Daily Motivator - September

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September 1

Figure it out and get it done

There is a way to solve the problem, to get past the challenge, to reach the goal. Figure it out and get it done.

You are creative, resourceful, imaginative, and energetic. Put all your best qualities to work, and persist until the work is done.

On a daily basis for all your life you’ve accomplished what you’ve set your intention to accomplish. Decide what to do, commit to getting it done, and you will.

Don’t sell yourself short. Rather than settling back with excuses, move forward with action.

Take the first step, see what happens, and learn from it. With each effort you’ll become more effective, more focused, more invested, committed, and persistent.

Discover how much you can do by doing as much as you can. Be amazed and delighted at what you can figure out, and at all the good things you will accomplish.

— Ralph Marston

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September 2

Love without hate

Hatred gives power, attention, influence to whatever you hate. Is that really what you want?

If your love for one thing is conditioned by your hatred for something else, is it really love? Or is it just a path to continuous misery and destruction?

Life will always involve conflict and adversity, yet you have the power to rise above it all. You have the power to love without condition.

You can refuse to let your energy be consumed by fear and rage. You can choose to invest all you are, all you have, in the positive possibilities.

That does not mean you must live in a state of ignorance or denial. You can see and acknowledge the difficulties, the imperfections, the injustice and absurdity, without compromising your love for life and for all who live it.

The way to move beyond the conflict is not to give more fuel to it. Summon your courage and strength to love without hate, and forge a positive path forward.

— Ralph Marston

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September 3

One thing

Narrowing your focus down to one thing, is difficult. Because to do so, you must turn your focus away from all other things.

Yet it is also powerful to focus on one thing. What you discover, understand, achieve, can be nothing short of amazing.

It’s great to be ambitious, but if you spread your ambition too thin, you destroy its effectiveness. If you seek to have it all, to do it all, to experience it all, you make it impossible for anything to have any meaning.

No particular possession or experience, nor all of them for that matter, will provide the fulfillment you desire. It is your pursuit, your effort, your struggle, your investment of yourself in a specific purpose, that brings fulfillment.

You can pose for the selfie, buy the t-shirt, say you did it, and move quickly to the next item on your long, meaningless list. Or you can slow down, give time, thought, meaning and long focus to what you’re doing, and come away with real richness.

Give immense value to each possibility you pursue by letting go of the other possibilities for a while. Really focus, and make it truly special.

— Ralph Marston

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September 4

Your time for action

In the face of opportunity, take action. In the face of trouble, take action.

The day will get off to a great start, or it will get off to a difficult, challenging start. In either case, you can do something about it, you can do something positive with it.

Don’t wait for someone else to handle it. Throw out the excuses, jump past your hesitation, and take action.

The problem is not going to solve itself. The opportunity is not going to unfold on its own.

Look around, see the world as it is, acknowledge what’s going on, and make yourself useful. Whatever there is to work with, get to work with it.

This is no time for empty wishes, self pity, complaints or endless procrastination. This is your time for action, so seize the moment and do good work with it.

— Ralph Marston

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September 5

Opportunity of today

There are things you meant to do, wanted to do, thought about doing, but never did. And it’s likely your biggest regrets are for those opportunities never pursued.

Yet in a strange and wonderful way, now you can also be thankful for what you never did. Because you freed up time, space, and energy to become who you are.

Even with the missed opportunities, even with the regrets, you have arrived at today. And today, you can take every past achievement, disappointment, good moment, and difficult stretch, and put it all to positive use.

The energy, the drive, the inspiration you now have, is yours to use as you see fit. Whatever you are now feeling, you can apply it toward moving forward.

Sadness, regret, gratitude, nostalgia, satisfaction, disappointment, all can be stirred into the mix. Combine their energy with a new sense of purpose and commitment, and do precisely what you choose to do.

Though the past opportunities are gone, their absence has presented you with the opportunity of today. Now you know better, and today is an opportunity you surely do not want to miss.

— Ralph Marston

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September 6

Magic of persistence

You’re not likely to find a simple, brilliant answer that will instantly make everything better. But that’s okay, because you have persistence.

Step after difficult, imperfect step, you can make progress, with persistence. You can learn, you can adjust, you can improve, and you can steadily push your way through each task.

There’s nothing you can do to stop the passage of time. What you can do, however, is harness the power in every moment of time, with persistent effort.

With persistence, you can do the work that others consider to be beneath them. And by so doing, you will rise far above your present circumstances.

There is no magic bullet at your disposal. Yet you do have the living magic of persistence.

There’s nothing stopping you from putting persistence to work right now. Keep going, keep going, keep going, and you will get yourself wherever you want to be.

— Ralph Marston

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September 7

Reclaim your momentum

If you should happen to lose your momentum, don’t give up on it. Do what’s necessary to get it back.

When the flow of your effort is unexpectedly interrupted, don’t make that an excuse to stop. Instead, let it prompt you to quickly recommit to the effort.

You’ve put in a lot of work getting to this point. Make all that work count for something by continuing on with it.

It’s natural to be dismayed about losing your momentum. So let your dismay inspire you to reclaim that momentum.

You were knocked off track, but that’s no reason to wander around in the wilderness. Put all your focus on getting back to what you were doing, getting back in the flow.

Your forward momentum is worth the work you put into creating it, and worth getting back if you lose it. Reclaim your momentum, and make it stronger than ever before.

— Ralph Marston

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September 8

Mental discipline

Physical discipline can be difficult. Mental discipline is even more difficult.

Your thoughts are powerful, which is great. And keeping your thoughts focused on what you’re doing demands constant commitment.

Your thoughts will wander if you let them, and there are often times when it’s good to let them. Yet you draw great benefit from being able to keep your thoughts focused in one place for a while.

You are already in control of your thoughts. You just have to set the intention to exercise that control, and continually follow through on that intention.

If you catch your mind wandering off topic, gently nudge it back where you have chosen to keep it. Remind yourself how much you can accomplish when you choose to maintain your mental focus.

Your mind is powerful, yet it can only do so much at once. Make a habit of focusing on a single task for extended periods, and gain maximum benefit from all that power.

— Ralph Marston

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September 9

New season

A child wishes summer would last forever. But if summer actually did last forever, it would very soon grow painfully boring and tedious.

One season ends, and makes room for a fresh new season, full of energy and possibilities. One door closes, another opens, one opportunity disappears, and another is just over the horizon.

Summer comes to an end, as does every good season. And all those impending deadlines prompt you, motivate you, beg you to make the most of right now.

The bananas on your kitchen counter are there to be eaten, now, before they turn brown and mushy. The hours in this day are here to be lived, to be filled, before they turn into hazy regrets.

Life is defined by change, sustained and energized by change, inseparable from the changes. Embrace this moment now, when you can, and then embrace the next one as it arrives.

This season won’t last forever. Yet the values you live, the love you give and plant firmly in your heart, will survive all the passing days.

— Ralph Marston

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September 10

Not about you

Much of what feels like frustration is just your ego being wounded. Tamp down your ego, and the frustration goes away.

A great deal of the anger that immobilizes you is just your ego asserting itself. Let go of your ego’s directives, and free yourself from the grip of anger.

Whenever anything gets you down, or fills you with doubt, with hesitation, is it really you who is dejected and hesitant? Or is it your ego’s inflated sense of self?

There are times and circumstances when your ego can offer valuable perspective. But it’s never a good idea to let your ego control your every move.

How do you step away from the destructiveness of your ego? Simply remind yourself, whatever you’re doing, wherever you are, that it’s not about you.

Rise above the debilitating effects of envy, anger, frustration, apprehension, humiliation, and more. Empower yourself by reminding yourself, it’s not about you.

— Ralph Marston

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September 11

Thoughts into action

Thoughts are important, but they’re not everything. For your thoughts to have value, you must put them to work.

By all means, think through what you intend to do, but don’t let your thinking become the final objective. Put your well-developed thoughts into action.

There is a point beyond which your thoughts cannot be improved by more thinking. Indeed, if your thoughts are never challenged they will just grow weak and irrelevant.

Get out of your head and into the real world. Take all those thoughts you’ve been thinking and do something practical and useful with them.

There’s no limit to what you can think, and that’s very powerful. Yet it can also be dangerous, and lead you far away from reality.

Focus and refine the power of your thoughts by regularly applying them in the real world. Think about what you do, act on what you think, allowing your thoughts and actions to draw great benefit from each other.

— Ralph Marston

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September 12

Let your spirit soar

Your spirit yearns to soar. Find a way, often, to let it do so.

Make all your effort and trouble worth all the effort and trouble. Fall deeply in love with being alive, in a fresh new way, again and again.

Step away from the silly desire to be impressed with yourself. Simply allow yourself to be yourself, to experience the wonder, the magic, the miracle, of existence.

Take time to be so fully alive that you lose all thoughts of yourself. Open yourself to see, to hear, to feel the moment for what it is, which is everything.

Give your spirit space to roam, to explore, to enjoy, to play. Know how good, and right, and empowering it feels too simply be.

Inject some new, living energy into your life. Make the time, provide the opportunity, to let your spirit soar.

— Ralph Marston

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September 13

Let gratitude lift you up

For every single thing that troubles you, there are dozens of other things for which to be thankful. Always, you can summon more than enough gratitude to overwhelm and overpower your sorrow.

Even within those matters that get you down, are aspects you can be thankful for. Go ahead, and let gratitude lift you up.

When sleep has been restless and morning has come too soon, be thankful for the warm water you can splash on your face. As the sun disappears after a challenging day, be thankful for the opportunity of tomorrow.

Feel the transformative power of gratitude as it directs your focus away from problems and toward solutions. Allow your thankful perspective to populate your awareness with new possibilities.

Embark on journeys of thankful imagination. Envision all the good actions of people all over the world who contribute to the enrichment of your life.

In every situation, seek to be thankful. And discover how reliably and how profoundly your gratitude will lift you up.

— Ralph Marston

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September 14

Get on with life

Bitterness is a choice. And you never have to choose it.

Plenty of people, situations, twists of fate could understandably make you bitter. Yet nothing has to make you bitter unless you choose to be bitter.

Whether it lasts for a week or for a lifetime, bitterness adds no value to your life. Even when you have a good reason to be bitter, bitterness is never a good choice.

By a long shot, the person who is hurt most by your bitterness is you. Instead of choosing bitterness, choose to quickly get past it.

Decide not to punish yourself one moment longer for what’s already been said and done. Decide to get on with life, and to get positive about it.

Leave the transgressions of your past, in your past. You have too much to live for, too much good to do, to let even the smallest bitterness hold you back.

— Ralph Marston

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September 15

A bit of kindness

Offer a bit of kindness to life today. Offer a bit of kindness, and discover how much it grows.

You’ll find plenty of opportunities to give kindness away, yet that kindness never goes away. The more you give kindness, the more there is.

Looking for a quick and accessible way to get yourself positively focused? Give a bit of kindness, and elevate your perspective to a more favorable, effective place.

There’s no limit to the goodness that will result when you give a bit of kindness. Each kindness takes on a life of its own, and can keep building upon itself long after you’ve forgotten about it.

Eventually, all those bits of kindness you give will come back to you. Though you won’t know exactly how, your world will be warmed by every kindness you offer.

Give a little bit of kindness, every chance you get. It’s a gift that never stops making life better.

— Ralph Marston

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September 16

Hidden opportunities

What disadvantage can you turn into an advantage? There are plenty of possibilities.

The challenge of maintaining your focus in a noisy, distracting environment can actually improve your ability to focus. The challenge of working with insufficient resources can improve the value you’re able to achieve with those resources.

Being short on time teaches you to make the highest use of the time you have. It also provides real-world experience in prioritizing your activities.

When no one is able to give you a good answer, you’ll learn to develop the best answer on your own. When circumstances offer you no other choice, you are forced to be creative and resourceful.

Cursing your disadvantages won’t make them go away. But then, maybe it’s not really in your best interest for those disadvantages to go away.

Choose instead to look for how they can, in the long run, work to your advantage. See them as the hidden opportunities they are, and do the work to bring those opportunities fully to life.

— Ralph Marston

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September 17

Run to the effort

Run to the effort and jump right into it. Because the effort is worth much more than it could ever cost you.

Only by giving your effort are you able to experience life at its richest and most meaningful. You are made to do, to work, to act, as you discover again and again by how right it feels.

Run to the effort, and put yourself into the realm of possibility and achievement. Run to the effort, and experience for yourself how consequential your life can be.

Spend an hour making the effort, and create value and satisfaction that endure far into the future. Build on that value with even more effort, and the possibilities are truly limitless.

Right now, you have the chance to do something truly amazing. You have the chance to make a positive difference.

Run to the effort, and make that difference. Run to the effort, and experience the beauty of doing what you do best.

— Ralph Marston

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September 18

Go with what works

Go with what works. Continue it, support it, double down on it, expand on it.

Move away, as quickly as possible, from what doesn’t work. And fill the time, fill the space, use the energy for what does work.

Yes, it is as simple as that. It’s not easy to admit to yourself, or to put into practice, yet it is simple and straightforward.

Because at some level you know. You know what pushes you in a positive, creative, fulfilling direction, and what pushes all that goodness away.

Make the choice to go with what works best for your life, and for the lives around you, and for the world. Though that choice can initially be difficult and painful, you know that ultimately it is your best choice.

Refuse to live at anything less than your highest level. Remind yourself, again and again, to go with what works.

— Ralph Marston

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September 19

Stronger through every weakness

You have your weaknesses, as does every person. Make sure each weakness serves as a challenge to become better, not as an excuse to fail.

Let each weakness prompt you to refine, control, improve your behavior. Don’t ever allow any of them to justify negative behavior.

Choose never to see yourself as a victim of your weaknesses or difficulties or your unique situation. Though the burden is very real, it does not have to define you or compromise your integrity.

Some weaknesses you can work your way out of, and some you cannot. Yet what you can always do is build within yourself enough strength to more than offset each weakness.

No one is perfect, circumstances are rarely ideal, and difficulties always appear. Even so, with all the imperfections, there are plenty of good, valuable, beautiful things you can do.

Identify your weaknesses, work on them, but don’t let them make you any less than the best you can be. Choose instead to rise to their challenge, and to grow stronger through every weakness.

— Ralph Marston

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September 20

The best input

The quality of your output is highly dependent on the quality of your input. What quality is the input you are giving to your life?

Vigorous, healthy activity, good nutrition, positive, truthful information sources all lead you toward favorable outcomes. So do beneficial habits, a variety of experiences, uplifting thoughts, and enthusiastic people.

If the results you desire are not coming out of your efforts, ask yourself this. What can you do to improve what you’re putting in?

You can’t make a quality product from inferior raw materials. To achieve the best outcome, start with the highest quality input.

Bypass the junk in your food, your facts, your friends, and your activities. Insist on truthful, in-depth information, quality nutrition, challenging work, and positive people in your life.

The quality of the life you live comes from the quality of what you put into it. Every day, every encounter, every choice, take the opportunity to give your life the best input.

— Ralph Marston

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September 21

Begin with what is right

Always do the right thing to begin with. It’s a whole lot easier and more reliable than having to make it right later.

Tell the whole truth up front, especially when it is a difficult truth. Delaying, obscuring, and avoiding that truth will only make it that much more difficult.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking you can cheat life or shortcut the process. Instead, give yourself the benefit of embracing the opportunity to do the right thing.

Avoid the necessity of long, tortured, dubious explanations, and avoid the temptation to cover up the truth. Just put your energy into doing the right thing to begin with.

Spend your time making new progress, not repeating old excuses. Put your effort into looking forward with confidence, and not looking back with worry.

Begin with what is right, what is good, what is useful, helpful, considerate, and honest. And position yourself to go in a truly successful direction.

— Ralph Marston

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September 22

Don’t overthink it

Give good thought and consideration to what you’re about to do. But don’t overthink it.

It pays to make good use of your intelligence. Take care, however, that you don’t substitute thinking for doing.

If your thinking gets in the way of making a decision, you’re probably overthinking it. If your thoughts wander off from whatever you’re working on, you’re overthinking it.

Look at what you’re doing now, and aim your thoughts at doing it well. Think and analyze enough to do your best work, but not so much that you get hopelessly distracted by those thoughts.

You have the amazing ability to think, and it gives you great power. Apply that power in a positive, effective, and consistent direction.

Think, visualize, analyze and imagine. Then get to work, and put those great things you’ve been thinking about into action.

— Ralph Marston

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September 23

Live with excellence

Whatever you do, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, do it with excellence. Achievement of the big things is crafted from excellence in the small things.

Today presents you with opportunities for excellence. Wherever you go, make it your business to leave a trail of excellence in your wake.

You can work, think, live with excellence no matter the situation or condition. Whether you have great resources or few, much cooperation or none, you can choose excellence.

Truly care about what you do, and about the people you do it for. Focus on your work, and on giving your best effort to it.

Though the task is mundane and may seem to go unnoticed, perform it with excellence. That’s how you achieve a genuine, unwavering commitment to excellence.

Show life how much it matters, how great it can be. In every moment, in all you do, choose excellence.

— Ralph Marston

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September 24

Before you complain

Before you complain about what someone did wrong, ask yourself this. Do you have a useful suggestion for how to do it better?

At best, criticism for the sake of criticism falls on deaf ears. Worse, it can provoke and escalate a conflict that no one is able to win.

Often it is necessary for you to point out someone else’s error. But that doesn’t mean you have to be gleeful or disparaging about it.

Your best approach is to be helpful. That’s true no matter how much or how little leverage you have in the situation.

Imagine yourself in the other person’s position. Based on that, figure out the most helpful way to frame the error and the most positive way to move forward from it.

Don’t waste your time and erode your relationships with empty, caustic criticism. Seek instead to be helpful, and to illuminate a positive path forward for everyone involved.

— Ralph Marston

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September 25

Authentically you

Be honest about being you. Pretense is stressful, expensive, difficult to maintain, and offers no real value.

Take a deep, satisfying, genuine breath of fresh air. Feel how good it feels to be at peace with who you are, with how you are, with all you love and care about.

There will always be those who don’t accept you, or don’t respect you. Let that be their problem, not yours.

Your purpose is not to impress anyone, or to get anyone to like you. Let yourself live and experience each moment in a way that is authentically you.

Go forward, do what you do, unburdened by worries about what others might or might not think. Focus on creating value, on making a difference, in the best way you know how.

Give your love and assistance to others, but don’t let the need to please others compromise who you are. Be authentically you, for that’s what’s in the best interest of everyone.

— Ralph Marston

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September 26

Challenge and encouragement

When there’s someone you wish to empower, here’s a proven, effective way to do it. Give challenge, and offer encouragement.

Doing all the work for another person, handling the situation yourself, just creates dependency. That’s not in anyone’s best interest, but neither is simply walking away without offering any help.

Challenge without encouragement is lazy, cowardly, and can even be cruel. Encouragement without challenge can be naive and ineffective.

Yet when you combine meaningful challenge with genuine encouragement, the results can be spectacular. You will launch the person on the road to continuing, independent success.

Whether it’s your employee, child, client, or friend, that’s a powerful gift to give. You’re not doing the work for them, but neither are you abandoning them.

Give a steady, balanced mix of challenge and encouragement. And give the opportunity for the person to develop their own courage, confidence, and ability to succeed.

— Ralph Marston

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September 27

Amid the imperfections

Expect the best, but don’t wallow in discouragement when events don’t unfold as you expected. Push toward perfection, but don’t let yourself be immobilized by imperfect results.

The fact is, difficult, unexpected, disappointing things will happen. Even with the best plans, the most diligent preparation, reality will often fall short of expectations.

When your efforts earn favorable results, let that inspire you to do even more. And when your results don’t meet your expectations, let that inspire you just as much.

Being disappointed is useful in the short term, but make sure it doesn’t morph into long-term discouragement. As soon as you feel disappointment, use that as a cue to begin a new, positive push forward.

Do all you can do, and then accept the reality of all that happens. Exercise diligent control over the things you can control, and refuse to be frustrated or demoralized by all the rest.

Life is not going to perfectly align with the way you envision it to be, but that’s okay. Because you can always do your best, always make things better, and continue to live very well amid all the imperfections.

— Ralph Marston

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September 28

State of the world

When you see things as better than they really are, you’re more likely to let up on your efforts. When you perceive things as worse then they are, you’re more likely to give up on your efforts.

The situation is rarely as bad as it seems, or as good as it seems. Even more significantly, the situation will change.

Whether you feel on top of the world, or crushed underneath all its pressure, or somewhere in between, your best choice is the same. Keep up your good, effective efforts.

Discouragement in the difficult times and complacency in the good times can rob you of your best possibilities. Decide not to indulge in either one.

Instead, do the very best work you can do, with what you have, in the situation you’re in. Let go of your need to continually judge the state of the world, and put your energy into improving it.

Things are as they are, and things will change. Do your part to make those changes as good and beneficial for as many people as possible.

— Ralph Marston

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September 29

Feel life

Take every opportunity to feel life. Feel life, without judgment or expectation, worry or agenda.

Feel grains of sand as they pass beneath your feet. Feel warmth as the deep red glow of sunrise first touches the morning.

Feel your own presence as it joins with the presence of others. Feel the thrill and freshness of thinking thoughts you have never thought before.

Feel joy and sadness as they each serve to balance the other. Feel the satisfaction of strenuous effort and the relaxation of well-deserved rest.

Feel the power of determination when the situation must be changed. Feel the confidence that comes from seeing yourself make a positive difference.

Feel love as it directs you in ways you cannot understand. Feel the entirety of life itself as its rich mystery continues to unfold in every moment, all around you.

— Ralph Marston

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September 30

Now is good

You can’t ever make the world perfect. You can always make the world better.

Don’t allow the troubles and imperfections to drag you toward anxiety. Let them fill you with inspiration and positive determination.

Decide to fully live and enjoy each moment as it is. Choose to be thankful, and you’ll find much to be thankful for.

Whenever anything goes awry, don’t see it as a personal assault. See it instead as an empowering challenge, an opportunity for you to make a difference.

Every day, you are blessed with the experience of life. In each hour, in each minute, in every situation, you can live life well.

Now is when you grow stronger, more experienced, more fully alive. In countless ways, now is good, and now you can make it better.

— Ralph Marston