Desire. Aspire. Perspire. Inspire.

In my past life I worked in advertising in NYC. My last job was working for an incredible company with two fantastic bosses, the CEO and President. The CEO, we'll call him Mark (because that's his actual name), is one of the most dynamic and compassionate business leaders I've ever met. His

perspective on work and life as a whole could be a model for anyone trying to find work-life balance.

In and out of the office, Mark's gospel focuses on one major theme: INSPIRATION. The key for your own success and for those around you is inspiration. And yes, advertising should inspire. The creative product, the advertising, should inspire feelings, thoughts and action. When working with others, we should inspire each other. When working with clients, we should be inspiring. On and on. And as much as it may get a little tedious for the rest of us to focus on inspiration, it truly does work. And Mark seems to never bore of it.

But (yup, there's always a "but"), you can't simply leap into "Inspire." No, you need to be inspirational, but how? How does someone inspire oneself and others? And I'm not just talking about a momentary flash-in-the-proverbial-pan "wow" moment. I'm talking about living an inspiring and inspirational life.

I spent a good bit of time thinking about this. And sulking. And brooding. I do that. And being introspective. I wanted to figure out how to be inspirational but first I need to be inspired. I looked to people who inspired me:

- Babe Ruth (not only was he the sultan of swat, but he was also the strike-out record holder for decades);

- Michael Jordan (who missed so many last-second shots but is remembered for the ones he made)

- Oprah (who was demoted from being the first African-American Baltimore news co-anchor to hosting a second-rate morning talk-show)...there are so many sources of inspiration.

And those are perhaps three of the most famous people around us. What about the high school teacher who stays late to work with her students? How about Mark, my former boss, who inspires his employees, clients, and an entire industry? And my good friend, Bret Cenicola, who shows his kids what it means to work tirelessly to make his dream-business (King Gym) a success?

And what do they have in common? They knew what they wanted. They envisioned what success meant. They worked their asses off. And then they became inspirational.

Desire. Aspire. Perspire. Inspire.