Has anyone ever inspired you to do something great. We had this great scholar come to our university and he seemed to motivate everyone by his presence and his ideas. There was something about this individual that had such a positive influence on most of the people.

Did you have any similar experiences where someone motivated or inspired you to do something great. I would like to hear your thoughts on what was in that source that motivated you.

hmmmm does this mean we PhDs are not much inspired by anyone

Hey Bcreative! Well lots of things and lots of people have inspired me to do what I do, but not anyone famous or any great scholar- more the people I have come across in my everyday life. My work is with people with Alzheimer's, and the people who have inspired me most are my own grandads (both who suffer/suffered with dementia), and my participants, who cope so well and so positively with such a debilitating illness and are so willing to help out with research despite their circumstances. The other thing that drives me is having spent a lot of time in hospital as a psychiatric patient myself, and therefore getting a very good idea of how woefully inadequate this sort of care is in many places. The final person who has really motivated me is the doctor who didn't believe in me and tried to have me institutionalised long-term, despite my determination to return to university. My dream is to walk back onto that ward when I have finished my PhD and say to her, "hey, it's Dr Keenbean to you. Google me for a list of my publications". Of course, it will never happen, but the thought of it makes me smile :) Best, KB

I spent six-months at a Max Planck Institute and found many of the scholars there really motivating and inspiring. I found the young scholars to be really motivating as role-models. Some of the PhD students had amazing projects and the seminars were interesting and supportive/encouraging. I was inspired by some of them who were my age but had gone through different European education systems and spoke three or four languages fluently. Writing up large sections of my thesis there really benefited from talking to my German peers and made me want to try harder with my language skills.

I've never been inspired by anyone, but I'm sure I've inspired many.

Sorry, I've spent part of this evening looking up proverbs and listening to some suitable music. It's got me in a (try to be) pithy mood. I do find things like quotes and proverbs can really improve my view on the world because you can always find one that supports your position.