Mindset
Inspiration is in the Details
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
-Buddha
Who Do You Look Up To?
Who inspires you?
Is it the person who’s always supported you?
Someone doing the things you dream of doing?
Someone you actually know—or someone you see only through a screen?
Early in my life, I was inspired by the athletes I watched on TV and at live events. What they did seemed impossible.
Later, when I began working in elite sport, I realized just how truly incredible they are.
You can’t fully grasp it until you see them up close—their precision, their presence, their ability to do things others simply can’t, day after day.
I’ll never forget watching Alex Kovalev—one of the most gifted hockey players I’ve ever seen—kneel on the ice at the far blueline and fire puck after puck, hitting the crossbar nearly every time.
Just hitting the net from that distance is impressive.
Hitting the crossbar intentionally—again and again—is something else entirely.
Watching Olympians in their daily training, the unbelievable becomes… undeniable.
Impossible becomes possible, right before your eyes.
But over time, I realized something even deeper.
True inspiration isn’t just about doing the impossible.
It’s about doing the things others won’t.
Talent, genetics, and gifts play their role, sure.
But every elite athlete made a decision—a long time ago—to commit to doing the hard things others wouldn’t.
Getting up earlier.
Preparing every meal with discipline.
Showing up before everyone else.
Putting in the extra reps.
Warming up with intention. Recovering with care.
Treating the basics like sacred ground.
But there’s a level beyond even that.
The truly exceptional face failure with a vengeance.
They don’t get discouraged—they get fueled.
They look up, not down.
They review, rebuild, recognize, revise, reconstruct, and redeem.
They reach even higher. The many Rs that underpin the Resonance of inspiRation.
No object is an obstruction—only an objective to overcome.
Sometimes, less is more.
Sometimes, more is less.
The wisdom is knowing which, and when.
Do I need to push harder?
Or is today the day I need to pause and rebuild?
Comfortable in the uncomfortable. That’s the state they live in.
And here’s the thing:
You don’t even have to know these people to feel it.
You can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voice, sense it in their presence.
True inspiration radiates from belief—belief in themselves, and in the work.
Even if they never say it out loud, you feel it.
And that belief wakes something up inside you, too.
Whether it’s the grade school teacher who made you see yourself differently,
The professor who cracked open a whole new world for you,
Or the friend who challenged you to see beyond your limits—
They all had it.
And they passed it on to you.
What you think, you become.
Those who inspire are simply living proof of that truth.
So be inspired.
And be an inspiration.
Be you.
