5 Common Mistakes That Kill Your Motivation

Motivation is the driving force behind our actions. More motivation to do the right things is therefore one of the most common desires people have. But having motivation sometimes means not doing the things that kill it.

Do you make any of these five mistakes that kill your motivation to do what matters?

Each reason includes a powerful technique to help you overcome it and stay motivated.

1. You Wait For It

Motivation is based on your emotions and environment. The best way to increase your motivation, then, is to change your emotions or environment. But how do you do that?

Take action. It can change your emotions and environment at the same time.

Many people believe they need motivation to take action, but it more commonly follows action. Think about your motivation levels prior to and during a workout. Once you begin, do you notice an increase in motivation to finish? Of course, because nothing is more motivating than taking action, which triggers an emotional shift and changes your environment in one fell swoop.

How To Overcome Waiting For It

The way to take action before you’re motivated is to aim for the first small step. This works because it doesn’t require much motivation, and yet it triggers additional motivation. To work out, begin by getting your gym clothes on. To write, open your word processor (and write one sentence).

If you always wait for motivation to come first, you’ll be waiting half your life. And waiting for motivation is often demotivating! But if you get the process started, your emotional state and motivation will align with what your body is already doing.

 

2. You Don’t Believe In Yourself

Motivation is very sensitive to your beliefs. If you want to get in great shape, but don’t fully believe that your gym efforts will get you there, then you won’t be motivated to go to the gym. Psychologists call this self-efficacy, which is your belief in your ability to influence an outcome.

How To Overcome Self Doubt

If you don’t believe that taking action will change your life in a meaningful way, do some research. Read stories of others who have done it and focus on the cause and effect of their actions. It can be difficult to believe you can do something you’ve never done, and that’s what hurts motivation. But if you do your research and take action (with small steps), your beliefs will change, and your motivation to continue will increase.

 

3. You Let Short-Term Feelings Get In The Way

The word “motivation” has a short-term and long-term meaning. I’m 100% motivated to be fit in general and that never changes. But I’m not always motivated to exercise in this very moment.

In other words, you can want something in general, but not want it in any given moment due to your feelings and circumstances. Because the things we want tend to require hard work and effort, it’s easy to want them, but not want to put the required work in to get them.

How To Overcome Negative Short-Term Feelings 

Accept that you don’t need to feel motivated to work in this moment. It does not have to stop you. It only stops people when they confuse how they feel as being the same as their long-term desires. Again, small steps combat these short-term feelings well because they activate your longer-term, intrinsic motivation.

 

4. You Lose Track Of Why

For any goal, it’s imperative to remember why you’re pursuing it in the first place. What are the benefits? If you forget about the benefits, your goal is going to seem like an undesirable mountain of work! And there is nothing less motivating than a lot of work without a meaningful reward.

How To Remember Why

I recommend using a vision board to keep you mindful of why you’re putting forth all this effort. Vision boards are visual representations of your goals. They’re so effective because our minds think of concepts in a visual way.

 

5. You Try Too Much At Once

I’m a firm believer in aiming for small goals that can be built higher. Most people aim high immediately because the allure of the big reward gives them a motivating surge at first. This backfires, however, when they enter the inevitable “grind” phase of goal pursuit. This is when the reward seems distant, yet the work is demanding. How unmotivating!

How To Overcome Unrealistic Goals 

Start small to keep your goal unintimidating; even when the reward seems distant, your workload will be bearable and you’ll be able to push through to bigger and better things. When you aim for the sure win, you’re much less likely to get discouraged and lose your motivation.

Source: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-common-mistakes-kill-motivation/

Inspiring and Motivational - How This Man Built A $3M Business A Year After Four Years In Prison

 

Frederick Hutson, CEO and cofounder of Pigeonly

 

Frederick Hutson is a man who sees business opportunities in everything. By his own admission, this doesn’t always work out for the best. Hutson spent over four years in prison after getting busted for an opportunity he saw in drug trafficking, a huge market, and one that was as he saw it, ripe for disruption. Police busted him at his Vegas mail store, where he’d been reducing inefficiencies by rerouting marijuana through his Florida business via FedEx, UPS and DHL.

Hutson, who’d built several businesses before and after a stint in the Air Force, which he left with an honorable discharge, began meditating on new ideas soon after he started his 51-month sentence in 2007, aged 24. “I did my time that way,” he says. “While I was there I just saw how grossly inefficient the prison system was and there was just so many opportunities.”

A big gripe for the 2.3 million doing time in the US is keeping in touch with friends and family on the outside. There’s no internet in prison so all communication is through snail mail or the phone. Calls are often expensive and long distance. Relatives and friends, leading increasingly digitized lives, write less and don’t get around to sending photos for weeks on end.

“It was a pain point I experienced firsthand,” says Hutson. “I’m very close with my family and I knew they cared about me but even with knowing how much they cared about me they were still sometimes unable to send me photos.”

Transitioning from digital to analog is tough, says Hutson. It’s hard to sit down and write a letter now but simple to text or email. What if you created a website that printed out emails, texts or photos from your computer, Facebook or Instagram and mailed them for you in the plain white envelopes these institutions favored?

The idea for Pigeonly was born. Essentially, it’s a platform that centralizes the myriad state-level databases making it a quick search to find where an inmate is in the system – Hutson himself was moved eight times during his stay – as well as a way to communicate. “People get lost in the system all the time,” he explains. “We have attorneys contacting us trying to find their clients.”

Through its sub-brands, Fotopigeon, which sends digital prints to inmates and Telepigeon which lowers phone call rates through VoIP, Pigeonly is on track to be profitable on about $1 million in revenue in its first year following $2 million in seed financing from Silicon Valley investors. 

Hutson’s Las Vegas-based team has grown from two to twelve. Key to this was getting accepted to NewMe, a Sillicon Valley-based accelerator for underrepresented minorities. It was the only accelerator to accept Hutson, he says.

When he started as part of the winter 2013 cohort, he and his cofounder Alfonzo Brooks had already launched a version of Pigeonly while Hutson was still in his halfway house. They’d quickly picked up 2,000 customers by directly mailing inmates touting their services.

“We identified 500 people and sent them greeting cards saying here’s a product people can use to send you photographs. Three or four days after our cards landed we started seeing people show up on our website creating accounts and sending photos so we kept doing that,” says Hutson.

At NewMe Hutson started re-orienting the business from a few services to a searchable platform and began taking meetings with investors. “In the very beginning I was hesitant to even talk about my background but the question would always come up, well how do you know?” he says.

NewMe’s founder Angela Benton gave Hutson some advice. “She said, look some people are not going to vibe with you and they’re not going to be able to get on board with what you’re doing – there’s going to be a block because you’ve been in prison and you don’t look like the typical person they invest in,” he remembers.

When he focused instead on the people who were open and understood that his background was why he knew this problem exists he started gaining ground. “A lot of times a thing that can be perceived as a weakness actually turn into the greatest strength and for me it was that. It actually became the reason people invested – because I’d been there, and I know and understand this market better than anybody else,” he says.

Still, fundraising was no cakewalk, he says. “It can be hard because as an entrepreneur you feel like it’s your baby and when you talk to someone about your baby and they go, no that’s whack I’m not interested you can’t take that personal, you have to be able to talk to the next person with the same intensity and fervor,” he says.

Convincing investors to write a check for the first million was the hardest. “I probably talked to about 60 investors, and in our seed round we had six, so that gives you an idea of how many no’s you had to get to the six yes’s,” he says.

Hutson thinks prisons are a natural pool of entrepreneurs. “When you take away that seven percent or so that did something violent that people are afraid of, people who we need to have locked up, most of the other guys were selling drugs or involved in some kind of scam or did some kind of wire fraud, or white collar crime that was motivated by finances,” he says. “So you just really got the business model wrong, you got the product wrong, the goal was wrong but if you can apply that same drive and bottom line principles to something positive then now you have a viable business.”

He learned a lot from his fellow inmates inside. “In some facilities that the classes they have aren’t taught by people outside, they’re taught by other inmates,” he says. “So you’ll have a guy who has a white collar crime who might have embezzled 40 million dollars and he knows something about business because he ran some listed company and now he has a 36 month federal sentence for tax evasion – he’ll teach a class on how to form an LLP or start a balance sheet.”

Still, getting prisoners ready to reenter society isn’t a big priority, thinks Hutson. “Most institutions are geared around containment,” he says. “Most are based around ‘you don’t leave and you guys don’t kill each other while you’re here’ – that’s their priority number one.”

With reoffending rife – one study tracked 404,638 prisoners in 30 states after their release from prison in 2005 and found 68% were rearrested within three years – some organizations are already turning to entrepreneurship as a way forward. For example, the Houston-TX-based Prison Entrepreneurship Program, which trains around 250 prisoners a year in launching a business says instances of inmates reoffending once they’ve completed the course is only 5%.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hollieslade/2014/08/21/how-this-man-built-a-3m-business-a-year-on-from-four-years-in-prison/

This Inspiring Video Will Change your Attitude Towards Helping Other People

First, Take the Plank Out of Your Own Eye - Sunday Inspiration

A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbour hanging the wash outside.

“That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” 

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. 

About a month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this.” 

The husband replied, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life…What we see when watching others, depends on the window through which we look.

When you never fail to spot something wrong with other people, stop and check yourself…it is very likely that you have a similar, perhaps even worse problem, which you should address first…then you can go help your neighbour (that is if they need your help in the first place).

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?

First, take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Luke 6: 41 – 42 (NIV)

So, have you ever tried to remove a speck from someone else’s eye when in fact you had a plank in yours? Inspire us with your example - leave a comment, please.

Anthony Robbins Motivates You in 20 minutes

Shake off the Dust…Don’t Give Up!

 

There was a farmer who had a donkey that he was very fond of; the donkey had served him faithfully for years and was very precious to him. 

As the donkey grew older, the farmer would allow it to go around the farm unaccompanied and it would return to the barn after some time. The donkey went out one morning and had not returned by noon – which was very unusual. The farmer was uncomfortable and decided to look for the donkey; as he moved around the farm, he heard a noise from one of the pits located at the far end of the farm. On getting to the pit, he saw that the donkey had fallen into the pit and was struggling to come out. It was crying and wailing, seeking for help.

The farmer called his sons and they tried to lift the donkey from the pit using ropes but it was too heavy. Neighbours came along to help get the donkey out but all to no avail. 

The more they tried, the more tired everyone including the donkey became. It was probably going to take a crane or the aid of a chopper to get the big old donkey out of the pit, but they could not afford either.

After trying all they could, they finally decided that burying the donkey was the only viable option… the farmer could no longer stand the anguish and pain it was going through. The earth from the pit was still close by so they all grabbed shovels and started throwing earth back into the pit. As they started the process, the cry became louder but then the donkey became quiet and everyone felt it was due to tiredness.

One of the farmer’s sons wanted to see what was happening and was shocked by what he saw when he looked into the pit. 

As each load of earth thrown into the pit landed on the donkey’s back, it would shake it off and then step on the sand. Thus, it was moving up the pit. When the son told the farmer about the development, they all started throwing in the earth with renewed enthusiasm and the donkey was lifted by every shovel of earth. Before long, the donkey simply walked out of the pit.

The farmer was so glad to have his reliable old donkey back…

How often do we give up when things are not going our way? 

Oftentimes, we resign to fate instead of pushing just a little more. Like the donkey in the story, we need to learn to shake off disappointments, failures and problems, and not dwell too long on them.

It is also interesting to note that what was meant to bury the donkey, lifted it out of its predicament! That ugly situation will only get the better of you if you allow it to. No problem is as bad as it appears. Something good can still come out of that mess. 

Your attitude to your problem is more important than the problem itself. It is what you make out of your situation that counts. If others have given up on you, do not give up on yourself. Shake off the dust…don’t give up!

Even More Inspiring Than We Realised...Michelle Obama

We're reliving Michelle Obama's most inspirational quotes to date. What an incredible First Lady and generally fabulous human being... 

 

1. 'You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world's problems at once but don't ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.'

2. 'One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.'

3. 'I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.'

4. 'Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we're scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don't have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own "to do" list.'

5. 'Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond, that you do what you say you're going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them.'

6. 'I never cut class. I loved getting As, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.'

7. 'Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.'

8. 'And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.'

9. 'Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.'

10. 'There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.'

11. 'I am so tired of fear. And I don't want my girls to live in a country, in a world, based on fear.'

12. 'When I get up and work out, I'm working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It's just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.'

13. 'We should always have three friends in our lives: one who walks ahead, who we look up to and follow; one who walks beside us, who is with us every step of our journey; and then, one who we reach back for and bring along after we've cleared the way.'

14. 'Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts... Good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don't hurt. They're not painful. That's not just with somebody you want to marry, but it's with the friends that you choose. It's with the people you surround yourselves with.'

15. 'Just do what works for you, because there will always be someone who thinks differently.'

Source: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/545340/and-here-s-why-michelle-obama-is-a-total-inspiration.html

First Within, Then Without - An Inspirational Story of Change

 

The Barbers and Hairstylists of the United States were about to have their national convention. They wanted people to appreciate their profession and wanted  to give Americans a better image of their profession. 

They hired a young Public Relations executive to handle the job and help in packaging the convention. 

The young man thought of a very brilliant idea and went to work immediately. He went down town the city of New York, to the slums, and picked up a young man who obviously was a street urchin, who was looking so unkempt, with clothes that were tattered and soiled. His hair was unkempt and his beard dirty. 

The guy listened to the young executive’s offer, and since there was some money involved, they bargained and the area boy agreed to the conditions given.

The young executive took him first to a photographer’s shop and had some snaps of him taken the way he was; dirty and unkempt. Then he gave him a face lift: a steam bath, a shave and a hair cut, and then took him to the photographer for another round of snapshots. But he was not finished. The young executive took the man to town and got him professionally made suits, shirts, ties and shoes. Then he had a third round of photographs snapped.

On the day the convention started, the young executive positioned three life-size photographs of his subject in the lobby of the hotel, so every one who came in saw the transformation that had happened to the man. And he wrote at the top of those pictures, “See what the Barbers and Hairstylists of America can do to a man”. And the story immediately hit the headlines across America.

For effect, the well-suited street urchin was positioned at the hotel lobby to shake hands with people as they came in for the convention. The strategy worked. The campaign was a success. 

The Manager of the Hotel was touched; he fell in love with the young man and decided to do something to help him. He decided to get him a job. He made some phone calls and it was agreed that the man should start work with one of the manager’s friends. So he had an agreement with the man to come back on Monday to resume work.

However, on the agreed Monday, he expected the man all day but he didn’t show up. The next day, there was still no sign of him. When the young man didn’t show up after a month the manager forgot about him.

After some months, they were going through their store, when the manager saw the picture of the man again and then decided to go down to the slum to look for the guy. He had the picture of the guy, and he kept asking but nobody knew the man. Then after one hour it occurred to him that he was holding the picture of the street urchin after he had been cleaned up. So he went back to pick the picture he took before he was cleaned up and within a few minutes the man was located - back in the slums.

The message in the story is this; the Barbers and Hairstylists of America can change the outside of a person in a few hours but if they don’t change the person’s inside, that person has not yet changed. Although the young man was changed outwardly, inwardly he was the same old street urchin.

Source: http://www.successpowermedia.com/first-within-then-without/

RIP Robin Williams - 10 Quotes From the Man Who Inspired Us With Laughter

The death of Robin Williams silenced one of Hollywood's most famous voices. 

 

An animated and prolific performer, Williams was known for colorful and thoughtful personality. With more than 100 acting roles and charismatic personality out of character, the actor touched fans with his words.
 
Keep Williams' spirit alive through some of his most memorable quotes that capture his powerful voice both on screen and off.

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Source: http://mashable.com/2014/08/11/robin-williams-quotes/

Looking past limits - Inspirational Talk by Caroline Casey

The Storm is Over - An Inspirational Story

 

A lady and her father set out on a journey on a wet and windy day. They felt that the journey might be rough and tough but they decided to set out anyway. 

Not too long after they started the journey, they came upon a storm, and the young lady asked her father, “What should I do?”

“Keep driving,” answered the dad. She was a little hesitant but decided to follow her dad’s instruction, so she kept driving.

However, she noticed that most cars were pulling over to the side, and the storm was getting worse. Once again, she asked him; “What should I do.” “Keep driving,” her father replied.

They drove for another few minutes when to her amazement, she noticed that eighteen wheelers were also pulling over. She told her dad, “I must pull over now, I can barely see ahead. It is terrible, and everyone is pulling over!” Her father told her, “Don’t give up, just keep driving!”

Now the storm was terrible, but she didn't stop driving, and soon she could see a little more clearly. After a couple of miles she was again on dry land, and the sun came out.

Her father said, “Now you can pull over and get out.”

“But why now?” she queried.

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” answered the dad.

After pulling over, her dad got out of the car. “Now look back at all the people that gave up and are still in the storm. The reason we are here on dry land and are able to look back at the other people still struggling in and with the storm, is because you never gave up, and because you did not give up, your storm is now over”.

This story reminds me of the Eagle. It is said that the eagle is the only bird and creature that does not fear the storm; rather it goes into the storm. 

Why? Because just behind the eye of the storm is sunlight.

While the other birds are running up and down, making noise and absolutely confused, the eagle goes into the eye of the storm and comes out on the other side of the storm.

Everyone may be giving up, but not you!

The strong may even give up but not you!

The bright and talented may give up but not you!

If you keep on, you will get to the other side - where the sun shines!

Remember:

The battle is hottest when it is almost over

It is darkest just before dawn

Behind the storm is sunlight!

 Have a storm-free day.

100 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You to Be Successful

As entrepreneurs, leaders, and bosses, we must realize that everything we think about we are projecting into the future.

Read on to find the words of wisdom that will inspire your heart, motivate your mind in building your business, leading your life, creating success, achieving your goals, and overcoming your fears.

100 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You To Be Successful:

1. If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission. ~Anonymous

2. Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. ~John Wooden

3. To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~Anonymous

4. If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary. ~Jim Rohn

5. Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it's safe or certain. ~Anonymous

6. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. ~Swami Vivekananda

7. All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. ~Walt Disney

8. Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them. ~Anonymous

9. If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got. ~Anonymous

10. Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill

11. Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. ~Proverb

12. Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. ~Anonymous

13. Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them. ~Vaibhav Shah

14. Opportunities don't happen, you create them. ~Chris Grosser

15. Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. ~Albert Einstein

16. Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

17. I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas A. Edison

18. If you don't value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents- start charging for it. ~Kim Garst

19. A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. ~David Brinkley

20. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

21. The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it. ~Henry Ford

22. If you're going through hell keep going. ~Winston Churchill

23. The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do. ~Anonymous

24. Don't raise your voice, improve your argument. ~Anonymous

25. What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.~ Oscar Wilde

26. The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. ~Anonymous

27. The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~Bruce Feirstein

28. When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you. ~Lolly Daskal

29. Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. ~John D. Rockefeller

30. No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.~ Anonymous

31. Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

32. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. ~Albert Einstein

33. Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. ~Anonymous

34. Do one thing every day that scares you. ~Anonymous

35. What's the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable. ~Anonymous

36. Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~Lolly Daskal

37. Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. ~Anonymous

38. Knowledge is being aware of what you can do. Wisdom is knowing when not to do it. ~Anonymous

39. Your problem isn't the problem. Your reaction is the problem. ~Anonymous

40. You can do anything, but not everything. ~Anonymous

41. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. ~Steve Jobs

42. There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed. ~Ray Goforth

43. Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life. ~Dr. APJ Kalam

44. I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. ~Thomas Jefferson

45. The starting point of all achievement is desire. ~Napolean Hill

46. Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out. ~Robert Collier

47. If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work. ~Thomas J. Watson

48. All progress takes place outside the comfort zone. ~Michael John Bobak

49. You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing. ~Philippos

50. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absense of fear. ~Mark Twain

51. Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. ~Pablo Picasso

52. People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily. ~Zig Ziglar

53. We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret. ~Earl Nightingale

54. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Vidal Sassoon

55. The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning; to create a product or service to make the world a better place. ~Guy Kawasaki

56. I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing. ~Martha Stewart

57. It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. ~Anonymous

58. The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. ~Colin R. Davis

59. The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ~Ralph Nader

60. Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~Maya Angelou

61. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. ~Bill Gates

62. A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them. ~Henry Kravis

63. The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself. ~Mark Caine

64. People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy. ~Tony Robbins

65. When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. ~Audre Lorde

66. Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~Mark Twain

67. The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. ~Bruce Lee

68. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life -- think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. ~Swami Vivekananda

69. Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. ~Dale Carnegie

70. If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. ~ Jim Rohn

71. If you genuinely want something, don't wait for it -- teach yourself to be impatient. ~Gurbaksh Chahal

72. Don't let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning. ~Robert Kiyosaki

73. If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of your problems and start focusing on the size of you! ~T. Harv Eker

74. You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ~Steve Jobs

75. Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to doDon't wish it were easier, wish you were better. ~Jim Rohn

76. The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors. ~Napoleon Hill

77. The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them. ~Denis Watiley

78. In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it. ~Jane Smiley

79. Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. ~George Bernard Shaw

80. I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. ~Diane Ackerman

81. You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael Jordan

82. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. ~Jim Ryun

83. People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. ~Dale Carnegie

84. There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

85. Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter. ~Francis Chan

86. You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction. ~George Lorimer

87. To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can't just accept the ones you like. ~Mike Gafka

88. Success is...knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. ~ John C. Maxwell

89. Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice. ~Wayne Dyer

90. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.~ Anatole France

91. Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all. ~Dale Carnegie

92. You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals. ~Booker T. Washington

93. Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~Theodore N. Vail

94. It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~Herman Melville

95. Fortune sides with him who dares. ~Virgil

96. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it. ~Washington Irving

97. Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. ~Truman Capote

98. Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. ~John R. Wooden

99. You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. ~Margaret Thatcher

100. A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done. ~Vince Lombardi

As we read these thoughts, know they are sources of guidance in times of need, they can give us inspiration in times of struggle, they can motivate us in times of tribulations -- success is not final and failure is not forever: it is the motivation we to choose that matters most. 

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lolly-daskal-/100-motivational-quotes-t_b_4505356.html

15 Ways To Wake Up With Motivation

Through all of the stories of great successes, it’s the men and women who found their motivation and consistently used it as their main drive, who reach success.

 

Motivation and excitement about your vision, your ambition, your goal, give you energy and an ability to do what others can, but won’t do. If you’re motivated, you work longer hours, but are also more productive and focused in those hours you work. But what if you’re not internally motivated day after day to hustle, work, and trudge through the daily tasks that make-up the path to your end goal?

Are you relegated to a life of mediocrity, or is motivation something that can be coached, practiced, and created?

Today we’ll look at 15 ways to find the motivation that the Tony Robbins’, Mother Teresa’s, and Elon Musk’s of the world have.

1. Have your biggest dreams written on a massive white board

Your dreams and audacious goals should be written where you can consistently see them. I use a big white board next to my desk. On the white board are my big goals, my weekly goals, and motivational quotes. This helps me keep the eye on the prize, maintain focus, and ward off the distractions that make their way into my day.

2. Focus only on TODAY

We can get lost in thinking about the future or regretting the past. What’s terrible about this is that while you’re worrying and wishing you were in a different position in life, someone else is working.

Worry does no good. If you truly want to succeed you need to learn how to focus your mind only on the present. Do what you can do in the moment, work on the project at hand, accomplish your daily goals and tasks, and you’ll do the same with your bigger, lifelong goals and dreams.

3. Have only 3 things on your to do list that MUST BE accomplished

Don’t try and fill your day with too much. Sure, you’d like to get a lot accomplished, but there should be 3 (only 3) important tasks that NEED to be accomplished. Focus on these first. When they’re completed, and only when they’re completed, are you allowed to move on to other things.

Too many people spread themselves thin. What ends up happening is they get overwhelmed, which crushes their motivation, and nothing gets done.

If you’re focused, you’ll stay motivated, you’ll get more done, and you’ll be where you want to be a lot faster.

4. Practice discipline

Discipline isn’t sexy, but it’s necessary. It’s in discipline that we gain freedom. We gain freedom to get more done, to improve, and to remove regret from our lives.

When you’re focused only on today, doing only what needs to be done in the now, nothing else matters. But discipline needs to be practiced everyday.

When a reporter asked two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash, how often he trained growing up, he said (and I paraphrase) Everyday. I never missed a workout, because I knew that if I missed one, I’d give myself a reason to miss another.

If you practice laziness and distraction, that is what you’ll be, and you’ll be left with nothing but regret and failure. Practice being successful by doing what successful people do everyday: they remain disciplined.

Remember, take it one day at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed with eternity when the present should be your only concern.

5. Create an inspiring environment

Your environment HAS TO inspire you. Surround yourself with images that motivate you, but also in a clean, clear space. Clutter truly does clutter the mind, but it can also be depressing to be in a messy area.

Pattern your work environment as you’d love it to be. Spend a little money on a nice desk if that’s your thing, but make sure your work space inspires you and motivates you. This is where the magic happens. This is where you should be spending most of your time. So make sure it affects you positively.

6. Have a quotes list near your desk, and your bed

It’s not the critic who counts…The famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt is always close. Be it in my notebook (one of the two), or hanging from my bathroom mirror, or next to my bed, I always have inspirational quotes that keep me focused, upbeat, and aware that success isn’t immediate. That success takes hard work, dedication and much sacrifice.

If “making it” was easy, everyone would have made it. That’s why I respect all entrepreneurs, it takes guts to be in the arena.

7. Workout everyday

Part of staying motivated is warding off depressive thoughts. Being physically fit helps with that not only from an image and an energy aspect, but hormonally as well.

For men, being physically fit will help raise your natural levels of testosterone, which leads to diminished likelihood of depression. So get in the gym at least 4 times a week, and get outside and get active.

8. Set mini, measurable goals

You’ll have your big goals – and make sure they’re as clear as possible – but they need to be broken into smaller goals as well. Make these goals measurable and attainable in the near future (like “to-do’s”).

Everything should be measurable so you know where you are in relation to where you want to be (EVERYTHING).

9. Work in 90-120 minute intervals, interspersed with active breaks

Your work should be intense, purposeful, and focused. Studies have shown that we can do so for a 90-minute period, but tend to lose focus once that 90-minute period is finished.

One of the best ways to regain focus is to do something active. The endorphins released by a quick jog or set of sprints will help you not only gain energy, but regain focus.

10. Don’t work on small projects

That is, don’t set small goals that don’t excite you. You NEED TO BE excited about what you’re trying to accomplish. If it doesn’t excite you, how are you going to be motivated?

11. Clean once a week

Clean your house and work space once a week. Keep clutter and mess out of your life if you want to keep consistently motivated.

12. Take mini-vacations monthly

While the hustle and grind of creating something – i.e. the life of an entrepreneur – can be arduous and necessary, it needs “mini jolts”. Nature, for myself, is the best way to give me the jolts I need to stay focused, hustle daily, and accomplish big things.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money, but you should unplug once a month. Go local, but do what you gotta do to get out of your routine. You’ll not only be re-energized, but you’ll find that nature can enhance your creativity.

Bring a notebook and a book to accompany you on your adventure.

13. Read voraciously

Great people read. Books are their companions. Check out The Gates Notes - it’s Bill Gates' personal website, filled with his personal notes on whatever he’s reading.

In all of my study of great people, be they politicians, entrepreneurs, or conquerors, knowledge was something they all craved. If you want greatness in your future, read in your present.

14. Journal daily

Spend one week making notes about when your energy levels – and motivation levels – are at their highest. There should be patterns. Use these patterns to your advantage.

Put your most important tasks in the times when your energy levels are at their height (I do all of my writing in the wee hours of the morning, or late at night, when no one is awake to bother me, and I can focus on one thing).

A journal will also help with clarity. It’s far easier to be motivated when your mind is clear, and the road to your goal is as well.

15. Win your mental battles

In his book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill consistently refers to the battles we have in our minds. The rich think a certain way, and it isn’t necessarily a greedy way, but a positive one.

The thoughts that fill your mind should only aid you in your journey, they shouldn't detract from it. Now, you may think, How can I control all of the thoughts that come into my head. You may not be able to control what comes in, but you do have the power to control which ones you pay attention to.

Fill your mind with creative, positive, and ambitious thoughts. Don’t give energy to your fears and worries. They do nothing but move you further away from your goals.

Bonus: Eliminate ALL distractions

I have an app on my computer called “freedom”. It shuts down the internet and all social media for a time determined by me. I start this timer every time I sit down to write to ensure that I’m not distracted.

If social media distracts you, set up your tweets, posts, or shares with an app like Hootsuite, so your curiosity isn’t constantly getting the better of you.

If you have nothing to distract you, you have no choice but to work.

 

Source: http://addicted2success.com/motivation/15-ways-to-wake-up-with-motivation/