Daily Motivator - August

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August 14

Untapped potential

Be inspired by your successes. Be even more inspired by your failures.

Find great value in the good things you’ve done. Find even more value in all the good you have not yet brought yourself to do.

Challenge yourself in ways no one else can challenge you. Remind yourself that no matter what you’ve achieved, there is always more you can do.

Feel your untapped potential. Feel it so deeply you cannot avoid working to fulfill that potential.

See the great opportunity in everything you’ve left undone. Take hold of that opportunity with a renewed sense of energy and purposeful passion.

Think of all you’ve ever cared about and let it remind you how much you still do care. In that feeling is your potential, and in this moment is your chance to do something about it.

— Ralph Marston

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August 15

Authentic self

You know who you are, how you are, what you value. Refuse to let anyone tell you differently.

Some people who may not even know you will try to shame you, embarrass you, make you feel guilty. Anyone who does that has no special insight, just a self-serving desire to advance their own agenda.

You know what’s in your heart. You’re able to see for yourself what is true and what is not.

Respect the perspectives and opinions of others, and welcome their expression. But don’t allow anyone else’s opinion to define you or prevent you from living your truth.

To be a positive force in life, be your authentic self. There’s never any need to ask permission or forgiveness for that.

You have much good to offer life. Give that goodness, in whatever way you know to be best.

— Ralph Marston

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August 16

Looking up

If you want to get things looking up, start with yourself. Look up, look forward, look at the best possibilities, and look at how you can bring them to life.

Sometimes you have to look back, sometimes you have to look down, just to establish perspective. Once you’ve done that, though, it’s time to look in a more positive direction.

Look up, and notice there’s really no limit to how high you can go. Look up, replenish your energy, and activate your inspiration.

Look up, and you’ll be able to see beyond the obstacles that stand in your way. Look up, toward where you most desire to go, and begin to see the positive path that will take you there.

Feel the strength you’ve gained from the troubles you’ve been through. Look up, and give that strength a good, meaningful direction to go.

Get yourself looking up. By so doing you’ll invite and encourage the world around you to unfold in that same direction.

— Ralph Marston

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August 17

Just make the effort

Just make the effort. Don’t overthink it, or resent it, or wish for something better.

Go ahead and get it done. Don’t excuse your way out of it, or look for someone else to blame.

Will it be difficult? That’s mostly a judgment call, and one that does not change the situation.

What will change the situation is action, or lack of it. So it’s up to you, and what you do, whether that change is for the better or for the worse.

This is a turning point. This is the time when you can do something to positively affect the way your life unfolds.

So go ahead, do it, make the effort, give it your best. Your world is ready for your decisive action to improve it.

— Ralph Marston

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August 18

Beauty in the unknown

There is a beauty in the unknown. Embrace that beauty.

You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to have everything figured out.

Breathe in deeply the energizing air of possibility. Imagine beyond what you’ve already imagined.

Accept that you will make mistakes, and lose your way, and fail to understand. Realize that your competence, sense of direction, and wisdom will all grow stronger as a result.

Through your entire life you’ve learned by experimenting. Now it is more important than ever, more useful and effective than ever, to keep experimenting.

Beauty has always been more than what you thought it would be. Gently relax the desire for certainty and discover much more magnificence in reality.

— Ralph Marston

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August 19

Showing up

It’s okay that you don’t feel like showing up. It’s okay that you’re not excited about doing the work.

What’s powerful, though, is to go ahead with it anyway. That’s a power you can benefit from any time you choose.

Sure, it’s helpful to be enthusiastic about what you’re doing. Yet even when you’re not enthusiastic about it, you can still make progress.

In fact, every little bit of that progress helps you feel like putting in more effort. By going ahead when you’re not enthusiastic, you can actually generate some enthusiasm.

Know that, remind yourself of it, and put it to work in your favor. Success in any endeavor is largely a matter of showing up, and that’s something you can get yourself to do.

Show up, even when you’re not thrilled about it. Give yourself the satisfaction of a job well done and you’ll feel a whole lot better.

— Ralph Marston

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August 20

Competence from caring

You are the most competent and effective when working on what you care most about. If you wish to become more competent at anything, first make sure you connect it to what you value.

That connection will not always be obvious. Yet even when the task itself has no meaning to you, there’s a reason why you’re doing it.

Consider that reason, and the additional reasons behind it. Get clear on the connection between the seemingly pointless activity and whatever’s driving it that’s meaningful to you.

When you’re working on what you care about, you’ll continue discovering ways to improve your work. Your care and devotion to what you’re doing will illuminate potential improvements that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Competence comes from caring. Genuine caring comes from seeing that just about everything you do can be connected to what you value.

Be mindful of the reasons behind whatever you’re doing. There’s no limit to how much you can improve when you know how much you care.

— Ralph Marston

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August 21

Bestow a little goodness

Every aspect of your life is connected to every other aspect. Negativity, indolence, or negligence in one area can weigh down your whole world.

Fortunately, a little goodness in one corner of your experience can begin to lift up all the other parts of your life. When you value and nurture and support that goodness, it will grow.

Find a new place where you can inject a little positivity. Once you do, you’ll discover other opportunities for doing so in your own life and in the lives of others.

Often you cannot do anything directly about the troubles that descend on your world. Yet you can balance those troubles, and even overwhelm them, with goodness in other places.

You won’t be able to solve every problem. However, you can always do something real and genuine and beneficial.

Bestow a little goodness in your world when you can, where you can. Push life in an upward direction, and keep up the good effort.

— Ralph Marston

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August 22

Break the pattern

If life has been disappointing you, break the pattern. If you’ve been disappointing yourself, break the pattern.

That doesn’t mean throwing everything away and starting over. It’s a matter of forcing yourself to adopt a new perspective.

It means connecting with the living energy that makes you who you are. It means launching yourself on a mission that excites you and compels you into action.

Visualize yourself as feeling sluggish and bored on a sweltering day. Imagine the refreshing change you’d immediately achieve by jumping into a pool of clear, cool water.

What could you do right now, mentally, physically, spiritually, to create a change like that? What would send a burst of fresh, positive energy coursing through your entire being?

Open yourself to the possibilities of breaking any negative or unproductive pattern you may be in. Jump quickly into a higher, more satisfying level of living.

— Ralph Marston

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August 23

Put joy into it

What would the next hour look like if you made the decision, right now, to put joy into it? How would the next few days unfold if you were to focus on adding joy and gratitude to every activity?

It’s easy to assume that your circumstances and surroundings have complete control over the way you feel. But what if you made the choice to flip that around?

What if you brought your own irrepressible joy to the people, places, and circumstances you encounter? It’s perfectly reasonable, entirely attainable, and has the power to make a dramatic positive difference.

You don’t have to always be mentally scrolling through a list of problems and complaints. Instead, you can direct your attention to the blessings and opportunities of each moment you’re in.

There’s no reason to let every random occurrence dictate the way you feel. You have the option to choose joy, gratitude, positive intention, effective action, and love.

Whatever you’re doing, whoever you’re with, wherever you are, put joy into it. See what a positive difference that can make.

— Ralph Marston

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August 24

Waiting for a sure thing

Pretty much no course of action is guaranteed to produce the exact results you seek. Yet there are countless actions that will significantly increase your odds.

Factors completely beyond your control may very well block you from reaching your goal. Your best strategy is to make the most of the many other factors you are indeed able to influence.

If you’re expecting a sure thing you’ll wait a very long time, and even then you’re not at all likely to get it. Instead of holding out for a guarantee, go forward with whatever you have.

Yes, there’s the risk you’ll be wasting your efforts when there’s no assurance of success. However, that’s infinitely preferable to the certainty of wasting your time while you wait in vain for a sure thing.

Assess your risks, minimize them as much as you can, and then take action. Though the experience won’t be perfect, it’s a whole lot better than doing nothing.

Though you cannot precisely control the future, there’s much you can do to positively influence it. Now is your time not to wait but to act.

— Ralph Marston

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August 25

Dance among the possibilities

You are here, you are now, you are you. Let it be, with no judgment, no thought, no worry, no fear.

Look with peaceful eyes and see the goodness, the truth that supports all existence. Sink into the experience of simply being with the experience.

Feel the value of your ability to know, to watch, to act, to be. Notice how easily and naturally you dance among the possibilities.

You already have all of now. Its beauty, wonder, and potential continue to flood you with new energy.

Relax everything about you, let down your defenses. Become so accepting of your vulnerability that it fades away to nothing.

Here you are now in the stillness. Embrace the peaceful power of all that is.

— Ralph Marston

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August 26

Serve what matters

Don’t take the path of least resistance. Take the path of highest purpose.

Getting somewhere easily and quickly is not the point. Getting somewhere meaningful and valuable is the point.

If you just let yourself go with the tide you’ll get swept out to sea. Summon the courage, put forth the effort, persist in going against the tide when you must.

Your life has unique, worthwhile and beautiful potential. Your obligation to yourself and to those you care about is to fulfill that potential on a daily basis.

In your heart you know what matters. With your time, your actions, your words and thoughts, be true to all those things.

Make use of the strength you have to serve the purpose you know is yours. That strength will grow, and so will you, and so will all of life.

— Ralph Marston

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August 27

Do the hard stuff

Seek out what’s difficult, do what’s difficult, what challenges you. Learn to do more than what you’re already able to do.

You won’t get it perfect the first time. You may not even get it done at all on the initial attempt.

But the point is not to waltz through the task with no effort or trouble. The point is to build your knowledge and hone your skills.

Let yourself be humbled by the challenge and the complexity of a worthwhile pursuit. Be inspired by the opportunity for excellence that exists within life’s difficulties.

Discover again and again the value you can create by embracing and mastering those difficulties. Feel the irreplaceable satisfaction of acquiring, applying, and deepening your skills.

Do the hard stuff, the complicated stuff, the stuff that demands the best from you. A life of excellence is well worth the effort.

— Ralph Marston

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August 28

Choose well

What are you choosing right now? What will it add to or take away from your life?

The circumstances of your world do not just appear out of thin air. Many of them come from intentional or habitual choices, and a large portion of those choices are yours.

Some choices provide quick, trivial, pleasurable benefits at the expense of significant costs that come later. The problem with those choices is that later does eventually come.

Other choices impose burdens on you initially. Yet as you continue to willingly shoulder the burdens, those choices result in great, enduring value.

Any given moment offers countless options, with each one leading to even more options. Your ability to choose among those options provides immense opportunity.

Take that opportunity seriously, thoughtfully, and choose well. The quality of your life depends on your choices.

— Ralph Marston