Day 119: Jack Miller

January 27, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“I think the most that I can do is have like a true course, some type of focus in morality … examples of certain behaviors.  I think people who I personally found inspirational exert a lot of passion, a lot of enthusiasm about something, creating a vision or picture which I can see myself in or a part of, and engagement from that perspective.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Jack, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Jack Miller: First let me say, Toni, my pleasure,  and sure.  My name is Jack Miller, and I am currently working in the marketing/business development/HR for an architectural firm and previously been in various coaching roles, management roles, consulting roles, and had an opportunity to work with a variety of companies throughout North America.

Toni: Okay, well thank you for that.  When you think of that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire and how do you do that?

Jack: When you had first asked me about the interview, and I started thinking about “Oh, this will be pretty straightforward.  I’ve done a lot of coaching before and manager training,” and on my drive home I started kind of thinking through this in my mind and became very confused.

I found myself, when I started thinking about inspiration to answer that question, finding myself going down more the path of motivation, but it didn’t seem right in terms of the two are not equal or the same.  And so my comment to you earlier about kind of struggling with this has been really trying to discern or dissect between the two, because I think inspiration is very personal versus motivation tends to be, I think, more external.

And so doing some research today trying to help me figure this out, I came up with a definition of inspiration being more internal driven and my behaviors and managing my behaviors to inspire, if you would, other people versus motivation, trying to help those individuals find the energy or focus in themselves and bringing that out.

As I was going through to answer the question about what I do to inspire, it was like “I’m not sure that I do inspire other people per se.”  I know what my behaviors are and hopefully those things I do, the passion, enthusiasm bring … inspire them.  So it’s kind of … I’m not sure if I’m making sense with this, Toni, but …

Toni: You are.  What I’m hearing from you is that you had to get yourself to a place where your inspiration comes from setting that example.

Jack: Yeah, I think kind of separating between … my initial thought was, and going down the path of motivation, what I do for motivation.  But as I dissected this, as I said, it’s really I think inspiration is what behaviors, what do I do, what passion do I exist with, what enthusiasm do I share that others find inspirational?

I think it’s by those things that I do versus me trying to help someone find themselves through what sort of management perspective and coaching with their skills and help them be successful.  I think inspiration is more personally based, and what I may do to try to inspire somebody may or may not be impactful to them based upon where they’re at.

I think to kind of circle back here with your question, I think the most that I can do is have like a true course, some type of focus in morality, if you would, examples of certain behaviors.  I think people who I personally found inspirational exert a lot of passion, a lot of enthusiasm about something, creating a vision or picture which I can see myself in or a part of, and engagement from that perspective.

So when I think about what do I do for others, I think there’s certain situations in which I’ll find myself extremely passionate about something or extremely excited about something.  Through the way I tell the story or describe it, if you would, and seeing that it’s true to my core, I think that’s how I would ultimately inspire somebody else.

Toni: So when you go through this … and you set a course for yourself and you remain passionate and you stay excited and people can see this and you do create that vision, what do you think that does for others to help them explore their own potential?

Jack: What does it do to help others?

Toni: Yes.

Jack: Hopefully … and I’m always cautious about saying what I do for others, because really you need to ask others.  I don’t want to be presumptuous, and I think a lot of times people do become a little presumptuous about that.  I think what I would hope is they may see a different way of thinking.  They may see an opportunity or some type of hope where they didn’t think something existed, where they can see some real positive energy.  And that, in turn, triggers things inside for them that allows them to do things better, greater than they thought they could do, or if they were just at a bad place at that particular time helps them break through that.

Toni: And helps them take those steps forward.

Jack: Correct.

Toni: So, Jack, when you think about inspiration for you, what do you need to be inspired?

Jack: When I was going through this and prepping for the call, I went back to examples of things to come up kind of the top line.  I would say inspiration is very personal.  And as I mentioned earlier, there are people that I have been in the great company of, whether it’s a speaker that I never personally met which I’ve been inspired or through family friends that just provides some inspiration.

But I think ultimately it’s almost being around things that I can’t control, and I mean that from a perspective of basic things like being in Mother Nature.  Walking on a beach on a sunset evening and just watching.  All your senses are filled.  It’s very inspirational to me.  I have a farm, and being out there early in the morning with Mother Nature around you, things that are just there that we can’t control is just very grounding to me.

And yes, there are people I like to be with that I will find inspirational.  Yes, it’s fun to go out to have a great dinner with friends in a great restaurant, but you can kind of control that.  I think the greater inspiration is finding yourself in a situation is like “Wow, let me take a step back and look at what is around me,” whether it be people, again, nature, or some type of event that becomes inspiration versus something that I can plan, if you would.

Toni: I think that’s an awesome way to describe that from a very personal level and when you are … do you find yourself at times needing to fill your own bucket up and say “Boy, you know what?  I have to take a step out of this, and I need a little bit of inspiration” to move yourself forward, to keep moving?  Are there tools you reach for?  Are there personal or professional things that you find yourself continuously going to for that inspiration and for that way of being filled up?

Jack: To answer your question, absolutely there are times.  It’s kind of that proverbial emotional bank account.  The world that we live in with just life in general and work, there’s a lot of withdrawals from that bank account.  So yeah, it’s important to stay grounded and through doing some of the hobbies that I like to do or being outdoors or being with some friends, and there are certain readings that I will just go back to.

I am not one that likes to sit down and read a novel, so I like more the executive summary versions of some quick reads.  Things like The Seven Habits, probably somewhat cliché, but really just fundamental, get you refocused, and it’s a little bit of a different way of thinking or just getting regrounded.  Those type of things help me when I find that it’s been too many emotional bank account withdrawals; it’s what I go back to.

Toni: I love that saying, the emotional bank account.  I think a lot of people who are going to read or hear you speak in this interview will relate to that emotional bank account, that either we withdraw from or others we allow to withdraw from.

Jack: Yeah, and that we let others withdraw from.

Toni: Absolutely.  So when you think about your own potential, Jack, what do you need to explore your own potential?  How do you do that?

Jack: I try to challenge myself, but I think there are a group of friends that through the course of life will love you in your darkest moments, have seen you in your darkest moments, and so I go back to those friends sometimes just to make sure I’m challenging myself enough or for just counsel/thought/direction.

I think that type of anchoring and, again, some type of core values that one has, to stay close to those and revisit those periodically, because there are so many things thrown at you during the course of a day, a week, that you can get very distracted in a lot of unimportant things, quite frankly, at the end of the day that seem so important.

So it’s really kind of anchoring back, and the key and the challenge, quite frankly, is knowing when I need to do that.  Sometimes I know that.  Other times people tell me it’s time to do that.  I think those are kind of the core rooting or core elements, if you would, to do that.

Toni: Jack, have you always been that way that you knew that you were very passionate about life and knowing what your core values are and knowing that you need to revisit that so that you stay grounded?  Have you always been aware of that for yourself?

Jack: It’s evolved.  And I think that as I look back on some times where I didn’t do that, it was “Oh, I understand now why,” so that’s worked for me, and I think from an inspiration — for us to go back to the inspiration question — that may or may not work for everybody else.  But it seems to be what’s helped me through my career, professionally and personal life, and so if that works, I’m going to keep doing it.

Toni: That’s what’s so fantastic about this Project because people listening to you can relate.  Some will relate to what you’re saying as far as … I’m wondering if when you realize that you’re not focused and you’re not grounded if that’s also at the same time that your emotional bank account has been depleted, and how those two go hand-in-hand.

Jack: Right.  And it’s hard, in my mind, from inspiration to go back to a definition of what do I do, the passion by which or energy by which I have and portray or do.  If you don’t manage that emotional bank account or have a way to keep yourself grounded, it’s very difficult to inspire others.  There’s a lot of energy that can get misdirected and not really have the potential results that it really should.  That’s really, I think, the key around that balance.

I was reading some of the other interviews and things, thinking about motivation versus inspiration.  That’s where I really landed along in my mind about inspiration versus motivation or positive reinforcement, etc., kind of my thinking, how it’s evolved.

Toni: Well, you have given a very insightful interview today, and there are a lot of takeaways here for people to learn from.  And so for giving your time today to the Get Inspired! Project, we thank you so very much.  And continue to keep that emotional bank account filled, because I can only imagine how people who work with you or who are in your personal life benefit from that being full.  We thank you so very much, Jack, for the interview today.

Jack: My pleasure, Toni.  Best of luck with the Project.

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For more information about Jack Miller:  wcjm@JRSArchitect.com

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