Daily Motivator - August
 

August 1

Reality of the day

You don’t have to like what happens in order to make good use of it. You do, however, have to accept it.

You don’t have to like the way things are. Yet to be successful you must deal with the way things are.

Thinking about what should be and what should not be is a powerful way to formulate goals. But don’t use that thinking to come up with excuses and resentments.

You cannot be effective trying to deal with the world as you wish it would be. You must operate in the world that is, as it is.

Aim high, seek to make a positive difference, go forward with the best of expectations. Yes, you absolutely can change things, and to do so you must start with the way things actually are.

See real, get real, be real, accept the reality of the day. Then you can do the work to effectively push reality in the direction you choose.

— Ralph Marston

August 2

On a mission

If you’re not sure what you want to do, you won’t get anything useful done. If you fail to set a direction, all the energy, effort and skill in the world won’t get you anywhere.

Decide right now in specific detail what you will do with this day. You have the opportunity, so take it and make it into meaningful achievement.

Don’t agonize over constructing the perfect goal. Yes, make it mean something, make it desirable, make it realistic, but the important thing is, make it.

You’re highly experienced at doing what you’ve decided to do, at fulfilling your intentions. So give all that well-honed capability something good to do.

Don’t just stand around wondering what to do, or waiting for the next distraction. Put yourself on a mission.

Ask now, what exactly would you like to have accomplished by the end of the day? Envision it, commit to it, then enjoy the great feeling of using this day to get it done.

— Ralph Marston

August 3

Appreciate all you have

How often do you remember to appreciate what you have? As difficult as things might be, they could be a lot worse, so you always have cause to be thankful.

If you feel tempted to complain or feel sorry for yourself, stop it. And start figuring out how to best utilize the goodness that’s right in front of you.

When you obsess over what you don’t have, you’re injecting thoughts of lack and limitation into your awareness. That’s not going to end well.

Instead, appreciate all that you do have. Your appreciation informs, enables and empowers you to make much better use of existing resources and abilities.

Allow yourself to see the great value that’s already yours. Encourage yourself to expand on that value.

Appreciate all you have. And discover again in every moment how much good you can do with it all.

— Ralph Marston

August 4

Go ahead and get it done

Nothing is gained by fighting against the effort. Nothing is gained by considering any task to be beneath you.

Go ahead and do what must be done. You can do it and it’s really not so bad.

You’re here, you’re in position, you have the opportunity, so get the work done. Solve the problem, resolve the dispute, create the value, do the thing you’re here to do.

Judging, agonizing, avoiding, procrastinating will just make it harder. Make it instead more enjoyable, satisfying, fulfilling by going ahead and getting it done.

Many may assume that effort is to be avoided, but you know better. You know from experience that making a difference is where true fulfillment lives.

So put some more of that special goodness in your life right now. Go ahead and get it done.

— Ralph Marston

August 5

Cheerful about it

When you don’t get your way, be cheerful about it. There’s no good reason to be any other way.

Being angry, spiteful, resentful, despondent, destroys you’re effectiveness and repels other people. That’s not going to accomplish anything good.

You can’t change the past by being angry about it. What you can do is dramatically improve the present and the future by being cheerful.

Be cheerful and you do better work, attract positive people, improve your relationships and interactions. Be cheerful, and see opportunities that you’d otherwise never notice.

Be cheerful, and escape being sizzled by stress and paralyzed by anxiety. Be cheerful, and reap all the benefits of truly enjoying the moment you’re in.

Yes, by all means be realistic. At the same time, be cheerful, and position yourself to make the very best of reality.

— Ralph 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 7

Feel great

The news is troubling, the weather is unpleasant, people are rude and uncooperative. Even so, especially so, feel great about today.

Feel great that you can be a beacon of hope, of encouragement, of competence, to a world that badly needs it. Feel great about the opportunity you have to make a positive difference.

Feel great that the value of your life does not depend on random circumstance. Feel great because you can decide to do so.

Feel great about what you can get done, right now. Feel great as you experience yourself doing it.

Feel great, and do all you can to make your great feeling highly contagious. Feel great, and be pleasantly surprised at how many other positive people you encounter.

Feel great, and let the positive energy flow into every action you take. Feel great, and discover how much your positive feeling can improve the world around you.

— Ralph Marston

August 8

All the way

Don’t waste your previous efforts by giving up now. Go all the way to the finish, to the achievement, to the reward.

If what you’ve done is not working, be thankful for the priceless lesson. Then take what you’ve paid so dearly to learn, upgrade your efforts, and keep going.

Fulfill the promise you made to yourself when you made the commitment to achieve. Do what you must to go all the way and bring the achievement to life.

Don’t get caught up in whether it’s hard or easy, simple or complicated, convenient or frustrating. Point your eyes toward the goal, take the next step forward, and the next and the next, all the way there.

The hours of this day will pass quickly, and now is your chance to fill them with real progress. You have what it takes to complete the next task, and to take yourself all the way.

Soon you’ll reap the reward in which you’ve invested so much of yourself. Persist now in your efforts, and get yourself all the way there.

— Ralph Marston

August 9

Time to do it

Today is your day for action. Now is the time to do it.

Circumstances will never be ideal, so stop waiting for perfection. Go ahead and make the best of the way things are right now.

This moment will be lost forever if you don’t use it now. Use it, get something good done, and the positive difference will remain long after the moment is gone.

Life is amazing, and much too precious to waste on procrastination. Do yourself a favor, and fill your life right now with meaningful effort.

There’s so very much you can do, if you will. Show yourself how much you love and value the opportunity, and seize it now.

The urge to do nothing may be strong, yet you are stronger. You are strong enough to start the work right now.

— Ralph Marston

August 10

Somewhere within

Somewhere within you is the strength to love when love doesn’t seem to do any good. Find that strength, use it, do it.

Somewhere within is the confidence to let go of all that does not lift up life. Somewhere is the patience to understand, to respect, the wisdom to forgive.

Discipline, perseverance, tolerance, kindness, commitment, acceptance are all there too. You’ve earned this great store of treasure through every experience you’ve ever had.

Though bright shiny things in the world outside can be compelling, don’t ever let yourself forget. Inside is where value lives, and you can call on that value in any situation.

Everything that matters to you, matters because of the way you feel about it, inside. Within that reality is power to do just about anything you can imagine.

Somewhere within is the will to get up, get started, to keep going and to prevail against all odds. It’s as close as your next thought and as powerful as you choose to be.

— Ralph Marston

August 11

Clarity and enigma

What happens, happens for a reason. But some of the reasons you will never know.

Some things you can make sense of, and some things you can’t. What you can always do is choose to accept, embrace and make good use of it all.

The wind blows, the rain falls, the clouds part and the stars glitter. Through it all, you’ll find a way to make new goodness, new richness, new meaning.

Sometimes the mystery can be solved. Other times it can only be looked at with awe, reverence, and respect.

Seek to understand all you can, and to accept there are some things you cannot understand. Celebrate those things that make perfect sense as well as the things that make no sense at all.

Let each day arrive with its fresh bright clarity and its new enigma. Learn to love it all.

— Ralph Marston

August 12

Care in action

Care, even if nobody is looking. Care, even when there’s no possibility anyone will ever know.

Care, because it is the right thing to do, not because it looks good. Care, without caring so much about who gets credit.

Care, by doing more than just clicking a button in support of a cause. Care by taking action, not merely by saying you care.

Caring can be painful, burdensome, inconvenient, frustrating, and at the same time, fulfilling. Genuine caring feels good, and right.

Care, make a positive connection to all that is, and gain a new sense of purpose. Care, and be a conduit through which life supports, heals, nourishes, encourages, renews and rewards itself.

Care, and let it bring out your best. Care, and learn how vital and loving you can be.

— Ralph 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

From here to there

See the reality of the situation, then see beyond that reality. See what is present, what is happening, then see what is possible.

Being positive about the future is not a matter of denying the difficult realities of the present. Rather, you must envision your path to a more desirable future and then have the courage to follow that path.

Be careful you don’t get lost in empty fantasies about what might happen. Be just as careful to avoid getting mired in dejection about your current difficulties.

Instead, get to work. See clearly where you are, choose specifically where you wish to go, and do what must be done to get you from here to there.

Don’t waste your energy wishing for reality to come to your rescue, or cursing reality as your enemy. Understand that reality is your workplace, and know that from any reality you can craft a beautiful and fulfilling life.

Accept and embrace the reality of what is, here, now, today. In that acceptance feel your own power, and engage that power to push your reality in whatever direction you choose.

— Ralph Marston

August 15

Really not so bad

Is it really so bad when you’re inconvenienced or delayed? Is it really so bad when someone says something you disagree with?

Is it really so bad? Or are you just in the habit of assuming it is?

Is it really so bad when things don’t go exactly the way you wanted? Is it really a good use of your time and energy to be offended, put out, anxious, angry, resentful?

Take a deep breath and be thankful. Smile, relax, look around at the beautiful, unique moment in which you’re immersed.

Many things are not nearly as bad as you assume them to be. Step back from those assumptions, from the stress and anxiety they induce.

Deal with the difficulties, but don’t add to them. Remind yourself it’s really not so bad, and get on with living a positive and joyful life.

— Ralph Marston

August 16

Focus is falling in love

Focus is not attained by trying. Focus is falling in love with the effort, with the moment, with the possibilities.

Do not tightly clench what you seek to focus upon. Rather, gently let go of all else.

If you force your focus, you are focused on your own forcefulness and not the work. When you have the desperate need to focus, you zero in on the desperation and not the effort.

Focus is a joy. Allow it to softly take hold, feel the joy, the sense of satisfaction, of purpose, and let the feeling grow of its own accord.

Focus is not about you, not about your abilities, not about your ego. Genuine focus is genuine care about what you’re doing.

Let the joy of focus be yours. And generously let goodness and value flow from all you do.

— Ralph Marston

August 17

Life is to live

This is a unique moment, and you have a distinct perspective on it. Be sure to make good use of the opportunity.

Remind yourself to do more than just watch, wish, complain, opinionate. Make it your business, today, to participate.

There are people who can benefit from your encouragement, from your presence. There are all kinds of situations that can be improved with your efforts, problems that can be solved with your insights.

Life is not to waste, to hoard, to worry about, or to make excuses for. Life is to live.

Life is to live, and here you are, able to do that right now in your very own way. Life is to live, with intention, with love, with wonder, awe, courage and gratitude.

Today offers much you can do, and much regret you’ll avoid by going ahead and doing it. Life is to live, and now is when.

— Ralph Marston

August 18

When strength is a necessity

There are times in life when strength becomes a necessity. Times when strength is not optional.

At such times you have no magic escape route, nothing to fall back upon. And, you discover how much strength you can gain, and utilize, when you must.

Any situation, any experience, any setback, any success, has the potential to make you stronger. Too often that potential goes unrealized, for it is easier to just let it float on by.

Yet there are times when you have no choice, when you must find a way to pull new strength out of every moment. And at those times, you do.

Consider how amazing that is. Just the thought, just remembering you can, is enough to plant fresh seeds of strength within you.

Every day arrives full of opportunities to build strength. Take those opportunities, even when you don’t have to.

— Ralph Marston

August 19

Consistent effort

Occasional effort can create the illusion of success. Consistent effort is what brings lasting success, achievement, fulfillment.

Are you working out once or twice every couple of weeks, or every day? Are you writing a chapter just when you feel like it, or every morning before breakfast?

Your life is too precious to merely dabble. In work, in play, in health, wisdom and relationships, you deserve the luscious fruits that consistent effort will bring.

A single heroic effort might be fun and impressive, but is soon forgotten. Yet small, unassuming efforts, when repeated with consistency, can bring a never-ending stream of value.

If you’ve done it once, you can do it again, and again. When you do, great things result.

Give your life and your world the benefit of your best effort, not once, not twice, but over and over again. With consistent effort, build a path all the way to your most treasured dreams.

— Ralph Marston

August 20

Your potential

You know what you can do. Are you doing all you can?

You know how capable, how effective you can be. Engage that effectiveness to its fullest extent today.

Life has given you much. Now is your chance to give even more.

Stop wondering where you’ll start, and just start right where you are. Quit asking yourself what you can do, and begin doing what you can.

Rise calmly, confidently above worry, anger, ego and despair. You have good work to do, so experience the satisfaction, the fulfillment of getting it done.

Today, you are new achievement ready to happen, new goodness ready to be born. Now, live up to all your potential.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 21

Difficult is nothing to fear

Maybe difficult is not so bad. Maybe easy is not so desirable.

Easy makes you soft, complacent, vulnerable. Difficult makes you strong, decisive, capable.

Easy puts you in danger of being arrogant, disrespectful and bored. Difficult fills you with a wealth of gratitude that connects you to life’s richest abundance.

The more you must work for something, the more you must invest yourself, the more it means to you, the more value it has. A difficult journey makes the destination all the more appealing.

Wouldn’t it be nice to stop worrying whether the day, the job, the encounter will be difficult? Wouldn’t it be great to just stride right up to the moment and meet it with confidence and joy?

Look back at what you’ve learned from life, and you’ll realize you’ve learned this. What is difficult is nothing to fear.

— Ralph Marston

August 22

Connect with respect

Each time you meet someone, you have a valuable opportunity. You have the opportunity to be respectful.

Does every person you encounter deserve to be treated with respect? Maybe not, but that doesn’t make your respect any less useful.

Because respect is not a weapon for enforcing the judgments you make about others. Respect is a powerful tool you utilize to establish positive connections.

People know whether you respect them or not. If you seek to create the best possible outcome when dealing with others, respect is essential.

Disrespect might feel powerful at first, but it actually weakens your position. Choose instead to enhance your own strength by choosing to respect others.

Listen, speak, act and think with genuine respect. And forge connections that will serve everyone well.

— Ralph Marston

August 23

Purpose that lives within you

Give yourself a reason to live at your highest level today. Set a goal that compels you to pull the best values, thoughts, words, efforts out of yourself and to share them with all of life.

Hope is never lost unless you choose to ignore it. Choose instead to build each glimmer of hope into a spark, then a steady flame, then a brilliant blaze that lights the way forward.

Within you are specific desires, your own concepts of what can make life good. Bring those desires out into the open where they will engage your full attention.

Give yourself something good, meaningful, valuable, inspiring, satisfying to do with this day, with this life. Realize what a massive opportunity you have right now, and take it.

What a terrible shame it would be to possess great capability and to never use it. Give yourself a reason to make full use of all you have, of all you can do, of all you can be.

Focus the power of your life on the beauty and fulfillment of all you love. Give life the full benefit of the purpose that lives within you.

— Ralph Marston

August 24

Magnify the beauty

Life can be tough. You can be tougher.

You’ve worked your way through every difficulty so far. You’ll get yourself through this one.

Life can be beautiful. You can magnify the beauty.

You’ve often known how good life can be. You’ll find a way to create much more of that goodness.

Obsess no more over what’s wrong. Grab on to what’s right, and expand it to fill the entire space you’re in.

Whenever you’ve been your best, that’s what you’ve always done. Take this opportunity to take your world even higher.

— Ralph Marston

August 25

Live the encouragement

If you feel the need for encouragement, give it. You cannot help but be encouraged when you are encouraging others.

It is impossible for encouragement to flow only in one direction. Instead of striving to get encouragement, make it your business to live the encouragement.

Live the encouragement, in your words, in your assumptions, your attitude, your responses. Imagine the positive possibilities, then act in accordance with what you imagine.

Some situations seem to have little room for encouragement. But encouragement doesn’t require much room.

Encouragement simply asks for your presence, your caring, and your honesty. Make the moment a little more positive, and suddenly you’ve created encouragement.

You are a natural when it comes to encouragement because you can bring it forth just by being you. Live the encouragement by letting your highest thoughts, hopes and values flow out into every moment.

— Ralph Marston

August 26

Another path

Make the effort, expect to achieve. But don’t expect the achievement to unfold exactly the way you thought it would.

Plan carefully, without getting trapped by your plan. Pay attention to the plan, and pay even more attention to where the plan leads.

Don’t ignore opportunities, ideas, approaches just because you didn’t think of them when formulating your plan. Go with what actually works, not just with what you thought would work.

Be uncompromising about the goal. Be flexible about the way you get there.

Even when the path you’ve chosen is blocked, you can still reach the destination. There is another path, another approach that will bring you to the place you intend to go.

Keep up the effort, know that you can find that path, that you can travel that path. And you will.

— Ralph Marston

August 27

Give focus, get excellence

You’ve spent time and exerted effort to get focused. Add great value to that focus by maintaining it for a while.

Bright shiny distractions tempt you to look away. Take a deep breath, remind yourself how worthless those distractions are, and stay focused.

Diversity of experience enriches life. Yet there’s no point in doing many things unless you do each of them well.

There will be time later for other activities. For now, focus all you have on doing your best to finish this one task.

The more committed you are to maintaining your focus, the more effective, productive, creative you become. Give what is in front of you the time and attention it deserves.

Gently let go of the urge to know it all, to see it all, to experience it all at once. Give focus and get the excellence it produces.

-Ralph S. Marston

August 28

Higher calling

Life begins again on this day. Now is your chance to do it right, to do it well, to live it with meaning, purpose, genuine love.

Opportunity arrives fresh with this moment. The universe spreads out before your eyes, and you can step into it in whatever direction you choose.

Old, beloved longings, dreams, passions stir within you. New ideas, resources, capabilities enable you to act with more experience and effectiveness than ever.

You are able to focus now on what matters. You are where you can give energy, support, sustenance to all you love.

It can be easy, can appear sophisticated and enlightened to be cynical. Yet you feel a higher calling, led by love to make life the best it can be.

Feel the courage, confidence, assurance of that higher calling, pushing you into this new moment. Create with this day a living substance that flows from and expresses your highest vision.

— Ralph Marston

August 29

What you give out

What you give out, you get back. To get back good stuff, genuine love, respect, consideration, give those things out.

That’s simple and easy to remember as a concept. Yet it only works for you when you work to put it into practice.

Before you speak, plan, or act, ask yourself. How will it affect the people around you?

That doesn’t mean you must live in fear of what other people will think or say about you. It does mean you can always improve on the amount and quality of consideration you show toward others.

When you’ve consistently done well in life, it’s because you’ve consistently remembered to be considerate. When you’ve strayed away from respect and consideration toward others, you’ve likely brought more struggle into your life.

People, organizations, communities, cultures that have respect and consideration embedded throughout them, thrive and prosper. It’s always a good thing to remember, always a good way to live.

— Ralph Marston

August 30

Days yet to come

You cannot be certain of what will happen tomorrow, and in some ways that’s a good thing. Because uncertainty compels you to develop courage, creativity, flexibility, commitment and initiative.

If you could know in advance every precise detail of how your life would unfold, would you really want to know? Just imagine how limited, confined, pre-programmed it would make you feel.

Great joy and satisfaction often come from living through what you were not expecting. The most treasured memories, the rich, stirring stories you tell, arise from such times.

Something you don’t yet know about will happen soon. Though you cannot be certain what it will be, you can be certain it will come.

In the days yet to come, as uncertain as they may be, you will grow stronger. Your life will gain substance, richness, experience and wisdom.

Though it can be frustrating not to know exactly what’s next, keep in mind that it’s also a blessing. For uncertainty makes anything possible, and there’s a lot of good you can do with that.

— Ralph Marston

August 31

The day you have

This is the day you have, this is the circumstance you’re in. So be good with it, be good to it, and create new goodness from it all.

Don’t overthink it or worry it into oblivion. Live it, gratefully, graciously, with a commitment to give it your best.

Recall a particularly joyful time you’ve known. Feel that joy as it glows in your memory, and let it radiate freely into the here and now.

Inspire and encourage yourself to act with positive purpose and the highest standards. But don’t beat yourself up if you fall a little short.

This is the day you have, and you can fill it with the unique substance that is your life. Feel good about your prospects, then justify that positive feeling with the things you actually do.

Make life good all over again by the way you choose to see it and to live it. This is the day you have, and your chance to amaze yourself with all the great things you can do.

— Ralph Marston