Powerful Motivational Quotes
“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.” — Brian Tracy
“I will see it when I believe it.” — Dr. Wayne Dyer
“Make a gift of your life and lift all mankind by being kind, considerate, forgiving, and compassionate at all times, in all places, and under all conditions, with everyone as well as yourself. This is the greatest gift anyone can give.” — Dr. David Hawkins
“You want to become aware of your thoughts, you want to choose your thoughts carefully, and you want to have fun with this, because you are the masterpiece of your own life.” — Joe Vitale
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“Just like a sunbeam can’t separate itself from the sun, and a wave can’t separate itself from the ocean, we can’t separate ourselves from one another. We are all part of a vast sea of love, one indivisible divine mind.” — Marianne Williamson
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.” Henry Drummond
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny.” – Alan Cohen
“Everyone needs a coach, whether it’s a top level executive, a graduate student, a homemaker, a homeless person or the President of the United States” – Anthony Robbins
Jack Canfield’s Mission Statement: “You have to believe it’s possible and believe in yourself. Because after you’ve decided what you want, you have to believe it’s possible, and possible for you, not just for other people. Then you need to seek out models, mentors, and coaches
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein
“Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place we must find.” — Wayne Dyer
“Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.” — Tim Ferriss
“When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter five years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.” – Catherine Pulsifer
“Never forget: the secret of creating riches for oneself is to create them for others.” — Sir John Templeton: Pioneer global investor and philanthropist
“Never let what you cannot do stop you from doing what you CAN do!” — Stephen Pierce
“You affect your subconscious mind by verbal repetition.” — W. Clement Stone
“If you are not as wealthy as you like, there is something you don’t know.” — David Wood
“If you want a kinder world, then behave with kindness; if you want a peaceful world, make peace within.” – Dan Millman
“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.” – Charles Dickens
“Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity.” – Joseph Sugarman
“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Everybody is like a magnet. You attract to yourself reflections of that which you are. If you’re friendly then everybody else seems to be friendly too.” — Dr. David Hawkins:
“I don’t think anything is unrealistic if you believe you can do it.” — Mike Ditka
“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington
“Your level of successes will seldom exceed your level of personal development.” – Jim rohn
“My father instilled in me that if you don’t see things happening the way you want them to, you get out there and make them happen.” — Susan Powter
“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.” – Ronald Reagan
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson
“It’s much easier to lose weight and exercise when you have a goal” – Shanna Beaman
“A winner never stops trying.” – Tom Landry
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” – Tom Landry
“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” – John Wooden
“Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.” – Napoleon Hill
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill
“Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.” – Napoleon Hill
“A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.” – Thomas Carlyle
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
“Minds are like parachutes – they only function when open.” – Thomas Dewar
“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke
“To achieve the impossible, one must think the absurd; to look where everyone else has looked, but to see what no else has seen.” Anonymous
“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” William Feather
“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” Dr. Joyce Brothers
“If you want to be rich, act as though you already are.” John Boyle
“In order to empower our focus on having abundance, we have to shift the feeling attached to the belief in shortage to the willingness to receive abundance.” Arnold. M. Patent
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein
“I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.” – Harrison Ford
“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself. You may be surprised at how easily this happens. Your doubts are not as powerful as your desires, unless you make them so.” – Marcia Wieder
“What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.” — Dr. Wayne Dyer
“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy
“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” -Dale Carnegie
“If you want success, then don’t rely on other people to do what YOU can do!” — Sasha Azevedo
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Most great men and women are not perfectly rounded in their personalities, but are instead people whose one driving enthusiasm is so great it makes their faults seem insignificant.” – Charles A. Cerami
“Maybe you can’t change the whole world, but if you have love in your heart you can make small differences every day, which really does change the world, one life at a time.” – Kristina Koncz
“When you maximize your talents, you’re on path, on purpose, on target. When you don’t, you’re off path, off purpose, off target.” – Kevin Hall
“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”Mark Twain 1835-1910, Humorist and Writer
“The world is divided into people who do things, and people who get credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class, there is far less competition.” Dwight Morrow 1873-1931, Businessman, Politician and Diplomat
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” – Dale Carnegie
“The more you know the less you need to say.” – Jim Rohn
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
“The book you don’t read won’t help.” – Jim Rohn
“The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.” – Jim Rohn
“When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.” – Jim Rohn
“If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.” – Jim Rohn
“Live so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.” – Will Rogers
“You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.” – George S. Patton
“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim; have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.” – Orison Swett Marden
“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself. You may be surprised at how easily this happens. Your doubts are not as powerful as your desires, unless you make them so.” – Marcia Wieder
“What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.” — Dr. Wayne Dyer
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” – Les Brown
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” – Dale Carnegie
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.” – Zig Ziglar
“Most great men and women are not perfectly rounded in their personalities, but are instead people whose one driving enthusiasm is so great it makes their faults seem insignificant.” – Charles A. Cerami
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
“I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest moment, you usually can find something to laugh about if you try hard enough.” – Red Skelton
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller
“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs; jolted by every pebble in the road.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“When you paint success pictures in your mind, you initiate an inner process whereby your attitudes, hopes, aspirations, and enthusiasm are elevated in response to an image of a more promising future. Every person who aspires must first sell themselves hope, the promise of a better life.” – U.S. Andersen
“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
“So let your deepest desires direct your aim. Set your sights far above the ‘reasonable’ target. The power of purpose is profound only if you have a desire that stirs the heart.” – Price Pritchett
“High achievers spot rich opportunities swiftly, make big decisions quickly, and move into action immediately. Follow these principles and you can make your dreams come true.” – Robert H. Schuller
“You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
“If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.” – Isaac Bashevis Singer
“If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.” — Vince Lombardi
To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan… believe… act! – Alfred A. Montapert
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” — Tom Brokaw
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
“Fear of failure and fear of the unknown are always defeated by faith. Having faith in yourself, in the process of change, and in the new direction that change sets will reveal your own inner core of steel.” – Georgette Mosbacher
“When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’” — Sydney J. Harris
“Successful people decide how they are going to live; they are not victims of circumstance. In good times or bad times, they know where they are going and they know that they are going to get there.” – Bob Proctor
Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your mind. Put your whole soul to it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. It’s the end you’re after.” — Anthony Robbins:
“People who care about each other enjoy doing things for one another. They don’t consider it servitude.” – Ann Landers
“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” – Sai Baba
A Fantastic Motivational Tune
“Even the finest bicycle won’t move unless you pedal it.” – Tom Beaman
Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don’t go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket.Jim Rohn
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln
“You gotta think big to be big, Barney Boy!” – Fred Flintstone
The universe has no favorites. Those who succeed have created good habits and taken steps toward their goals.
“If who I am is what I have and what I have is lost, then who am I?” – Anonymous
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein
“We first make our habits then our habits make us.” – English Poet
“I am responsible for my attitude. I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have, life itself.” – W. Anderson
“We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than we are.” Jim Rohn
“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale
“Winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing” Vincent Lombardi
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
“Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.” – Brian Tracy
“We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will be in exact proportion to our service.” – Earl Nightingale
“Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear…” – Leo Buscaglia
“Business is always interfering with pleasure, but it makes other pleasures possible.” – William Faulkner
”Your most valuable asset can be your willingness to persist longer than anyone else.” – Brian Tracy
“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Business is always interfering with pleasure, but it makes other pleasures possible.” -William Faulkner
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” – Lao Tzu
I will persist until I succeed – Og Mandino
“You are, at this moment, standing right in the middle of your own ‘acres of diamonds.’ ” — Earl Nightingale
I will greet this day with love in my heart – Og Mandino
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Alva Edison
“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.” – Janis Joplin
“The winds holding you back, causing you to struggle are about to change in your favor,” Joel Osteen
“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” — Albert Einstein
“To do two things at once is to do neither.” Publius Syrus
”Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” Og Mandino
“The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.” — Stephen King:
“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” Arnold H. Glasow
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
“Fear of failure and fear of the unknown are always defeated by faith. Having faith in yourself, in the process of change, and in the new direction that change sets will reveal your own inner core of steel.” – Georgette Mosbacher
“Maybe you can’t change the whole world, but if you have love in your heart you can make small differences every day, which really does change the world, one life at a time.” – Kristina Koncz
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision. – Peter Drucker
“When you maximize your talents, you’re on path, on purpose, on target. When you don’t, you’re off path, off purpose, off target.” – Kevin Hall
“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”Mark Twain 1835-1910, Humorist and Writer
“The world is divided into people who do things, and people who get credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class, there is far less competition.” Dwight Morrow 1873-1931, Businessman, Politician and Diplomat
“When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue. You give him the possibility of a whole new life.” Christopher Morley
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” -Dale Carnegie
“The more you know the less you need to say.” – Jim Rohn
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
“Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people’s criticisms, carry out your plan.” – Paul J. Meyer
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul J. Meyer
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” Zig Ziglar
Categories: Leadership, Personal Development Tags: development, inspiration, motivation, quotes, success
The Power of Smart Goals
Goal: the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective
How many of you have made New Year’s resolutions year after year and found that each year, after a short time, your resolution never materialized?
Resolving to do something is the first step towards any endeavor, however, it will not catapult you to your goal. Many of us have good intentions to change for the better, but we fail because we do not set proper goals.
Developing realistic goals takes some practice. Developing a goal forces us to think and prioritize what is important. Many of us avoid writing down goals for various reasons. It might be due to a fear of failure, lack of focus, or even passivity. Your past experience in setting goals does not have to dictate your future. Why not start the New Year with a goal that will create a new beginning?
1. Choose goals that you are motivated to achieve.
Goals are important. They force us to define our priorities and help us to identify our passions.
They release the power of focus, which creates positive momentum in our lives. When setting goals, we must fundamentally believe that we can achieve the goal. Our belief mixed with our passion or motivation to achieve that goal, provides the energy to begin the journey. Our belief and passion will enable us to navigate through the internal obstacles we may encounter. From a coaching perspective, there are many elements to achieving your goals, but for the purpose of this discussion, we are focusing on setting S.M.A.R.T. goals in light of the New Year.
2. Create a well formed S.M.A.R.T. goal statement.
There are five key elements to writing a S.M.A.R.T. goal. This criteria is commonly used in the corporate America. As a manager in a Fortune 50 company, it baffles me to see how few supervisors and leaders write S.M.A.R.T. goals for their employees. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is: Specific Measurable, Attainable, Relevant , and Time-Specific.
In contrast to a S.M.A.R.T. goal, many goals are vague and undefined: For example, “I want to become a better father in the world.”
The desire to become a better father can be recast as a S.M.A.R.T. goal: “I will increase the time I spend with my children by 25% over the next 3 months including doing 1 fun activity a week for 1.5 hours and putting the children to bed 3 evenings a week with a day’s debrief and prayers
Specific: Goals must be Specific. Specific goals create a clear target you can hit. The more specific, the easier to measure your success. General goals can not be attained, which only leads to frustration.
Measurable: A goal must have a quantitative element. If a goal is measurable, you will know when it is achieved. In the example above, the Father can measure whether he is indeed spending 1.5 hours per week doing a fun activity with his kids and putting them to bed three times a week.
Attainable: Attainable goals are goals that you are in control of and have the resources to achieve. An example of unattainable goal is:”I want to be the best father in the world,” versus the goal above.
Relevant: Relevant goals must be in the sphere of the person’s motivation. Do you have a passion or significant change agenda to achieve the goal? Relevant goals have passion and motivation backing them.
Time-Specific: Without time specific goals, procrastination will go on forever. A goal with a time domain creates the needed dead lines and sense of accountability to achieve the goal.
As common as this acronym is, I would challenge you to take the time and discipline to apply these five characteristics to a goal for this year.
1. Break down your goal into manageable steps.
When you break your goal down into bite size pieces, you will have a better chance at succeeding. Many goals are abandoned because there is no clear starting point with tangible steps. Sometimes the goal can feel overwhelming because it lacks the S.M.A.R.T. attributes. Create simple steps for successful completion.
2. Write the goal down and make it visible.
If it is not in writing it doesn’t exist is a saying we use in our business and home when it comes to important matters. When we create contracts that are agreed to, there is a certain power they exert through the agreement. It is important write out your goal and make it visible so you don’t forget it. If you have a vision or goal to fulfill, it needs to be regularly placed before you eyes to keep your focus.
3. Partner with a peer, friend or coach.
Goals outside the context of healthy and positive relationships may never be achieved. Surround yourself with people who will support and encourage you. Ask them to hold you accountable and periodically ask how you are doing. As a coach, I am amazed at the power relationships have in helping people achieve their goals. If your are pursuing significant changes or facing major transitions, consider hiring a coach to help you.
4. Periodically assess and review progress toward your goal.
Similar to the step 4 of writing our goals down, you need to regularly review your goals. Our world around us constantly changing and so are you. You find that you need to adjust your goal based on new circumstances. You have not failed if you change or modify your goal. What is important is that you achieve goals that are realistic and attainable.
5. Celebrate your successes.
Don’t get too caught up in the task at hand. Don’t forget to celebrate your successes. Share your successes with people who can appreciate your accomplishments. Relationships are important part of your success, so don’ forget to invest in people during your journey.
Take advantage of the power of SMART goals in your life. You will set yourself up for success, creating a positive history of achievement. You will increase your confidence and sense of wellness.
Click here to download our Smart Goals worksheet. Create goals that work for you.
Categories: Personal Development, Workplace Tags: achieve, easy steps, focus, goal setting, motivation, smart goals, success