Daily Motivator - August

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August 14

Smart choice

It’s tempting to do the popular thing, the showy thing, the dramatic thing. What’s always better is to do the smart thing.

The thrills, fashions and adulations of the moment fade all too quickly. Yet the choices that have been well thought out can result in enduring value.

A snide comment at just the right time will get you a quick laugh, but nothing after that. However, holding your tongue is likely to earn you respect and genuine admiration that outlive the moment.

It’s great to have fun, but fun loses its luster when it is all you ever choose. Overindulging feels good while you’re doing it, yet it’s usually something you’ll quickly regret.

You can often appear smart and sophisticated by thoughtlessly mimicking the words and actions of others. But that could very well set you up to eventually look foolish.

Instead, give some real, honest thought to your choices. Go with what’s smart, and you’re much more likely to end up with the outcome that’s best.

— Ralph Marston

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August 15

Perfect outcome

You study, plan, organize and prepare so it will all be perfect. But it won’t be completely perfect.

It will unfold the way it unfolds, which will never be as perfectly as you envision. And that’s perfectly okay.

There’s nothing wrong with thoughtful consideration and careful, thorough preparation. Except when there is, when it significantly delays or prevents you from ever taking action.

If you refuse to act unless you’re guaranteed a perfect outcome, you won’t be doing much of anything. Much of the richness that could have filled your world will never be.

If you insist on being assured beforehand of a perfect experience, you’ve already lost. You’ve denied yourself the value of actually living that experience, and replaced it with a hollow fantasy.

Work to get it right, to get it excellent, but not so obsessively that you never get it done. Give it your best, and confidently allow life to happen as it will.

— Ralph Marston

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August 16

Purposeful action

More times than you can remember, you’ve set a goal and achieved it. Now you can do it again.

From efforts that span just a few minutes, to ambitions that take years to materialize, you’ve participated in purposeful action. Continue putting that experience to good use.

Remind yourself that when your time and your actions have a purpose, life takes on added meaning. Look around and see plenty of opportunities to extend that rewarding way of living.

Purposeful action is not usually easy or convenient or free of complications when you’re immersed in it. Yet almost always, the results are worth your trouble.

Most of the good things in your life exist because someone chose to make a positive difference. That’s a choice you can make again and again.

This place, this time, this situation and the people who share it can benefit from your positive, purposeful intervention. Challenge yourself to envision what’s possible, then act on it.

— Ralph Marston

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August 17

Life does go on

A season ago, quite a few things were different in your life, and in the world at large. A season hence, will be more developments you never could have anticipated.

Through it all, life goes on. And it’s helpful to keep that in mind.

When a notable change comes along, it can easily overwhelm your sense of past and present. But after a while that change gets put into a more realistic perspective, just as everything else has been.

Sometimes the quick pace of change can make you feel like life as you know it is being forever upended. Yet life does go on, and you do adjust, and what mattered before still matters just as much.

As riveting as today might be, tomorrow will arrive right on schedule. When it does, you’ll thank yourself for being soberly and adequately prepared.

Give plenty of attention and effort to the moment you’re in, but not at the expense of the moments to come. Because life does go on, and much of its richness is yet to appear.

— Ralph Marston

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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

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August 19

Appreciate what’s good

There are worse places you could be. There are worse times you could live in.

This day has challenges, this world has problems. Value and appreciate it all anyway, for it could be a lot worse.

It could be worse, and one big force that always makes things worse is a lack of appreciation. Be smart, be strategic, and be appreciative of what is.

Yes, it’s theoretically possible that if you tear down everything you could start fresh and make something better. But it pretty much never works that way.

Attacking what’s wrong is easy, and doesn’t require much skill. Yet expanding upon what’s right, what’s working well, is almost always a more successful tactic.

Appreciate what’s beautiful, what’s reliable, what’s proven, what’s durable. And give your energy and effort to make the good things you appreciate a bigger part of life.

— Ralph Marston

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August 20

Ask more of yourself

Lead yourself into activities that challenge you, intellectually, physically, socially, philosophically, spiritually. Spend time in ways that stimulate the whole of your being.

Energy and strength do not arise out of idleness. They result from engaging in purposeful and challenging activity.

You’ll actuate and strengthen your best abilities when you depart from your comfortable routine. By dealing with what you’ve never before dealt with, you develop strength beyond what you previously possessed.

Genuine challenge energizes your imagination, your creativity, your persistence, and your sense of purpose. It’s a demanding experience, and that’s the source of its positive power.

By working through a challenge you can create valuable results. Yet every challenge also brings rewards that transcend the moment and the situation.

Ask more of yourself. Discover again and again the benefits of giving it, and getting it.

— Ralph Marston

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August 21

Inspired by dismay

Dismay gets your attention. But if you let it continue beyond that, it gets you nothing.

Actually, what you end up with is worse than nothing. Because dismay, more often than not, serves as an excuse for inaction and resignation.

Sure, it’s important to accept the reality of whatever you cannot change, and that certainly includes discouraging things. But acceptance does not mean doing nothing.

When dismay floods into your awareness, feel its energy. Then be prompted by the feeling to transform your dismay into positive inspiration.

Even when there are factors you cannot change, there is much good you can do. Be inspired by dismay to focus on the positive, productive, life-enriching actions you can take.

Don’t allow dismay to waste your precious time or to conceal your best possibilities. Instead, intentionally change that dismay to inspiration, and continue to push life in a positive direction.

— Ralph Marston

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August 22

The real thing

The imitation is cheaper, quicker, very convenient. And that’s why the real thing is infinitely more satisfying.

An experience that demands nothing from you cannot convey anything worthwhile to you. Satisfaction does not reside in what you get unless it is rooted in what you give.

You might feel clever when you can check off the box without going to any trouble. The thing is, all you end up with is a checked-off box.

The point of doing anything is not just so you can take a selfie and say you’ve done it. What enriches your life is the commitment of your thoughts, your focus, your time, energy, and effort.

Respect yourself, your heritage, your possibilities and capabilities by insisting on the real thing. Anything less is nothing much.

You are a miraculous instantiation of the real thing. Refuse to settle for anything else.

— Ralph Marston

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August 23

Good thoughts

An intuition is nothing particularly mysterious. It’s a thought that has more depth than you’re able to recognize.

Much of your thinking is explicit and intentional. Yet a good portion of your best thinking occurs beneath your level of awareness, where valuable intuitions come from.

It can be frustrating when you’re trying too hard to think through a difficult situation and no good thoughts come to mind. Instead of trying so much, back off and give your mind the space and time to do its work.

Forced thinking is rarely the best thinking. You can attract more profound and valuable thoughts by directing your awareness elsewhere.

Focus on living your life, on being a positive force for others, on gratitude for the beauty and goodness in this world. Rather than seeking to summon your best thoughts directly, provide them an ideal environment.

All thinking occurs within a context. Instead of a needy, demanding context, create an appreciative, expansive context, and your good thoughts will surely come forth.

— Ralph Marston

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August 24

Appreciate your habits

A habit is something you do almost without thinking. Even so, in order to make sure you maintain the habit, it’s good to regularly think about it.

You get yourself into a good habit, to the point where it becomes second nature. Yet when anything becomes second nature, it can be all to easy to take for granted.

If you fail to appreciate the benefits of a particular habit, you could be setting yourself up to abandon it. Though habits are mostly automatic, they do benefit from intentional maintenance.

Good habits can take a long time to develop. Yet many of them, particularly in challenging circumstances, can be lost overnight.

Take care not to let that happen. As well-ingrained as your positive habits may be, make it your business to fully appreciate the benefits they bring.

Respect the value of all the time and effort you’ve invested in the habits that contribute so much to your life. Appreciate all the good work you’ve done by making sure to keep it going.

— Ralph Marston

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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

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August 26

Little things

If you allow the little things to get you down, then you give the big things the power to overwhelm you. By constantly complaining about minor problems, you compromise your ability to deal with the major problems.

Whenever you’re interrupted by an unexpected annoyance you have a choice to make. You can let it poison your whole attitude, or you can use it to make you more positive and powerful.

Decide to laugh at the little problems, and to see each one as an opportunity for growth. Every minor issue that you quickly and successfully handle will strengthen your confidence.

That confidence can offer great value when a major problem comes along. Even more importantly, your confidence enables you to reach whatever goals you set for yourself.

When you’re already in the habit of not being impeded by the little challenges, you set yourself up for success when the big challenges arrive. Every small problem provides you with a way to practice and perfect your positive momentum.

A day that is filled with little annoyances is a day rich with opportunities for real and lasting growth. Welcome those opportunities with a smile, and one by one they make you stronger.

— Ralph Marston

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August 27

Your actions

Every action has consequences. To improve your consequences, adjust your actions.

Sometimes it’s obvious what results your actions will cause. Other times, it can be more difficult to know in advance.

But almost always, after you take each action you will know its consequences. Learn from that experience, each time you have it.

Whenever something goes right, and whenever something goes wrong, ask yourself the same question. What exactly did you do to contribute to the result?

Of course many factors come into play, some of which you can influence and some over which you have no say. Yet the factors to focus on most are the actions you can take and the ones you can avoid.

You are in position to be the world’s leading expert on the consequences of your own actions. Take that expertise seriously, use it wisely, and it will serve you well.

— Ralph Marston

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August 28

Stop short of overthinking

Think about the questions and dilemmas that confront you, but be careful not to overthink. If you think too much you might think yourself right on past the best answers.

There’s value in thoughts that come quickly to mind. For those fresh thoughts are prompted by the reality that’s at hand.

Certainly you can uncover even more value by diving deeply into your initial thoughts. Yet you can also become endlessly lost in those thoughts and led astray by them.

Thinking is a powerful activity. And as such, it requires your vigilance and control, and that means knowing when to stop.

Remind yourself to think before you act. Just as importantly, remind yourself that at some point it’s time to proceed from those thoughts into committed action.

Give your thoughts the time and space to have their say. Then step back into the situation, make a good decision based on those thoughts, and act on it.

— Ralph Marston