Daily Motivator - August
 

August 1

Humility

When you're pounded by difficulties, humility enables you to step back from taking the troubles personally. Humility allows you to seek and accept advice and assistance.

In times of success, humility shields you from dangerous delusions of grandeur. With humility, you generously extend the benefits of your success far beyond yourself.

Quietly use your strength, your skills, your resources, rather than making a show of them. A humble approach is an effective approach.

Humility keeps you out of fights that have no winner. Humility saves you from the futile need to prove you're right.

The strongest people, you never hear much about. The strongest, most effective people do their work not for praise, but for results.

True confidence has no need to proclaim itself, nor does true competence. In humility, strength is found and gets its good work done.

Ralph Marston

August 2

Achieve all over again

Learn as though all you already know is worthless. Work as though you have no accumulated success to fall back upon.

Do not waste your future being prideful about your past. See each new level of success as a launching pad, not as a resting place.

Comfort and complacency will steal your best possibilities if you let them. Do not let them.

Don't be deceived by the fantasy that an idea or concept, opinion or perspective is worthwhile just because it is yours. Welcome challenge, welcome criticism, and gain great strength by working through it all.

As you acquire more knowledge, the challenge to keep that knowledge relevant grows greater. As you gain more success you must work with even more diligence to build upon that success.

The moment you think you have all the answers, your efforts are doomed. Instead, greet each new day not with complacency, but with eagerness to step beyond the past, to learn and achieve all over again.

Ralph Marston

August 3

Make the vision real

Are the things you’re doing today moving you in the direction you intend to go? Are your actions drawing you closer to fulfillment of your dreams?

If so, be thankful for the choices you’ve made, and add the extra energy of that gratitude to the efforts you’re already making. If not, stop whatever you’re doing and turn yourself instead, right now, in the direction you wish to go.

Look honestly at where your current actions are taking you. Make sure it is where you want to go.

Vision is crucial, yet fulfillment is more than just having a vision. Fulfillment means working that vision into reality, day after day, task after task, without fail, without letting up.

The life you desire can be yours, but it won’t just come to you. That’s because the value of that life is not in having it, but in creating it.

Right now is when you make it happen. Right now is when you make the vision real.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 4

Transformation happens

The way you are today is not the way you will always be. The state of the world today is not how things will continue to be.

Every moment of every day, transformation happens. By its very nature, life changes, and you can direct many of those changes.

What kind of transformation would you like to see in your life, in your world? Now is when you can work to put life’s dynamic nature on your side.

In countless ways, in every imaginable situation, transformation happens. Pain is transformed by healing, anger is transformed by forgiveness, despair is transformed by caring.

Throughout history, transformation has improved lives. You can continue the tradition today.

Instead of being resigned to, or content with, the way things are, remind yourself that transformation happens. Do everything you can to make it happen in a way that is beneficial for all.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 5

Persistent effort

Achievement is not a matter of getting it perfect on the first try. Achievement is a matter of persistence.

If you wish to succeed, be prepared to fail, and to get right back to work after you do. To achieve the desired result, you must learn and grow with each less than desirable result.

Learn from the failures, and keep going. Learn from the successes, and keep going.

If you give up after suffering a setback, your effort has been wasted. Yet when you persist for as long as it takes, every effort, whatever the result, eventually leads to success.

Those challenging times when you feel like quitting are the times you've learned the most. Keep going, and make use of the strength and experience you've just gained.

Make every effort count by being persistent in making those efforts. Keep going, through the ups and downs, and work your way steadily there.

-Ralph Marston

August 6

All the different flavors

Keep up with current events, but don’t let them overwhelm your awareness. Treasure the moment, but don’t get so lost in it that you abandon your responsibilities.

Live with balance. Invest time in focused effort, and enjoy time in carefree relaxation.

You can engage the power of momentum without being obsessive about it. Be diligent about your work, but don’t let that diligence disconnect you from the rest of life.

Put your full focus into what you’re doing. Then stop after a while and do something completely different.

Enjoy being with others, and enjoy some time alone. Delight in exciting, thrilling, challenging pursuits, and treasure moments of quiet contemplation.

Nothing is enjoyable or productive if it’s the only thing you ever do. Live with balance, and benefit from tasting all the different flavors on life’s menu.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 7

Treasure whatever you have

It doesn’t matter whether you start with a lot or with a little. What matters is how diligently and purposefully you use it.

Whatever you have to work with is plenty with which to start. It is plenty, that is, when you choose to make full use of it.

Wishing that you could have it easier, won’t make it easier. Feeling resentful about whatever anyone else has to work with, won’t make your work any more effective.

The more fruitful choice is to be thankful for whatever you have. Your gratitude will shine a light on its true value, and open your mind to new ways for moving forward.

If you start with a lot of advantages and take them for granted, you’ll waste most of them. If you start with next to nothing, and yet truly treasure whatever you have, you can take yourself anywhere with it.

Life is dynamic, and responds very well to what you choose to do with it. So no matter what you have to work with, put all of yourself into the effort, and reap the rewards that your gratitude and diligence will surely bring.

— Ralph Marston

August 8

Let go of anger

In today’s world, there’s no shortage of things to make you angry. But is angry really the way you want to be?

Anger certainly grabs your attention, heightening your awareness, giving a burst of energy. Yet once that happens, anger has nothing more to offer.

Maintaining anger will drain your energy. And what you get in return is nothing of any value.

Be angry if you must, then quickly let the anger go. Free yourself to respond in a way that’s beneficial and effective.

Don’t let yourself be trapped by anger and forced into a destructive reaction. Step away from the desire for revenge or punishment, and find a positive response.

Focus on the good you can do, on the positive difference you can make. Leave anger behind as you move forward with the commitment to make things better.

-Ralph S. Marston,

August 9

Goodness of this day

Embrace the goodness of this day. Embrace the possibilities that exist right now.

Your life has unique value, and there’s much you can do today to express that value. Your life has great potential, and there’s much you can do right now to fulfill that potential.

Take the challenges, distractions, interruptions and disappointments in stride. You can handle life, you’ve been doing so for a while, and you can always find the goodness in it all.

Remind yourself of what you love, of what really matters. You can act to make a positive difference, so enjoy the satisfaction of doing just that, again and again.

You are more than the problems, more than the situations, more than the drama that surrounds you. You are the person who can find the positive possibilities in it all, who can bring those possibilities to life.

Stay strong, stay upbeat, stay thoughtful and purposeful. Embrace the goodness in this day, and make it even better.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 10

Powerful momentum

You’ve done a great deal. Now, challenge yourself to do more.

You’ve created some powerful momentum. Now, let that momentum pull you even faster ahead.

You’ve had a breakthrough. Pile new value on top of that breakthrough by working to move forward.

You have just experienced how great it feels to make real progress. Keep that great feeling going.

It’s easy to become smug, complacent, to rationalize that you’ve already done enough. What’s far better, though, is to immediately set your sights on the next challenge.

Now is your opportunity to build on what you’ve already done. Grab that opportunity, and amaze the world with how much further you can go.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 11

A positive place

Where is there a positive place? Anywhere you want to make it.

In a dark tunnel, on a sunny beach, in a large group or alone, you can be in a positive place. Whether there is confusion or clarity, drama or stillness, you can be in a positive place.

No matter what has happened, or failed to happen, you can make it a positive place. Whether you're comfortable or not, surrounded by challenge, or immersed in beauty, you can be in a positive place.

What makes any place a positive place is the way you choose to see it. External circumstances matter, but they do not have to determine your perspective.

A positive place is a powerful place. Because you're more aware of, and more inspired to act on, the best possibilities.

So wherever you are, whatever is going on, give yourself a decided advantage. Put yourself in a positive place.

-Ralph Marston

August 12

Start with joy

It’s great to have joyful memories. Yet as good as those memories may be, you don’t have to lock away your joy in the past.

Sometimes the memories are not so joyful. Yet that doesn’t prevent you from choosing joy on this day, on any day.

Joy does not require any specific condition. In fact, joy is what creates fondly remembered circumstances.

If you seek a joyful situation, start with joy. Keep giving and feeling joy, and the situation will unfold accordingly.

Stop trying to manufacture joy by arranging external conditions. Just let your joy flow out from the inside.

Start with joy, and live with joy. Add joy to each day, no matter what.
-
Ralph S. Marston

August 13

If you fail to get your way

If you fail to get your way, don’t let it get you down. Take what is, what has happened, what you have, and make the choice to move forward.

It’s great to set positive intentions and to make them happen. Yet if a particular intention does not happen, it’s not the end of the world.

Disappointment reminds you of what you care about, and helps you learn from what went wrong. Feel the disappointment, absorb its benefits, then let it go.

There’s nothing to be gained by extending your disappointment. There’s nothing to be gained by feeling sorry for yourself or seeking the sympathy of others.

Instead, transform disappointment into determination. Use the energy of that determination to be more effective at bringing your next intention to life.

Disappointment is a powerful feeling. Whenever it comes along, choose to use its power in a positive way.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 14

Keep negativity at bay

There is plenty of negativity in the world. Don’t add to it.

Just because unfortunate things are going on, is no reason to be pessimistic. In fact, it is a good reason to redouble your efforts in supporting, promoting and expanding new goodness in life.

You can be entirely realistic without having to buy in to the latest fashionable negativity. The future is yours to create, and you can choose to create a good and fulfilling one.

The only way a negative trend will lead to a negative outcome is if you let it continue. Fortunately, there are a whole lot of things you can do to create much more positive results.

The way to keep the negativity at bay is to keep your dreams and highest visions in front of you. Live in the service of what you know is right with life, and you won’t constantly be pulled down by whatever goes wrong.

Live at your highest level of effectiveness by living with a positive perspective. It’s always the smartest choice.

— Ralph Marston

August 15

Positive options

Instead of worrying about the worst that could happen, accept that it could indeed happen. Then put positive energy into making sure it doesn’t, or positioning yourself to successfully deal with things if it does.

Sure, you have perfectly valid concerns about the future. But don’t let those concerns prevent you from taking action.

Now is not the time to panic or give up. Now is when you can work to give yourself positive options.

The sooner you accept that there could eventually be a problem, the more power you have in dealing with it. You can strengthen yourself, or get out of the way, or implement countless other strategies to ensure a positive future.

Worrying, complaining, feeling sad or sorry for yourself won’t do you any good. Choose instead to be realistic, putting thought, energy and action into creating the best outcome.

Focus on the good things you can do right now, to prepare, to grow stronger, to prosper. Face the future with courage and with the commitment to create positive options no matter what may come.

-Ralph S. Marston