Daily Motivator - March
 

March 1

Set trouble aside

Set all the troubles aside for a moment. Remind yourself that those troubles do not define you.

The problems are real, present, persistent. Yet no matter how messy, complicated, dangerous, or numerous the problems may be, they do not have to overwhelm you.

Difficulties may run deep. Fortunately you are deeper, by orders of magnitude.

Living in you is great and diverse substance, ability, wisdom, reason, experience, creativity and so much more. You are dynamic, adaptable, passionate, fueled by love and driven by purpose.

View life from the perspective of all you are. If anything seems overwhelming, it’s because you’ve temporarily forgotten what you’re capable of doing.

So now, let yourself remember all the good you can do. Now, step forward, face the world with justified confidence, and get it done.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 2

Not the easiest

Your greatest blessings often don’t seem like it at the time. Your most valuable experiences are rarely the most enjoyable ones.

Is there something you feel the need to complain about? Instead of complaining, challenge yourself to find the value in it.

If you cannot find any positive value in the situation, challenge yourself to create some. The greatest successes are pulled, albeit with much effort, from the greatest challenges.

Enjoy life’s comforts and pleasures, but don’t let them trap you in endless mediocrity. Some of the most memorable and fulfilling times come when you venture beyond what’s comfortable and predictable.

Fulfillment is not found in a life of ease. To quench your insatiable desire to matter, to make a difference, you must necessarily endure discomfort.

The greatest things you’ll do are not the easiest things you’ll do. And that offers you the profound satisfaction that comes with investing the very best of yourself in life.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 3

Looking good

When you don’t need to impress, you’re free to excel. When not preoccupied with taking credit, you become more effective at taking action.

If you’re not wasting energy on being offended, you have more energy to put into being productive. If you can quickly let go of resentment, envy, anger and frustration with others, you can latch on to the best opportunities.

Improve your trajectory by regularly considering the following question. Do you want to just look good, or do you want to achieve great things?

When your primary goal is to burnish your image, then your image will suffer because even a child can see through that. The best thing for your image is to forget about your image and focus on all the ways you can make a difference.

No one but you really cares how impressive you are. Everyone cares about the authentic value you manage to add to their lives.

Raise your expectations far above merely looking good. You have the ability and the opportunity to actually do good, and that’s a whole lot more satisfying.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 4

The value inside

Encourage, honor, support and add to the value inside. Strengthen that inner value with new experience, love, learning, peaceful and joyful moments.

The value inside can never be diminished or taken away by anyone else. The value inside propels quality and substance into every experience.

The value inside makes you more articulate, more interesting, more understanding and effective. The value inside is grounded in truth, in authenticity, in the unique beauty of the real you.

The quality of your inner life directly drives the quality of your entire life. Although the value inside is not everything, it touches and positively affects everything that matters to you.

Take good care of the value inside. Respect and appreciate it, and share it freely, for the more you express it, the more powerful and beneficial it becomes.

Make frequent use of the value inside. Let it give wisdom, purpose and energy to all you do.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 5

Activate opportunity

Opportunity is not something you wait for, or search for, or find. Opportunity is something you embrace and activate with your actions.

Opportunity is not there to be stared at, speculated about or admired. Opportunity is there to be used.

Opportunity is not a free ride to riches or a foregone conclusion. It is a starting point, and going forward from that starting point requires work.

More opportunity exists today than at any time in the history of the world. In this very moment, people around the world are seizing opportunity and making the commitment to bring its value to life.

In every life, in every problem, in every desire, in every situation, is opportunity. Wherever it may be, whatever form it may take, to activate opportunity you must combine intention with effort.

Opportunity is abundant and growing more so. Activate it, work it, and use it to make a big positive difference in your world.

Ralph Marston

March 6

Choose your direction

A ship that’s not underway is at risk of being blown onto the rocks by an onshore wind. Yet when the ship gets moving, the rudder, not the wind, determines where the ship will go.

Do you fear being blown in an undesirable direction by events in the world around you? Then get going, get your ship underway, and choose your own direction.

Just because the world can make you weary and discouraged, doesn’t mean it has to. You can propel your thoughts, your attitude, your actions in a positive direction.

Fill your days with your own efforts, your own passions, your highest values and priorities. The more compelling your objective, the less power anything else has to bring you down.

Invest your energy where it matters, in the good things you can achieve. Direct your focus into the factors you can influence and the places where you can make a difference.

Amid noise, uncertainty, confusion, choose to live with clarity, with purpose and effectiveness. And lead all of life forward by positive example.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 7

Leave anger behind

When it comes, let anger get your full attention. Then even more quickly, let it go.

Time you spend being angry is time you’ll never get back. The energy you devote to anger, to resentment or frustration, creates nothing of value in your life.

When you give in to anger, you give up control. When you act out of anger, you’re letting someone else dictate those actions.

Let the anger inform you and motivate you. Then move beyond that anger before it hurts you, before it leads you to make foolish, costly choices.

Whatever has angered you, don’t make it worse by letting it dominate your awareness. Step back, take a breath, remember how much good you can do when you chose, and turn in a positive direction.

Feel your goodness, feel your values, feel the positive, creative power you possess. And leave the anger behind as you make the best of what’s ahead.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 8

Living this day fully

This is the day when life happens. This is the day when your intentions become achievements.

Today is when you make full use of everything you’ve learned. Today is when you rise above limitations and push beyond challenges.

Today is the day when you express your values, your priorities, your dreams, with your actions. Today is when you show how much you care with how much you do.

Today is the culmination of all you’ve ever said, done, experienced, learned, promised and expected. Today you’re able to mold the best possibilities into reality.

This is a day too precious, too full of promise to waste on worry, procrastination, resentment or doubt. By the end of the day you can be miles ahead of where you woke up this morning, having added achievement, love and meaning along the way.

Living this day fully is something you cannot put off a moment longer. Embrace today and its possibilities with all you have, and make it the best one yet.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 9

Keep creating more

You never have to force yourself to do what you don’t want to do. You can always allow yourself to do what you know you can do.

Instead of fighting the effort, unify yourself with it. Feel your level of energy increase, feel your purpose deepen as you persist with each task.

At your core is a brilliant creative force. Unleash it by dropping all pretense, by finding great soothing joy in your own authenticity.

Break free of arbitrary judgments and rusty old assumptions that impose needless limitations. Discover the fulfillment you deserve to enjoy in whatever work you’re engaged in.

In your ability to make a difference, in your experience of getting it done, you taste life’s true magic. Persevere in the effort through whatever may come, and build that taste into a continuing magnificent feast.

Feel the intoxicating power of purpose as you exercise it and express it with action. Driven by your love of life, of beauty, of meaning and substance, keep creating more.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 10

The way you look at it

If you don’t like the world you’re looking at, look at it in a different way. What upsets you is not what is there, but what you see in it.

You experience everything through the lens of your perspective. Instead of blaming, fearing, fighting, fretting over what you see, change the way you look at it.

No, looking at reality in a new way won’t change that objective reality. What it will change is you, your energy level, your degree of hope, the way you respond.

Every situation is what it is. Yet what you see in it, what you take from it, what you make of it, is up to you.

The results you achieve depend not so much on where you start or what you have. They depend on what you do with what is there, and that is driven by your vision, by your perspective.

In any circumstance, you are free to choose your perspective. Choose one that’s empowering, energizing, purposeful, and let it lead you to create the best outcome possible.
-Ralph S. Marston

March 11

Real world action

Not sure what to do? Don’t let that stop you.

The only way you can be sure of what will happen is after it happens. Take action, see where it leads, and use that experience to improve your next action.

Of course, consider what you’re doing, and think through the possible consequences. Just don’t think so long and hard that you fail to make a move.

Don’t take foolish risks, but do be willing to experiment. Do step forward into unknown territory, for that’s where you’ll encounter rich new possibilities.

Put thought into what you do, and remember this. You’ll discover much more by doing than you will by thinking.

Allow real world action to solidify your direction. Go ahead, get going, and soon you’ll be doing something great.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 12

You hold the power

You hold the power to reach whatever you seek. You possess the ability to live the life you envision.

Today, make use of that power. Today, engage that ability.

It can be easy to feel like events beyond your control are holding you back, pushing you down. But deep inside, you know that's not the case, and you know there's much more you can do.

Yes, the challenges are formidable. And yes, you can work your way through each one.

Though many factors are beyond your control, you choose your own attitude, thoughts and actions, every moment of every day. In those choices you'll find the power to move life in whatever direction you wish.

Right now, exercise your power, make a difference, then do it again and again. You deserve the best life imaginable, so do what you know you can do, and create it.

-Ralph Marston

March 13

People matter more

Causes matter, but people matter more. Ideas and opinions matter, but people matter more.

If you must disrespect others because of what you believe in, you’re veering into dangerous territory. Good people can disagree, and any belief that doesn’t acknowledge that sits on a shaky foundation.

Don’t let your beliefs and opinions isolate you. Let them inspire you to connect in positive, helpful ways.

Vilifying others is never an effective way to garner their support, respect or cooperation. Instead, seek and embrace opportunities to work toward a common good.

Find good, practical ways to make a positive difference for those who agree with you and for those who don’t. As well-intentioned as any cause may be, what matters more is the quality of life all people lead.

Look beyond the causes, opinions, beliefs and differences. Offer value, act with respect, and give love to people no matter what.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 14

Up to the challenge

You are up to the challenge. Just get started and you’ll see.

You are capable of doing more than you’ve discovered so far. Persist in giving focused, committed effort and watch as your strength and effectiveness grow.

This is no time to back down. This is your opportunity to move into a higher level of achievement.

Summon your strength and it will come. Lock your mind on a good solid reason to be willing, and act, act, act on that willingness.

Feel the strength of your purpose, of your life, of all you love. Let your moments, your actions, your results reveal that strength in valuable, life-affirming ways.

Fill every corner of your world with the feeling of how much you care, of how much you want to make a difference. With thankfulness in your heart step forward, for this is when great things get done.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 15

Great value in you

There is great value in you that you ignore, that you forget about because it is so familiar. There is great value in you that you resist because it is too challenging.

You have ideas, inspiration, love, strength, passion, caring. Your life could benefit from pulling it all out into the daylight and making good use of it.

Living well, living true to purpose, is a beautiful, satisfying way to be. It is also a lot of work.

Yet it is well worth the trouble to give your best to life. For what you experience in doing so is nothing short of miraculous.

This troubled world has a way of heaping discouragement on you. The beautiful thing is, you don’t have to respond in kind, for you have the power to make things better.

Spend a quiet moment just feeling the great beneficial value your life has accumulated. Let the energy of that feeling push you forward as you make a real positive difference in the world right now.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 16

Hurt feelings

What if you could simply laugh at the things that might hurt your feelings? Actually, you can, and when you do, it’s powerful.

You cannot control the behavior of others. Yet you absolutely control the way you respond to and internalize their words and actions.

You can choose to be hurt, or you can choose to be amused. You can choose to be angry and offended, or you can choose to be informed, calm, thoughtful, in control.

Sometimes other people seek to hurt your feelings, sometimes they do it out of ignorance or carelessness. But none of that matters because it is their problem, not yours.

Laugh it off and move on. You have better ways to invest your thoughts, your time, your energy.

Let your feelings be based on what you choose, not on anyone else’s foolish choices. And feel the solid, authentic power and confidence it gives you.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 17

Thrive on the challenges

When one path is blocked, you’re forced to look for another path. There’s a good chance that other path could be a better one.

When the usual options are unavailable, you must look for other options. That could very well lead you to a more valuable option.

It’s easy to get complacent when things are going smoothly. But if you remain complacent for too long, you’ll wake up one day to discover you’ve been left behind.

Sure, unexpected challenges can be bothersome. But they can also keep you on your toes.

That sudden, difficult situation can lead to new, valuable skills, knowledge, wisdom and vigor. When events don’t go as expected, it’s your opportunity to expect more from yourself.

You are flexible, adaptable, resourceful, able to transform setbacks and surprises into new progress. Decide to thrive on the challenges, and you’ll find an even better way.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 18

Make goodness

With your time, with your life, with awareness, actions, thoughts, make goodness today. Make the memories of today as positive as you can for as many people as you can.

Do right now what will continue to feel good later. Create value that will keep on echoing tomorrow, next month, a decade from now.

Live fully in the present moment while doing what will benefit moments to come. Mix together some caring, truth, effort, wisdom and joy, and make new goodness.

What makes life rich is not how much stuff you possess or how many people you control. The goodness you make is what will matter most when you look back on this time.

Offer a small kindness, make a big difference, initiate a joyful experience. Show life how much you treasure it by what you do today.

The world can gain from the good things you have to give. Make goodness, and make life on this day a great thing to experience.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 19

One great thing after another

If you let yourself get pulled in too many directions at once, you'll never make much progress in any of those directions. In order to say yes to real achievement, you must be willing to say no to other things.

There is much you can do, yet you cannot do everything. As compelling as the entire universe of possibilities may be, you must narrow your focus if you're to fulfill any of them.

Though your love has no limit, you are limited by the number of hours in each day. Though your love may encompass all that is, to express that love you must be more specific.

Just because you give your focus and attention to something in particular, does not mean you're ungrateful for all else. On the contrary, it means you're making effective use of your life to create value for all of life.

Saying no can be positive. Because it frees you to focus on something that makes a real difference.

Give yourself to a purpose that feels right to you, and don't let other possibilities pull you away. Instead of vainly trying to do it all at once, choose to succeed at doing one great thing after another.

Ralph Marston

March 20

What you do with what happens

There is what happens. Then there is what you do with what happens.

Helpful, hurtful, caring, indifferent, frustrating, joyful, surprising, predictable things happen to everyone. Each person makes something different out of all those things.

You are not special because you are a victim or a beneficiary of circumstance. You are special because of the unique life, the substance, the richness you carve out of your circumstances.

Pay attention to the situation, to what goes on in the world around you. See each situation not as a locked enclosure, but as a starting point, a stage upon which you can express and fulfill your purpose.

Life is demanding, extremely difficult at times, but life never imposes itself on you. On the contrary, every twist and turn of circumstance provides opportunity for you to more fully become your best.

Welcome that opportunity, in whatever form it may arrive. Every moment carries your best possibilities, ready for you to fulfill.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 21

Live your joy now

Don’t wait for life to be perfect, or fret and complain that it is not. Live it as it comes, doing all you can, thankful for each day, enthusiastic about making it count.

Happiness does not suddenly appear when you get what you want. Happiness is a state of being that empowers you to create what you choose.

Rather than harboring resentment about what you lack, be resourceful with all you have. Feel your miraculous ability to make a difference, and put it to work.

If all your dreams had already come true, you’d have nothing to look forward to. If everything was perfect, you’d have no way to make a positive difference.

Expect great things, but don’t let joy be held hostage by your expectations. Live your joy now, with the way things are, as imperfect as they may be.

Despite its flaws, this time, this place is your opportunity to live with richness and fulfillment. Stop wishing for it to have been different, and start living at your highest and best right now.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 22

Care because

Care, not because anyone else does. Care because it is one of the most meaningful things you can do.

Care, not because you are expected to. Care because of how your caring fulfills you.

Care because you are so grateful for the opportunity to live this day. Care because you can envision great possibilities, because you yearn to make them real.

Care, and fill your actions, your words with sincerity. Care enough to contribute to life, and do what you were born to do.

Care, by listening, by working, by understanding, by giving, by being there. Care, by being patient, by being supportive, by being honest and generous.

It’s easy to become jaded and cynical, yet far better for you, for everyone else, when you care. Care, and create even more goodness to care about.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 23

Miracle that is your life

Do you really need to do, say, possess, defend all the things you think you need to? Are there useless, even destructive, parts of your life so familiar you’re afraid to let them go?

Invest some time in a space quiet enough to hear your soul whisper. Step away from the frenzy and remind yourself who you are.

Break free of endless insistent deadlines imposed by digital algorithm. Understand that the data is your servant, not your master.

Rejoice and be amazed at the diverse and beautiful lives of other people. But don’t let their words, their attitudes, their follies diminish your own glorious, original spirit.

Often times the urgent matters are not so urgent, and can wait. Sometimes it is good to turn off your phone, to be out of touch with the world and in touch with the miracle that is your life.

Give yourself rich and sustained experience in life itself. Care deeply, feel intensely, thankful for every precious moment that you can.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 24

Choose precisely

Give this day a specific purpose and from it you will get specific results. Focus on a set of meaningful goals and you’ll get worthwhile things accomplished.

It’s great to have positive intentions. For those intentions to be realized, they must be clear, detailed, unambiguous.

You’re capable of doing amazing things every time you aim your efforts in a well-defined direction. If you wish to make something good and valuable out of this day, decide right now precisely what that will be.

An essential part of any achievement is deciding exactly what the achievement will look like. The more details you fill in, the more options you give yourself for making it happen.

How many, what color, when, where, how big, with who? Challenge yourself to transform generalized desires into richly detailed goals.

You have the power to do precisely what you choose. So go ahead and choose, precisely.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 25

Imagine well

Imagine well, and imagine often. Imagine well, because imagination becomes reality.

You always have more power, more capability than you know. Imagine, and discover more of the great, meaningful, valuable things you can do.

Imagine what you have never before dared to imagine. See possibilities that have not yet been seen.

Life has many limitations. Yet when you imagine, you exist in a place where thoughts are not bound, not limited by anything.

Such a place is well worth exploring. What you bring from that place into the world can have great, transformative value.

Seeds of magnificent, original achievements are waiting to be found in your imagination. Imagine well, and bring new treasures to life.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 26

Life as it comes

Today is a great opportunity to put things off until later. But that's one opportunity you don't want to take advantage of.

Instead, you can ignore the opportunity to put things off and grab some of the other, much more valuable opportunities. You can use the time you have today, while you have it, so you'll have no regrets when it is gone.

You have plenty of time to do great, fulfilling things if you'll simply use it as it comes. There's no sense in putting anything off until later, because you won't have any more time later than you will right now.

There is great value in every moment, including this one. But once the moment is gone, the opportunity to add its value to your life is also gone.

So seize that opportunity while it's still here. Put everything you have into fully living life as it comes.

To get the most out of life, give all you can every chance you get. Now is when you have that chance.

Ralph Marston

March 27

Do something with it

Today greets you with opportunity, with frustration, with problems, with possibility. Do something with it, something positive and useful.

Don’t settle for someone else’s idea of what this day should be, or another copy of a day you’ve already lived. Do something unique, original, something that affirms the beauty and value of your life.

Today you have a schedule, a list of tasks, the usual responsibilities, things that others expect of you. Today you also have the chance to go above and beyond all that.

You’ve experienced in the past how well you respond to challenge, and how good it feels to do so. Today, find a meaningful challenge with which you can renew that great feeling through focused action.

You are designed, equipped, driven to achieve. Today, do what you are meant to do.

Dreams, ambitions, skills, experience, wisdom, love and courage all restlessly wait for you to make the next move. Today, do something with it all, and live your life at the highest level.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 28

Grow your success

One of the biggest threats to success is success itself. When you get a little bit ahead, it’s all too easy to become complacent and to quickly lose what you have gained.

To avoid that complacency, respond to success with gratitude and humility. See your success not as a reward, but as an opportunity.

If you merely consume your good fortune, it leaves you with nothing but a bitter and wistful taste in your mouth. Instead, seize the opportunity to expand and build on your success.

The real joy of accomplishment is in the doing. To continue the joy, continue the doing.

Let the small victories become steps on the path to an even bigger victory. Let the big victories become steps on the path to an even more grand achievement.

Make each success into a starting point. And there is no limit to where you can go.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 29

Live generously

So many people fight, claw, strive to gain advantage over others. Yet it is far more powerful to give advantage than to take it.

If you want to live a sad, pitiful life, be stingy, greedy, arrogant and rude. If you wish instead to live a bountiful, rich, abundant life, be generous every opportunity you get.

When your aim is to take and hoard, you’ll encounter strident resistance at every turn. Yet when you sincerely seek to give, people from all corners of life will rush to support you.

Whatever is acquired through deception and exploitation is quickly lost to those who practice even greater deception. What you gain by giving, by generosity, stays with you always.

You don’t have to give away a lot of stuff to be generous. The power of generosity comes when you seek to do what’s best for others as well as what’s right for yourself.

Generosity is understanding that the value inside you grows exponentially when you share it with others. Live generously, in every area of life, and you live richly.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 30

Great expectations

To find new strength you must go beyond the places, concepts, people, ideas you’re already comfortable with. New strength comes packaged inside new challenges.

New strength is abundantly available to you, yet it cannot simply be handed to you. New strength can only be earned by forging beyond what you already knew you could do.

When you must become stronger is when you do become stronger. When the situation demands that you up your game, your effectiveness jumps to the next level.

As challenges pop up with increasing speed, don’t waste energy feeling sorry for yourself. Recognize, appreciate and make the most of the opportunity you’re being given.

Each difficulty you encounter is evidence that you’re ready to grow stronger. Each uncomfortable situation is a place to discover how much more capable you can be.

Life makes you uncomfortable when it has great expectations for you. Make those expectations your own, and feel your strength grow as you fulfill each one.

-Ralph S. Marston

March 31

First move

Time is short, you’re not sure how you’ll get it done, you don’t know if anyone will like it. But none of that matters.

Just get started doing what you intend to do. The first step opens up a place to take the next step, and the next step provides a place for the step after that.

Achievement plays out in the way it plays out, and there’s only one way to know how that will be. Just get started.

You may have doubts, fears, concerns, frustrations, conflicts, and a thousand excuses for not going forward. Nonetheless, just get started.

Just get started, and then you can deal with every obstacle you encounter. Just get started and put momentum in your favor.

Achievement is waiting today for you to make the first move. Now, just get started.

-Ralph S. Marston