Motivational phrases can do us wonders. Just when we think we’ve lost it all, or we’re incredibly depressed, or just don’t know what to do next, we’ll come across a motivational phrase and things seem to fall into place. It isn’t hard to be inspired when you read words of wisdom.
Sometimes life throws us a turn. A loved one dies, someone we thought would live forever. There is a car accident, and you get hurt. Your husband or wife leaves you. You lose your job. All of these things are going to have a negative impact, and could cause you to become uninspired, feel unloved, and just have trouble even getting out of bed in the morning.
However, there’s no way to prevent all these things from happening. We don’t have control over other people and their lives. We can’t make the world rosy all the time.
So what do you do when you get the bad news? When you can’t seem to find a reason to get moving? When life doesn’t seem as cheerful as it once was?
This is when you need to be motivated. Sometimes, some small words can get you going in the right direction. It can help you face reality and get back to the world of the living. You can once again become inspired.
Here are my picks for the top ten motivational phrases to get you going!
1. “Just do it.” This has to be the most motivating phrase ever. Nike certainly knew what they were talking about when they coined this phrase. It’s simple, it’s easy, it works. Instead of thinking about it anymore, or trying to understand why the bad thing happened, just get up and do it. Just go for a run, just clean up the house, just start applying for new jobs.
2. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” I don’t know who this phrase was written by, or first stated by, but it’s been a popular one for a long time. I remember my brother wrote it on bulletin board he had in his room, to look at every day whenever life got him down. What this phrase means to me is that you should never give up, because if you keep trying, you will make it. I would be willing to imagine that hardly anyone does what they want the first time.
For example, I am a female who has been able to hit an 85 mile per hour fast pitch baseball at the batting cages. How did I do this? I didn’t just walk in there and have the magic swing. I had people help me. I took it step by step. First, was I swinging too late or too early? Second, was I swinging underneath the ball or over the ball? By repositioning myself in the batter’s box, and swinging at a different point in time, I was able to make contact with the ball, and the people that have seen this were a little amazed!
Had I given up after the first, second, or even fifth swing, I might never have succeeded in this goal.
3.”All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” This is a quote by Walt Disney. What this means, is that even if you are afraid to try something, go ahead and try it. If you have a dream, you have to go after it. If you want a great new job, you have to go after it. If you want a spouse, you have to go out and date people. Whatever your dream, do something working towards it, so you can make it happen.
4. “If we did all we were capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves,” by Thomas Edison. How I see it, if we really put our minds to it, and sometimes our bodies, we really can accomplish our goal. You may think that 25 mile marathon is out of the question. But, if you really train for it, if you really take the time and effort to build up to it, you will surprise yourself and end up being able to run that 25 miles.
There are so many things we don’t realize we could do. We could train ourselves not to eat junk food and to get into incredible shape. We could use more than the small fraction of our mind we usually use, and come up with a great new invention. We could get past many of our fears and overcome problems. It just takes working at it, until we see the results.
5. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great,” by Mark Twain. He really pinpointed it. If someone else is making you feel down, then ignore it. Realize within yourself that you can do whatever you set out to achieve. Just because the exboyfriend didn’t believe in you, or your jealous boss fired you, that doesn’t mean you are worthless. It means they had their own problems. Now, take care of yours.
6. “Happiness depends upon ourselves,” stated by Aristotle. So, you actually have to take responsibility from this point forward for making your own happiness. you can’t blame your state of mind on someone else. If this isn’t enough to get you motivated, I don’t know what is!
7. “Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverence” (Samuel Johnson). In other words, keep going after your goal. Keep trying for that new job. Keep asking the girl out. Eventually, you’re going to make your point and get somewhere. Sometimes, it can take an author submitting her book 100 places before she gets published and becomes a best seller. If that author had given up after one submission, where would she be today?
8. “When you shoot for the moon and you come up short, you still end up among the stars,” (Les Brown, author and motivational speaker.) So, always shoot past your goals, and then when you almost reach them, you will find you in fact did reach them. For example, if you want to run 10 miles, start training to run 20 miles. You’ll either end up actually running the 20 miles, or maybe you’ll almost make it. But then, you’ve exceeded your goal of running 10 miles!
9. “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” (John F. Kennedy) If you’re really down, stop thinking about yourself and go do something nice for someone else. It will end up making you feel better as well. This quote also means to me that it isn’t always about you. If you go help others, the world will become a better place in general, and then there won’t be as many people divorcing and losing their jobs.
10. “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” by Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich.” If you come up with it and believe in it, you will be able to do it. If noone had ever had the idea to travel into space, and believe that it was possible, noone would ever have set to achieve this goal. Think about it.
