Daily Motivator - September

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September 16

Hidden opportunities

What disadvantage can you turn into an advantage? There are plenty of possibilities.

The challenge of maintaining your focus in a noisy, distracting environment can actually improve your ability to focus. The challenge of working with insufficient resources can improve the value you’re able to achieve with those resources.

Being short on time teaches you to make the highest use of the time you have. It also provides real-world experience in prioritizing your activities.

When no one is able to give you a good answer, you’ll learn to develop the best answer on your own. When circumstances offer you no other choice, you are forced to be creative and resourceful.

Cursing your disadvantages won’t make them go away. But then, maybe it’s not really in your best interest for those disadvantages to go away.

Choose instead to look for how they can, in the long run, work to your advantage. See them as the hidden opportunities they are, and do the work to bring those opportunities fully to life.

— Ralph Marston

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September 17

Run to the effort

Run to the effort and jump right into it. Because the effort is worth much more than it could ever cost you.

Only by giving your effort are you able to experience life at its richest and most meaningful. You are made to do, to work, to act, as you discover again and again by how right it feels.

Run to the effort, and put yourself into the realm of possibility and achievement. Run to the effort, and experience for yourself how consequential your life can be.

Spend an hour making the effort, and create value and satisfaction that endure far into the future. Build on that value with even more effort, and the possibilities are truly limitless.

Right now, you have the chance to do something truly amazing. You have the chance to make a positive difference.

Run to the effort, and make that difference. Run to the effort, and experience the beauty of doing what you do best.

— Ralph Marston

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September 18

Go with what works

Go with what works. Continue it, support it, double down on it, expand on it.

Move away, as quickly as possible, from what doesn’t work. And fill the time, fill the space, use the energy for what does work.

Yes, it is as simple as that. It’s not easy to admit to yourself, or to put into practice, yet it is simple and straightforward.

Because at some level you know. You know what pushes you in a positive, creative, fulfilling direction, and what pushes all that goodness away.

Make the choice to go with what works best for your life, and for the lives around you, and for the world. Though that choice can initially be difficult and painful, you know that ultimately it is your best choice.

Refuse to live at anything less than your highest level. Remind yourself, again and again, to go with what works.

— Ralph Marston

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September 19

Stronger through every weakness

You have your weaknesses, as does every person. Make sure each weakness serves as a challenge to become better, not as an excuse to fail.

Let each weakness prompt you to refine, control, improve your behavior. Don’t ever allow any of them to justify negative behavior.

Choose never to see yourself as a victim of your weaknesses or difficulties or your unique situation. Though the burden is very real, it does not have to define you or compromise your integrity.

Some weaknesses you can work your way out of, and some you cannot. Yet what you can always do is build within yourself enough strength to more than offset each weakness.

No one is perfect, circumstances are rarely ideal, and difficulties always appear. Even so, with all the imperfections, there are plenty of good, valuable, beautiful things you can do.

Identify your weaknesses, work on them, but don’t let them make you any less than the best you can be. Choose instead to rise to their challenge, and to grow stronger through every weakness.

— Ralph Marston

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September 20

The best input

The quality of your output is highly dependent on the quality of your input. What quality is the input you are giving to your life?

Vigorous, healthy activity, good nutrition, positive, truthful information sources all lead you toward favorable outcomes. So do beneficial habits, a variety of experiences, uplifting thoughts, and enthusiastic people.

If the results you desire are not coming out of your efforts, ask yourself this. What can you do to improve what you’re putting in?

You can’t make a quality product from inferior raw materials. To achieve the best outcome, start with the highest quality input.

Bypass the junk in your food, your facts, your friends, and your activities. Insist on truthful, in-depth information, quality nutrition, challenging work, and positive people in your life.

The quality of the life you live comes from the quality of what you put into it. Every day, every encounter, every choice, take the opportunity to give your life the best input.

— Ralph Marston

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September 21

Begin with what is right

Always do the right thing to begin with. It’s a whole lot easier and more reliable than having to make it right later.

Tell the whole truth up front, especially when it is a difficult truth. Delaying, obscuring, and avoiding that truth will only make it that much more difficult.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking you can cheat life or shortcut the process. Instead, give yourself the benefit of embracing the opportunity to do the right thing.

Avoid the necessity of long, tortured, dubious explanations, and avoid the temptation to cover up the truth. Just put your energy into doing the right thing to begin with.

Spend your time making new progress, not repeating old excuses. Put your effort into looking forward with confidence, and not looking back with worry.

Begin with what is right, what is good, what is useful, helpful, considerate, and honest. And position yourself to go in a truly successful direction.

— Ralph Marston

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September 22

Don’t overthink it

Give good thought and consideration to what you’re about to do. But don’t overthink it.

It pays to make good use of your intelligence. Take care, however, that you don’t substitute thinking for doing.

If your thinking gets in the way of making a decision, you’re probably overthinking it. If your thoughts wander off from whatever you’re working on, you’re overthinking it.

Look at what you’re doing now, and aim your thoughts at doing it well. Think and analyze enough to do your best work, but not so much that you get hopelessly distracted by those thoughts.

You have the amazing ability to think, and it gives you great power. Apply that power in a positive, effective, and consistent direction.

Think, visualize, analyze and imagine. Then get to work, and put those great things you’ve been thinking about into action.

— Ralph Marston

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September 23

Live with excellence

Whatever you do, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, do it with excellence. Achievement of the big things is crafted from excellence in the small things.

Today presents you with opportunities for excellence. Wherever you go, make it your business to leave a trail of excellence in your wake.

You can work, think, live with excellence no matter the situation or condition. Whether you have great resources or few, much cooperation or none, you can choose excellence.

Truly care about what you do, and about the people you do it for. Focus on your work, and on giving your best effort to it.

Though the task is mundane and may seem to go unnoticed, perform it with excellence. That’s how you achieve a genuine, unwavering commitment to excellence.

Show life how much it matters, how great it can be. In every moment, in all you do, choose excellence.

— Ralph Marston

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September 24

Before you complain

Before you complain about what someone did wrong, ask yourself this. Do you have a useful suggestion for how to do it better?

At best, criticism for the sake of criticism falls on deaf ears. Worse, it can provoke and escalate a conflict that no one is able to win.

Often it is necessary for you to point out someone else’s error. But that doesn’t mean you have to be gleeful or disparaging about it.

Your best approach is to be helpful. That’s true no matter how much or how little leverage you have in the situation.

Imagine yourself in the other person’s position. Based on that, figure out the most helpful way to frame the error and the most positive way to move forward from it.

Don’t waste your time and erode your relationships with empty, caustic criticism. Seek instead to be helpful, and to illuminate a positive path forward for everyone involved.

— Ralph Marston

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September 25

Authentically you

Be honest about being you. Pretense is stressful, expensive, difficult to maintain, and offers no real value.

Take a deep, satisfying, genuine breath of fresh air. Feel how good it feels to be at peace with who you are, with how you are, with all you love and care about.

There will always be those who don’t accept you, or don’t respect you. Let that be their problem, not yours.

Your purpose is not to impress anyone, or to get anyone to like you. Let yourself live and experience each moment in a way that is authentically you.

Go forward, do what you do, unburdened by worries about what others might or might not think. Focus on creating value, on making a difference, in the best way you know how.

Give your love and assistance to others, but don’t let the need to please others compromise who you are. Be authentically you, for that’s what’s in the best interest of everyone.

— Ralph Marston

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September 26

Challenge and encouragement

When there’s someone you wish to empower, here’s a proven, effective way to do it. Give challenge, and offer encouragement.

Doing all the work for another person, handling the situation yourself, just creates dependency. That’s not in anyone’s best interest, but neither is simply walking away without offering any help.

Challenge without encouragement is lazy, cowardly, and can even be cruel. Encouragement without challenge can be naive and ineffective.

Yet when you combine meaningful challenge with genuine encouragement, the results can be spectacular. You will launch the person on the road to continuing, independent success.

Whether it’s your employee, child, client, or friend, that’s a powerful gift to give. You’re not doing the work for them, but neither are you abandoning them.

Give a steady, balanced mix of challenge and encouragement. And give the opportunity for the person to develop their own courage, confidence, and ability to succeed.

— Ralph Marston

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September 27

Amid the imperfections

Expect the best, but don’t wallow in discouragement when events don’t unfold as you expected. Push toward perfection, but don’t let yourself be immobilized by imperfect results.

The fact is, difficult, unexpected, disappointing things will happen. Even with the best plans, the most diligent preparation, reality will often fall short of expectations.

When your efforts earn favorable results, let that inspire you to do even more. And when your results don’t meet your expectations, let that inspire you just as much.

Being disappointed is useful in the short term, but make sure it doesn’t morph into long-term discouragement. As soon as you feel disappointment, use that as a cue to begin a new, positive push forward.

Do all you can do, and then accept the reality of all that happens. Exercise diligent control over the things you can control, and refuse to be frustrated or demoralized by all the rest.

Life is not going to perfectly align with the way you envision it to be, but that’s okay. Because you can always do your best, always make things better, and continue to live very well amid all the imperfections.

— Ralph Marston

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September 28

State of the world

When you see things as better than they really are, you’re more likely to let up on your efforts. When you perceive things as worse then they are, you’re more likely to give up on your efforts.

The situation is rarely as bad as it seems, or as good as it seems. Even more significantly, the situation will change.

Whether you feel on top of the world, or crushed underneath all its pressure, or somewhere in between, your best choice is the same. Keep up your good, effective efforts.

Discouragement in the difficult times and complacency in the good times can rob you of your best possibilities. Decide not to indulge in either one.

Instead, do the very best work you can do, with what you have, in the situation you’re in. Let go of your need to continually judge the state of the world, and put your energy into improving it.

Things are as they are, and things will change. Do your part to make those changes as good and beneficial for as many people as possible.

— Ralph Marston

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September 29

Feel life

Take every opportunity to feel life. Feel life, without judgment or expectation, worry or agenda.

Feel grains of sand as they pass beneath your feet. Feel warmth as the deep red glow of sunrise first touches the morning.

Feel your own presence as it joins with the presence of others. Feel the thrill and freshness of thinking thoughts you have never thought before.

Feel joy and sadness as they each serve to balance the other. Feel the satisfaction of strenuous effort and the relaxation of well-deserved rest.

Feel the power of determination when the situation must be changed. Feel the confidence that comes from seeing yourself make a positive difference.

Feel love as it directs you in ways you cannot understand. Feel the entirety of life itself as its rich mystery continues to unfold in every moment, all around you.

— Ralph Marston

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September 30

Now is good

You can’t ever make the world perfect. You can always make the world better.

Don’t allow the troubles and imperfections to drag you toward anxiety. Let them fill you with inspiration and positive determination.

Decide to fully live and enjoy each moment as it is. Choose to be thankful, and you’ll find much to be thankful for.

Whenever anything goes awry, don’t see it as a personal assault. See it instead as an empowering challenge, an opportunity for you to make a difference.

Every day, you are blessed with the experience of life. In each hour, in each minute, in every situation, you can live life well.

Now is when you grow stronger, more experienced, more fully alive. In countless ways, now is good, and now you can make it better.

— Ralph Marston