Daily Motivator - August

[bluidkiti]

August 14

Ability to achieve

Make your goal simple. Make it specific and unambiguous.

Then set about to get it done. Keep going until you have achieved what you intend to achieve.

You have it in you to make that happen. Over the course of your life, you’ve done it again and again.

Now, get back to the basics that have been proven by your experience. Specify your intention with absolute clarity and then persist with your focus on that intention until it is done.

What would be of value, what would improve the lives of those around you, what would make a positive difference? Imagine it, define it, and do it.

You have more power than the doubts, the distractions, the complacency and the obstructions. You have within you the ability to achieve, and now you can make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 15

Take a break

With extended focus you create powerful results. But you can’t maintain focus indefinitely.

At some point your focus will begin to lose its effectiveness. That’s when an interruption, whether you choose it or not, is not such a bad thing.

Go ahead and take a break. Give yourself and your thoughts a valuable change of perspective.

Don’t see it as a failure or as an excuse to permanently abandon the work you’ve been doing. Don’t feel guilty or angry or annoyed about it.

Just remind yourself it’s a temporary break. Allow yourself to enjoy the refreshing change.

Then, with renewed energy you can get back to what you were doing. And your focus will be more effective, more creative than ever.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 16

Full goodness of right now

No matter the situation, you can always come up with a reason to be unhappy, or worried, anxious, fearful. And because those negative emotions are always available, always possible, you never have to hold on to them.

You become uptight because you anticipate certain difficulties or discomforts that are likely to arise in the near future. Yet the reality of right now is just fine, and you have the opportunity to experience a peaceful and productive moment.

Imagine letting go of all anxieties about the future and all resentments about the past. Consider how liberating that is.

Your time is right now. Give to this time, and to yourself, the benefit of your full awareness, uncorrupted by worries, fears, or angers.

You are wise to be concerned about potential troubles that loom just over the horizon. And yet in this moment that’s now yours, you have the opportunity to strengthen and fortify yourself.

Allow the full goodness of right now, unperturbed by what has been, by what might be. Now, feel your strength, your purpose, your resilience, your ability, and carry it all forward to successfully meet whatever may come.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 17

Action and enjoyment

Enjoyment is optional. Action is not.

You can get the work done, and benefit from it, without enjoying it. But you cannot enjoy the work, nor can you benefit from it, without actually doing it.

It’s great when you can enjoy what you’re doing, but it’s not an absolute necessity. If you have to choose between action and enjoyment, choose action.

Enjoyment can be a big help in getting things done, yet enjoyment alone is not sufficient. By all means let yourself enjoy your work as you can, but don’t make enjoyment your top priority.

Get in the habit of taking action even when it’s not enjoyable. Eventually your work will create much more enjoyment than any you might have missed along the way.

Make action your top priority and enjoyment a desirable bonus when it comes. That’s what will maximize both the level of achievement and the level of enjoyment in your life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 18

Ideal day

It would be nice to live your ideal day, but that’s probably not the one you have right now. What you have is the day that’s here.

And although today may fall short of perfection, it’s a perfectly good opportunity to add value, meaning and substance to life. It’s a day you can fill with the best you have.

Merely wishing for a different set of circumstances won’t accomplish anything at this point. Instead, use your energy to step forward and work with this day as it is.

The way today ends has the potential to be a whole lot better than the way it began. Right now you’re in position to make that happen.

Reflect for a moment on how today would be if it were indeed your ideal day. Then choose one aspect of that vision and do what’s necessary to bring it to life.

Today is not ideal, and yet that’s precisely the point of living it. Because you have the chance, and the ability, to push this day in an ideal direction.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 19

World of truth

There is a world where plenty of people appreciate the good work you and others do. There is a world where excellence and responsibility are valued over greed and indolence.

There is a world where beauty is admired, achievement is respected, and freedom is cherished. There is a world where people are grateful for the opportunity to make a difference, and exercise that opportunity all the time.

Where is that world? It is all around you.

It is in the actual, day-to-day lives that regular people live in accordance with objective reality. It exists far away from the fantasy realm of celebrities, politicians, self-proclaimed experts, and professional scolds.

It is a world where hope, faith, and authenticity are essential parts of each day’s experience. It is a world with a bright and positive future, where goodness works to create more goodness, where kindness is a real and prominent thing.

Though certainly not perfect, it’s a world that’s grown increasingly fulfilling for a long time, and will continue to do so. It’s a world that insists on truth, no matter how difficult, and that makes it a very good place to live.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 20

Better than anger

Your anger is justified and understandable. But it’s not very healthy or helpful, and it doesn’t feel so great.

You don’t have to carry that anger around, letting it weigh you down. You can transform it into a more positive force.

Instead of being angry about a particular problem, perhaps you could fix the problem. Even though you didn’t cause it, you can have the good fortune of being the person who solves it.

Seething about what’s already happened won’t bring new value into your life. Yet taking positive action to improve the situation can benefit you and a whole lot of other people.

Let go of the need to exact punishment and retribution. Fill yourself instead with the desire to promote goodness, cooperation, and understanding.

You can do a whole lot better than anger. Get creative, identify an alternative, and choose not to let anger wear you down.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 21

Experience adventure

In countless ways you experience adventure. What adventure are you embarking upon today?

Is it the adventure of working yourself into top physical condition? Or perhaps it’s the adventure of supporting people as they heal and recover from trauma and injury.

Is your adventure in working to make a process or an organization more effective and productive? Maybe it’s leading a group to laughter and joy.

The opportunities for adventure are everywhere. Living with an adventurous spirit is essential to keeping life going and revealing its most profound purposes.

Adventure is so much more than just some faraway dream. Adventure is key to how you successfully deal with reality.

Life offers it to you and you owe it to life. Live the adventure every day.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 22

Struggle

You struggle to understand. And that struggle gives you profound, indisputable ownership of whatever understanding you acquire.

Struggle is unpleasant. That does not mean it is futile.

Struggle is a difficult, draining experience, and from that experience can come great value. In times of struggle you discover and develop your strength by putting that strength to a meaningful test.

Struggle is unfair, uncomfortable, inconvenient, dangerous, painful, frustrating. Get yourself through the struggle and you have something real, something consequential, something that empowers every corner of your life.

You don’t always choose your struggles. Yet you always have the choice as to how you face them and what you do with them.

Within life’s greatest struggles are life’s greatest victories. Take them as they come, give your best, and seek to transform your struggles into a life of meaning, of purpose, of consequence.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 23

Get involved

The party has now begun. It’s your time to join the fun.

The sun just came up on a new day. Plenty of good things are possible, many of them are starting to happen.

It’s somewhat useful to speculate about what might be, or might have been. What’s much more valuable is to jump right in and get involved, right now.

When you participate you’re sure to encounter awkward moments, inconvenience, frustration. Go ahead, participate anyway, with all you have, being exactly and honestly who you are.

Get involved, commit yourself, live like you mean it. Make it your intention to make something rich and rewarding with the time in front of you.

The biggest regrets are for opportunities missed. Don’t miss this one that’s here for you now.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 24

Perspectives

Take a close and thoughtful look at the situation you’re in. Then fly up in the sky and look again, this time from forty thousand feet.

Experience yourself in the picture. Then envision yourself out of the picture and see it from various perspectives that are not yours.

You are important to you, and your immediate surroundings are important to you. But you are not the center of the universe, and it’s in your best interest to keep that always in mind.

How will your ideas, your plans, your actions, your words affect all the other people they touch? How can you tailor your undertakings to create maximum value for the most people?

Every dilemma, every opportunity, every conflict, every enterprise looks one way when you’re in it and another way from outside. Seek to understand and to find value in those varying views.

Perspectives sharpen your insight and boost your effectiveness. Get as many of them as you can.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 25

As it all unfolds

You’d like to find out how the story ends. But if you simply skip to the end, you miss the heart of that story.

It’s good to have matters resolved. Yet it takes time to happen, and you don’t want to ignore everything else in your life during that time.

When you’ve made a decision, or set a process in motion, give yourself time, give life time to let the results emerge. You’ll gain nothing by hovering uselessly around the oven while the cake is baking.

Do what you can, when you can, to move the process along. And when you’ve done all there is to do for the moment, point your focus elsewhere.

Your time, effort, and attention have great potential value. Invest them where that value can be realized.

With patience and understanding, welcome the time needed for situations to be resolved, questions to be answered, choices to play out. Continue living your life as it all unfolds.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 26

Value-producing efforts

Building a house requires a great amount of time and effort. Yet once the work is done, the house continues to provide value for decades, or even for centuries.

Planting and growing a field of spinach, or beans, or wheat takes much time and attention. Yet once the crop is harvested it provides nutritious food for hundreds or thousands of people.

There is similar benefit in the productive work you have the opportunity to do. With a significant commitment of focused action you can end up creating an even more significant reward.

You can’t possibly remember all the value-producing efforts you’ve put forth over the course of your life. Nevertheless, much of that accumulated value continues to enrich your life to this day.

Keep that in mind the next time you find yourself in the midst of a frustrating, challenging task. There’s a good reason you’re doing the lengthy and difficult work you do.

The value you’re able to create accrues to your benefit and to the benefit of many others, and can endure long after the work is done. It’s a good arrangement, one you can always be eager to make the most of.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 27

Put your values into action

The most powerful argument is not an argument at all. The most powerful argument is a good and fulfilling life.

The values and opinions you preach about will mostly just annoy people. Yet the positive results you achieve will cause those same people to seek you out.

Anybody can say anything, can scold, speculate, theorize, and make all sorts of fantastic promises. Yet what really matters is what you achieve, the difference you make in your own life and the lives of others.

There’s something you can do today to make tomorrow better than it otherwise would have been. You have the opportunity to put your values into action rather than just putting them into words.

Yes, what you say can be powerful. But it has to align with what you do, or your words ring hollow and meaningless.

Give more than lip service to what you care about. Give your time, your resources, your continuing effort, and embed your values deeply into life by the way you live.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

I was always told" practice what you preach"