From Motivation to Inspiration—and how to tell the difference.

One of the worst decisions I ever made? Investing in a restaurant/wine bar in Southern California.

It sounded fabulous and fun—lavish wine, trendy menu, live music, all with a bit of future financial freedom.

The red flags?

Yeah, they were there from day one:

• The guy running the show had never managed anything bigger than a mom&pop wine store.

• He put in no money—just his “time and talent” (spoiler alert: not nearly enough).

• Too many investors with equal ownership, which is business code for “no one’s actually in charge.”

But, I was naive, and swept up in the excitement.

Fast forward: many months behind schedule, and wildly over budget, we finally opened.

People loved it!

The vibe was amazing.

The menu, stellar.

The entertainment, top notch.

The wine list? Exquisite.

And then... this ship of a restaurant... began to sink… fast.

Really fast.

Cue mistake #2.

I tried to save it.

I had restaurant experience. I knew wine. I cared about the staff and the investors.

So I took over operations. Threw in more money, more energy, more time.

Within a week, I realized how deep the mess really was.

But I kept going.

Why? Ego. Guilt. A sense of duty. A fear of failing publicly. Take your pick.

Looking back, I see it clearly now:

Everything I did was motivated—but not inspired.

BIG difference.

Wayne Dyer explained it beautifully:

“Motivation is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, and inspiration is when an idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are intended to go.”

Motivation pushes. Inspiration pulls.

Motivation exhausts. Inspiration energizes.

Motivation comes from the head. Inspiration comes from the soul.

So how do we know when something is truly inspired?

We feel it in our body. We sense a quiet certainty rather than a frantic urgency.

There’s ease, not strain. Flow, not force.

Inspired action often surprises us—it may be bold, at times uncomfortable (even really uncomfortable leaning to downright terrifying -but it feels right.

It brings peace, even if it brings risk.

Take a moment today and ask yourself:

• Where in your life are you pushing?

• And what might it feel like to follow a pull instead?

We don’t always get it right the first time. Or even the second.

But when we're asking, we're aligning and re-aligning.

Tune in a little deeper this week. My five minute fix guided meditation Let Inspiration Carry You will help you drop from your head into your heart—and reconnect with what’s true and inspired within you.

Click here to listen now and let it carry you to where you’re meant to go.