I love insightful and clever quotes, when a phrase can be so cleverly crafted that it carries a weight beyond it's phonetic capacity. Those are great works. The trouble with "inspirational quotes" is the word "inspirational."
Often, designers use that word. Artists, as well. The will talk about what inspired them to do a particular thing, or to make certain choices. More often, though, they will use the word to describe something they find cool. It becomes a description of the way they feel. The trouble with that is inspiration implies action.
Dream big and dare to fail.
-Norman Vaughan
That sounds nice. Dream big. The trouble is, you need action to follow. If you read this and then align your actions to move along this path, then you have been inspired. If you read this, and taped it to the fridge so you could see it every day, you have done crafts. There is a difference (and before anyone gets too clever and says, "but then they would be inspired to create crafts," let me just say that taping someone else's work to the fridge isn't dreaming big or daring to fail).
The only true American philosophy is Pragmatism. I'm a big fan. It puts and emphasis on results, not intention. Action over thought. It's a good way to be. (Again: let's not take this into an argument about value and fact, or such nonsense- I digress enough without all that.) So let us go full circle.
Here is a video of a guy who was inspired by the events of his life to push the bounds of what had been done before. Specifically, he took Stand-Up Paddle-boarding (SUP) into the ultra-endurance race arena by completing the MR340 SUP. He was the first. Fortunately, he made a short documentary about it.
Stand Up Guy
I have to hand it to Shane Perrin. Getting out there and being the first is a tough way to go. But it is an example of what can happen with some action and a bit of will. He had a good team, and they got the job done. Enjoy the video.
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