<em>This series on inspiration just keeps <a title="Inspiring Purpose - Lead Change Blog" href="/inspiring-purpose/">going</a> and <a title="Inspiring People - Lead Change Blog" href="/inspiring-people/">going</a>.  Here's a third post.  Who knows how long I can go with this?</em>

Have you chosen to inspire people.  Leaders inspire.  Did you accept the thought I reported in the <a title="Inspiring People - Lead Change Blog" href="/inspiring-people/">previous post</a> that Simon Sinek stated that there are only two ways to get someone to do something.  inspire or to manipulate?

<strong>You have a third choice. You can choose to do <em>nothing</em>.</strong><!--more-->

<em>Nothing</em> is everything when it comes to choices.  It's the default, the incumbent, and the most popular choice made by people every day.  We all choose to do nothing.  Because we all have the power to choose.

<em>Nothing</em> is not very effective at getting people to do something unless you do it to manipulate, so Simon is probably right.  But if you surround yourself with nothing choosers, your ability to inspire will suffer.

The real challenge for an <em>aspiring inspirer</em> (how'd you like that?) lies at the source of your inspiration.  Each of us has a tank.  You know when yours is empty or close.  You know what it takes to drain your inspiration tank.  Your ability to inspire others is affected by many things - your energy, your rest, your resources and your passion are among them, but your purpose, the need and the context also play a role.  I'm sure there are more.  My point: investing in people takes energy.  How do you get refilled?

It's not going to happen if you hang around others who make a habit of accepting the default choice.  You must choose to be around people who choose to inspire too.

To  re-charge, you must input the positive charge you're lacking.  You've probably heard it said that every person you interact with will receive a charge.  You can choose to be positive or negative, right?  <em>You</em> inspire by choosing positive.  But when you've given out more positive charges than you can, your tank runs dry.  Where do you go to get recharged?

People who accept the default choice or the manipulate choice won't do you any good when you're looking to recharge.  You must choose to surround yourself with people who can give a positive charge as well.  Look for people who inspire, people with big goals and dreams, people with big hearts, willing to share in pursuit of a noble purpose.  Those people emit the positive charges you need when you're running low.  Look for people who are able to invest energy in pursuits that energize and inspire because that will recharge you too.

We like to think of ourselves as positive-charge people at the Lead Change Group.  Check out the <a title="Lead Change Group on LinkedIn" href="http://bit.ly/leadchange">LinkedIn group page</a> or the <a title="Lead Change Group on Facebook" href="http://facebook.com/leadchangegroup" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> and be watching for some new resources as well.  This isn't so much a plug as a recruiting poster.  If you choose to lead and develop leaders, you will inspire.  There's no other way to do it.  Care to join us?