspiration do you need to overcome holdback?
- How can you support your clients to find inspiration and take positive proactive action?
- How can you spark inspiration more often?
- How can you sustain inspiration over time, making it stronger?
- How can dance or other artistic or playful experience be applied to coaching to help find inspiration and move towards desired outcomes?
Suggested reading
Adam Sicinski / Lifetime Achiever[Accessed 27 Feb. 2020]“Here’s Why You Should Stop Waiting for Inspiration and Start Acting on it!”, https://blog.iqmatrix.com/acting-on-inspiration
Holzer, A., Spataro, S., and Baron, J. G. (2019) Dare to Inspire, Da Capo Lifelong Books, New York
ICA Course Outcome: MOVES: A Coaching Model by Anna-Karin B. Kruse, April 2020
ICA Course Outcome: How dance experience can be applied to coaching to support clients in finding their inspiration and move towards their desired outcomes:
A Coaching Research Paper by Anna-Karin B. Kruse, April 2020
References
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5031312.Dante_Alighieri [Accessed 27 Feb. 2020]“A mighty flame follows a tiny spark.”
Holzer, A., Spataro, S., and Baron, J. G. (2019) Dare to Inspire, Da Capo Lifelong Books, New York
ICA Course Outcome: MOVES: A Coaching Model by Anna-Karin B. Kruse, April 2020
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster,[Accessed 27 Feb. 2020]“Holdback”, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holdback
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3253.Pablo_Picasso [Accessed 27 Feb. 2020] “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
Adam Sicinski / Lifetime Achiever[Accessed 27 Feb. 2020]“Here’s Why You Should Stop Waiting for Inspiration and Start Acting on it!”, https://blog.iqmatrix.com/acting-on-inspiration