By Cori ParksWhether you're a Spinning® instructor, facility manager or enthusiast, inspiration is the name of the game. But who is inspiring and how did they get there?Do you sometimes feel like you're preaching to the choir? I mean, I love it when I teach and someone says something like "I needed that..." or "I really felt like you were coaching to me..." or "How do you get in my head like that?" But these are the guys who are already coming to class. When a bike sits empty, I have to admit that I take it personally, like maybe I should be out recruiting more.So I recently made it my mission to see what it takes to inspire people. I mean really, really inspire people. You can't set out to do something amazing.  Amazing just happens, right?Or does it?People who inspire others don't do the same thing as each other, but they have some things in common.  A quick search will show you what others think is important, but here is what I personally find inspiring in other people.

FEARLESSNESS

Maybe they do feel a lot of fear, but they seem to approach every scary situation saying "I'm doing this no matter what." Think of whistleblowers who know there is something wrong going on and yet, in the face of intimidation, they bravely do what is right. I find that amazing and so inspirational. When I think of why some people don't exercise and take charge of their health, I have to wonder if there is fear involved. For someone to arrange their habits and schedules around eating right and exercising, they might have to abandon ship on their social circles and really confront their family.

ENDLESSNESS:

It’s not amazing athletes who inspire me. It’s the woman who is still 50 pounds overweight and loving her body because she has already dropped 100 pounds. Her effort excites me so much more than the woman who is 75 grams overweight and whining about her thighs. Yeah, no. Community triathletes, who just keep going back to do a new personal best despite busy schedules and injuries along the way, are so much more inspiring to me than the 6-time winner of some big event.

SELFLESSNESS:

When someone pours their heart and soul into something in order to make the world a better place. For instance, take my 14-year-old daughter Kylie. She did a 10K race and was the last person across the finish line. Why? Because she not only escorted a woman who is both deaf and blind, she let her cross the finish line first. So selfless and inspiring.

FOCUS:

This is the one I really need to commit to. We live in such a distracting time right now. I can't even begin to calculate how much time I spend checking with my family on Facebook or goofing off. In the process of setting my own "impossible goals" (really, the stuff of life, don't you think?) I know that my clock is ticking and I'm not really getting to that novel I plan to write, not honestly getting in that training that will take me toward a finish line. I am sitting down tonight to schedule out my next three months with extreme focus. Inspiring people have this, and I want it.

DRIVE:

Drive, will, motivation, determination – call it what you will, something has been ignited in inspiring people that makes them move forward no matter what. So many people don't have that drive - to overcome the stagnation of a sedentary life, to work through the discomfort, the social challenges of stepping outside everyone else's comfort zone (imagine if Fred Flintstone wanted a Greek salad for dinner!), the sheer inconvenience of taking on more, taking on change, taking on challenge.As instructors for dozens of excited riders every day, it is possible to decide if you can be an inspiring person. If you just be you and in the course of being you, you inspire others. Stay inspired! Subscribe to our newsletter for more inspirational stories and techniques to lead focused, driven classes. Stay inspired! Subscribe to our newsletter for more inspirational stories and techniques to lead focused, driven classes.