“Take action. An inch of movement will bring you closer to your goals than a mile of intention.”
It’s obviously a good thing to be highly passionate about your goals. Your mind, or intention, should be in the right place. But sometimes, that’s where our goals begin and end–Having great intention with no action. This quote, by the author and motivational speaker Steve Maraboli, reminds us that the actions we do take do not necessarily have to be grand. They may be small. However, those simple (and consistent) steps are only going to lead us closer to our goals than no action at all.
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Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.
“The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.”
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
“Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.”
It’s our tendency to assume that a person is successful because they rarely make mistakes. We may think, they never mess up in any major way, which is precisely why they’re successful. However, we’d be surprised to find that many successful people not only make mistakes, but they’ve made quite a few of them. The difference is that they learn from their mistakes. Therefore, they are capable of making fewer over time. This quote, by George Bernard Shaw, reminds us that success is not about never making mistakes. Success consists of not making the same mistakes. Thereby making every misstep a leap forward.
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
This quote, by Melody Beattie, reminds us of all the things a sense of gratitude can bring. All these things ultimately bring us clarity and peace of mind. Besides turning what we have into enough and more, gratitude turns denial into acceptance. When things don’t go as planned, being grateful for what we still have and anything we learned in the process makes it easier to accept and not be in denial of what happened. By finding the positives in our past, we come to realize that things do happen for a reason. Life’s confusion and chaos can become a bit clearer. And when we apply the same sense of…
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“Don’t start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every day is a fresh start. Every morning we wake up is the first day of the rest of our life.”
Is There Such a Thing as Being Motivated for the Wrong Reasons?
“Success is what happens after you have survived all of your disappointments.”
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
So often, we feel grateful but either forget to express our gratitude or don’t think it’s all that important or necessary. This quote, by William Arthur Ward, is about not keeping our gratitude to ourself. If we have something we’re thankful to someone for, we should tell them. As illustrated by this quote, not doing so is like wrapping a present but never presenting it to its intended receiver. However, that person cannot read our mind. So they would never know what their action(s) meant to us without us letting them know. Letting them know–showing gratitude–is a priceless gift we all have to give.
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“Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another.”
“Don’t start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every day is a fresh start. Every morning we wake up is the first day of the rest of our life.”
“There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.”
“Direction is so much more important than speed. Many are going nowhere fast.”
Two people are in a 100 mile race. One is heading in the opposite direction of the finish line at 50 miles per hour and the other is heading toward the finish line at 25 miles per hour. Who will finish the race first? If you didn’t focus on the direction each person is heading, you’d most likely answer that the person going 50 miles per hour will arrive first. After all, they are the fastest. However, they will actually be last. In fact, the’ll never complete the race at all. Meanwhile, the person going half as fast will not only finish but arrive first. Interchange the 100 mile race…
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“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
“Don’t start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every day is a fresh start. Every morning we wake up is the first day of the rest of our life.”
“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.”
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
This quote, by Martin Luther King Jr., was part of a speech given to students at Spelman college. Although the road ahead for civil rights was daunting, he encouraged them to not be discouraged. Instead of giving up, they should do what they can to keep moving forward. Many did. And collectively, they made a difference. This quote, and its origin, inspires us to run if we can’t fly, walk if we can’t run, and crawl if we can’t walk. Moreover, it reminds us that we don’t need any special super powers to face insurmountable life challenges. We may not be able to fly but we can do the little…
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
When you think about it, everything can be considered a miracle. For example, the sun rising and setting, the seasons, the weather, our anatomy, and even the way our organs operate. Not to mention, the perfect symbiosis in our ecosystems, animal migrations, a butterfly’s metamorphosis, and plant life. From the perfect timing of how planets spin and revolve in the solar system to our heart beat, it’s all quite miraculous. Moreover, everything that happens is affected by these things. So in a sense, everything (everyday) is a miracle–a divine miracle. This quote, by Albert Einstein, reminds us that we can live life as if everything is a miracle or as…
“Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.”
This quote, by the writer and poet Elizabeth Bibesco (née Asquith), reminds us to give selflessly and receive gratefully. To give without remembering means giving without expectation of anything in return. It means to give without keeping a record or feeling you’re owed something. In fact, it’s giving and forgetting. That’s not easy to do. Meanwhile, to take without forgetting means remembering all the things and people who’ve given to you. It means not taking them for granted and paying it forward some way, some how.
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
This quote is by the legendary painter, Pablo Picasso. It serves as a great reflection on the things we choose to put off, or procrastinate. Yes, there are things we can’t possibly get done in one day. Even if we work on them all day, we may need more time; and completion may have to be “put off” until tomorrow. However, we can still use the day to make progress. So imagine the thing(s) you constantly put off never getting done–Period. Next, consider how that makes you feel. Are you willing to live with that possibility? If not, that means the thing (or those things) you put off deserve more…
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“There is no such thing as a ‘self-made’ man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.”
The difference between treating a physical vs. an emotional wound is that one heals faster when it’s covered and the other doesn’t
Walking By Faith
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Given a choice, most people would rather have only success and no failure. However, this quote, by the writer Truman Capote, reminds us that failure is what makes success more sweet. This makes sense. Without failure, success is taken for granted. In fact, the idea of success loses much of its meaning without its direct opposite. It turns out, the two go hand in hand. So the next time you are experiencing failure, just think about how much more rewarding success will be having failed first.
