part0013

I N THE THIRD CENTURY BC, King Hiero II of Syracuse commissioned a goldsmith to make him a splendid crown of pure gold, providing the goldsmith with two pounds of gold for the project. A few weeks later, the goldsmith delivered the king an exquisitely wrought crown weighing exactly two pounds. The king was pleased and paid the goldsmith handsomely.

Soon afterward, Hiero heard rumors that the goldsmith had cheated him by substituting cheaper metals in the crown for half a pound of the gold and keeping the rest of the gold for himself. The king was furious, but he had no way of knowing if he’d been tricked.

Archimedes, a well-known mathematician and inventor in Syracuse, was ordered to determine if the crown was pure gold without melting it down or damaging it in any way. Some versions of the story say that the king threatened Archimedes with his life if he failed.

For weeks, Archimedes labored with the problem, but he couldn’t figure out a way to measure the crown’s density without destroying it. Discouraged and frightened, Archimedes prepared for his daily bath, deciding to forget about the problem while he relaxed his aching body. As he lowered himself into the bath, the water rose. He continued to descend, and the water overflowed from the tub. In an instant, he realized he had found the solution to the crown problem. He was so excited by his sudden discovery, he ran naked through the city streets shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!” which means, “I have found it! I have found it!”

What Archimedes discovered was the principle of displacement. Like a person in a tub of water, the submerged crown would displace an amount of water equal to its own volume. In this way, Archimedes could determine the crown’s density without melting it down. If the crown’s density was lower than two pounds of pure gold, Archimedes would be able to prove that the goldsmith had used cheaper, less-dense metals in the crown.

Archimedes found that the crown did displace less water than a lump of gold of equal weight. He concluded the crown was not pure gold and the goldsmith had indeed used less-expensive metals in the king’s crown. According to some sources, the goldsmith was executed for his deceit.

This sudden, brilliant moment of insight is not unique to Archimedes. What he experienced has been repeated again and again by scientists and inventors, artists and musicians, architects and soldiers, writers and poets.

A sudden illumination of the mind, like the kind Archimedes experienced in his bath, has been called many things. You may have heard of a flash of insight referred to as one of these:

In this book we refer to such experiences as Aha! Moments or Big Ideas. They are often paradigm shifting, life transforming, and even world changing. They all point to a remarkable mental phenomenon of enhanced awareness and understanding coupled with a kind of euphoria beyond our ability to create on our own.

Great scientists like Marie Curie and Albert Einstein had flashes of insight. Writers and artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, George R.R. Martin, and Maya Angelou experienced inspiration and epiphanies. Inventors like Thomas Edison and Mary Anderson had Aha! Moments, or Big Ideas.

In the 1930s, Albert Einstein’s work was at a standstill. In an effort to overcome his mental block, he reached out to the poet Saint-John Perse, 4 hoping to learn something about how the writer’s mind works. “How does a poet work? How does the idea of a poem come? How does this idea grow?”

“But it is the same for a man of science!” Einstein replied. “The mechanics of discovery are neither logical or intellectual. It is a sudden illumination, almost a rapture. Later, to be sure, intelligence analyzes and experiments confirm (or invalidate) the intuition. But initially there is a great forward leap of the imagination.” 5

The word inspiration literally means “in-spirit,” an inner feeling of being guided by a force outside the mind. The ancient Greeks believed inspiration came from the Muses. Norse mythology ascribes inspiration to the gods. In Hebrew religions, inspiration has divine origins, and in Christianity, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Whether inspiration comes from within or without, it is transcendent, uncontrollable, and irresistible, and most people have experienced it.

For some, inspiration is an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or artistic undertaking or a sudden insight about an invention or scientific principle. For others, it is an internally generated, motivational feeling, accompanied with peak emotions of gratitude, longing, and rightness.

With inspiration comes a feeling of elevation, a surge of energy, and a sudden awareness of greater possibilities. New and better understanding is accompanied with a feeling that you might be more capable than you thought.

An associate explained it this way: “When I feel inspired, I find myself doing more work with an unforced, positive state of mind. I practice more, study more, replace bad habits, take more risks, and overcome negative thoughts and situations. Not only that, my mood also changes because I am more focused, optimistic, and happy.”

Inspired work stands apart from anything else in normal life. Consider Socrates, Einstein, Curie, Mozart, Galileo, or Angelou. An inspired person isn’t driven by a desire for money or awards or status. He or she is driven intrinsically by the work itself. The work takes hold of them, guides, molds, and changes them.

Psychologists Todd M. Thrash and Andrew J. Elliot have studied the physiology of inspiration and Aha! Moment s and have noted these core aspects of the experience:

First, inspiration comes spontaneously without intention. Regardless of the need, you can’t force an Aha! Moment . It comes on its own.

Second, inspiration transcends our baser, self-serving concerns and our self-imposed limitations. Such transcendence often involves a moment of clarity and a keen awareness of new possibilities. As Thrash and Elliot note, “The heights of human motivation spring from the beauty and goodness that precede us and awaken us to better possibilities.” 6 This moment of clarity is often vivid and can take the form of a grand vision or of “seeing” something that has not been seen before.

Finally, inspiration involves internalized motivation in which the individual strives to transmit, express, or bring into reality a new idea or vision.

Inspiration is not the same as motivation. Motivation is a general desire or willingness to do something or to act in a particular way. You may feel you need to get yourself motivated to do something you don’t want to do, like make that sales call or compile that budget report, clean the house or write a proposal.

Motivation is all about push. Inspiration is all about pull. Motivation is outside in. Inspiration is inside out. Motivation is often fleeting, sometimes inauthentic, and rarely transformational. “Inspiration is about being called to act because you’re in direct alignment with the magnetic, luminous marrow of potential that is you.” 8 Inspiration lies in the center of the soul, potential aching, longing to sprout and grow.

When we are inspired, we are eager to act because of how it makes us feel. Inspiration isn’t concrete or permanent. It is most often fleeting, which is why we might think of it as a rush of wind or a flash of light. Inspiration gives us courage to risk our comfort zones and strive for something truly great.

Think about a time you had an inspired idea or an Aha! Moment that deeply impacted how you see things or how you feel about something important.

Grab your journal and write about it. For the next week, keep track of inspirational experiences, no matter how small. Pay attention to how you feel when something inspires you.