Motivation123 Blog

1. You already know what you have to do.

2. You are capable of far more than you think.

3. There will always be a thousand reasons to not do something.

4. Your time is not necessarily short, but it is certainly counting down.

5. The pain of regret will quickly outweigh the pain of failure.

6. Your THING is found through experience, not waiting for a knock at the door.

7. Give yourself a break.

8. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to achieve your goal.

9. It is not going to kill you.

10. The point of life is not to fit into an acceptable, normal, attention-deflecting mold.

11. You have already accomplished far more than you realize.

12. One small act in the right direction can change everything.

13. Things could be better, but they could also be worse.

14. Your problems may not be your fault, but there is no doubt the solutions are your responsibility.

15. People have done far more with far less.

16. You are going to remember the times you passed on an opportunity longer than the times you tripped chasing it.

17. Someone has done what you now want to do.

18. If it does not scare you, you are not trying hard enough.

19. Change does not require months or weeks; a few, intelligently-used minutes will do.

20. Do not wait until it is perfect–it never will be and never has to be.

21. Do something different.

22. Things do not get better–you do.

23. Your life is not going to change while you are sitting on the couch.

24. You will never get rid of every butterfly in your stomach.

25. There will always be something else that has to be done.

26. Be happy for today, hopeful about tomorrow.

27. The average overnight success is ten years in the making.

28. Give to get…or just give.

29. Happiness is less a result of having than of helping.

30. Do not overlook the everyday miracle.

31. You can wait all you like; time and opportunity will not.

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What would you add to the list of important thoughts to think? Let us know in the comments below!

Are you waiting for permission?

For years (and even now, if I’m honest) I waited for permission.

I needed confirmation from this person or an OK from that authority. I needed someone to say my idea was good enough, that I was on target or at least getting close.

And then it hit me.

I was waiting for reassurance that my idea would be accepted. But by whom?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there wasn’t a committee in the sky judging whether or not my idea was good enough. There wasn’t a single, all-knowing voice granting or denying me permission.

There wasn’t a set of guidelines that said: Yes, you are savvy enough or smart enough or worthy of this. Go get ‘em tiger.

In truth, I was free to do what I wanted to do. It was OK.

I didn’t need someone else to tell me to go for it. I didn’t need someone else to do it first. I didn’t need anyone’s approval.

If something sounded good, I was free to try it . Of course, it might not work. But that isn’t the point.

The point is freedom. There was no more waiting, only ideas to mold and plans to enact.

I hereby grant you lifelong permission.

I know I’m different from most (don’t get me started!), but chances are good that you’re waiting just as I did.

You’re waiting for approval, for acceptance, for permission.

And though you don’t need any of that, I’m giving it to you just in case the message above isn’t enough to soothe your worrisome mind.

I grant you permission.

I grant you permission to be yourself. I grant you permission to take that brilliant idea you have and run with it. I grant you permission to live outside the norm and to hop-skip-jump to the beat of your own quirky drummer.

I grant you permission to do things you’ve never done.

I grant you permission to reach out to other people in ways you never have, pushing yourself past where it feels comfortable, but where it feels real.

I grant you permission to say what you think and to feel what you feel.

I grant you permission to stop doing what you think we want you to do. We don’t want you to do that anyway.

I grant you permission, my friend, to do, to be, and to have all the things that quiet little voice of hope whispers in your ear.

Don’t wait. Don’t linger. Make something happen.

You can do it. It’s OK.

Confidence is a game changer.

If you feel—no, if you’re convinced—that you can do what you set out to do, you think differently. You feel differently. You act differently.

You’re not afraid of taking risks, not afraid of stepping outside your comfort zone. You’re not held in check by what others might think of you. You’re not frozen by the thought of making a mistake or trying to be perfect.

You become an entirely different person, someone who knows what they want and knows how to get it. It’s a good place to be.

But how do you get there?

Truth about Confident People
If I’m really tall, you may feel short. (I’m not really tall, so no worries.) If I’m hilarious, you may feel not so funny (that one is true). And if you look around and see effortlessly confident men and women, you may feel as though you don’t stack up.

Not a real confidence boost.

Fortunately, there’s a hidden truth that can turn this insecurity into hope.

Though we assume confident people are born that way (and in turn that we have no chance of matching their coolness or chutzpa), the truth is that many outgoing, charismatic people learned to be outgoing and charismatic.

Which means you can too.

A Rocky Start
“No matter what I accomplish, they’ll be bringing up those early tough times,” superstar comic and soon-to-be late-night host on TBS Conan O’Brien told NPR. “If a giant meteor was headed towards Earth, and I quickly constructed a rocket ship and flew out there and deflected the meteor, saving the Earth from certain destruction, the headline would be O’Brien saves earth, after rocky start.”

What he’s referring to is the beginning of his late-night career back in the early 90s. He was, as one critic put it, “a living collage of annoying nervous habits.” It was clear to anyone who watched that O’Brien was out of his element, awkwardly struggling with inexperience in front of the camera.

But there was a good reason.

It turns out that O’Brien’s greatest fear was performing comedy in front of a live audience. To beat the fear, he took it head on. And the result? He’s now considered one of the funniest men on television, not at all out of his element or uncomfortable with the limelight.

The same critic who prattled on about his annoying habits eventually wrote that O’Brien was “one of the greatest examples of a self-makeover in television history.”

What Conan Taught Us
So we have two lessons here: First, tackle what scares you. It’s a sure way to rid yourself of the anxiety and paralysis that accompany fear. Second, if an insecure, awkward, bumbling rookie can turn into a comic juggernaut, you can too. (Well, maybe not a comic juggernaut, but certainly a more confident person.)

Like any skill, it doesn’t matter where you are now—you can always get better. You can transform yourself into cool, calm, and collected, always comfortable in your skin and happy to engage with the world.

For simple tips to make that happen, stay tuned for our next Motivation123 QuickTip in your e-mail inbox!