Fueled By Inspiration

In the spirit of Global Entrepreneurship Week, we invited Strategic Coach clients to share their secrets to success. The second in the series is written by Adrienne Duffy, founder of Big Futures Inc., which serves clients across North America, and one of our long-time coaches of The Strategic Coach Program. Adrienne is the author of a recently published book called Soul Sense.

There’s a point for most entrepreneurs where success is no longer driven just by money. There’s a point where the external goals are not enough; they have to come from a deeper part of who you are and why you do what you do.

The energy that comes from within is a key driver of success for an entrepreneur. And it’s certainly been true for me. It’s this energy and inspiration that keep my vision alive and help me create the strategy and accountability that are necessary to execute on and achieve that vision.

This is the model I work with: vision, strategy, and accountability—powered by inspiration.

If you lose sight of what really inspires you to do what you’re doing and reach a point where obstacles get in the way of achieving your goals, then, as an entrepreneur, you risk losing the energy that’s crucial to moving forward to the next level. You need to go back to why you’re doing what you’re doing and what really inspires you so you can rekindle the fire and the passion that motivated you in the first place.

You need to go back to your purpose.

In my case, a lot of why I do what I do is to unleash potential and inspire other people to grow and transform their circumstances to realize their bigger futures. That’s core to my purpose. I’m also fortunate to have significant alignment between what I do professionally and what’s most important to me and inspires me most.

This is another entrepreneurial secret—alignment. Your values have to be in alignment, and your purpose has to be in alignment. Then you can look at the outside world and try to find that market where what you bring to the table creates real value.

That’s the magic link—the connection between your purpose and how you can create value out in the world with it. That’s where you can connect with the inspiration that provides the sustainable energy to keep fueling you.

Driven by inspiration.

As a pioneer in moonshot strategy for over 20 years, we use the metaphor of shooting for the moon to help companies achieve great things—things that could not have happened if they weren’t driven by inspiration.

I learned through working with a great number of organizations, helping them to align their teams and their leadership with the vision and goals, that the one essential ingredient was the inner fuel of inspiration.

Without true inspiration as the driving force, it’s very difficult to sustain the energy through what it’s going to take to realize “your shot at the moon.”

I get to do what I love to do by helping other people become inspired to do what they do. Vision, strategy, and the accountability to execute are essential. But always at the center is inspiration!

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