REWORK.

I just finished reading the book “Rework” by Jason Fried and David Hansson and highly recommend it for those of you with your own businesses or to those of you that are thinking about starting your own business.  One of the chapters that caught my eye was the following:

Inspiration is Perishable

“We all have ideas.  Ideas are immortal.  They last forever.  What doesn’t last forever is inspiration.  Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk:  It has an expiration date.

If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now.  You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it.  You can’t just say you’ll do it later.  Later, you won’t be pumped up about it anymore.

If you’re inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project.  When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in twenty-four hours.  Inspiration is a time machine in that way.

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator.  But it won’t wait for you.  Inspiration is a now thing.  If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.”

What does this have to do directly with dropping your blood pressure or cholesterol numbers you ask?  Probably not a damn thing.  What it does have to do with however, is your overall happiness as a human being and coincidentally what we’re far more interested in here at WPC than simply your lab scores is – your life, fully expressed. 

It is my firm belief that more you live your life in a fully expressed fashion, the happier you will be and the happier you are, the healthier you are.  The healthier you are – physically, emotionally and any other way – the lower your blood pressure will be and the lower your cholesterol will be. 

How could this possibly be true – you ask?  Well, to be honest, I care very little about the biochemistry and physiological aspects of self-actualization and happiness.  Leave that to people who wear lab coats all day and drink Mountain Dew.  That being said, when you are under stress (if you’re not feeling stressed, please watch 20 minutes of CNN just for the experience) your body releases cortisol, growth hormone and norephinephrine into your blood stream.  Cortisol is believed to affect the metabolic system and norepinephrine is believed to play a role in ADHD as well as depression and hypertension.  Flooding your body with these hormones all day long is a surefire way to end up overweight, sick, with attention deficit and high blood pressure!

What’s the best way to remove stress from your body?  Do what you love, all day long.  (If you’re going to argue that you “can’t” do what you love, stay tuned for the next post)

So if something inspires you, run with it.  Run as far and fast as you can and then welcome into your life the peace that seems to have eluded you in your cubicle – and the health that magically comes with it.