Daily Motivator - January

[bluidkiti]

January 1

Start strong

Start strong, continue strong, finish strong. You’re making the journey, you’re doing the work, you’re going through the year, so do it with strength.

Start strong by choosing to focus only on what truly matters. Turn away from the meaningless junk that just drains your energy and wastes your time.

Continue strong by reminding yourself why you’ve decided to do what you’re doing. When the going gets treacherous, make sure there’s a powerful positive purpose to pull you through.

See the work through and finish strong by making it about much more than just yourself. You’re on track to change life for the better, so honor that commitment by getting the job all the way done.

Finish strong, then use the achievement as a springboard for the next one. Give that momentum a meaningful place to go, and give yourself a new way to grow stronger.

On this day that’s filled with new possibilities, life is counting on you to be strong. Deploy your strength, feel your strength, grow that strength, and do all the great things you’re here to do.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

Happy new year Kracker, and to all of my daily recovery reading family.

[bluidkiti]

January 2

Think and do

Put plenty of good thought into what you do. But be careful not to let the thinking crowd out the doing.

Your thoughts make your actions much more effective. However, your thoughts cannot replace your actions.

You cannot exclusively think yourself all the way to the goal, no matter how brilliant you are. Achievement happens when thought and action are dancing together, synchronized, contributing to each other.

You cannot simply think yourself out of a problem. At many points along the way, you must commit your thoughts to action.

If you’re not sure what to do, think about it for a while, but not too long. Then, even with an incomplete, imperfect plan, begin to take action.

Let your thoughts guide your actions, and let your actions inform and clarify your thoughts. Think and do, think again and do more, all the way to the results you desire.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 3

Always there is opportunity

The market surges, the market retreats. Yet always there is opportunity to create new value.

Innovative, disruptive products and services come and go. Through it all, is the ever-present opportunity to make life better.

Trends appear and disappear, new fashions rise up and then fall out of fashion. What never goes out of fashion, however, is the desire for richness and fulfillment in life.

Some days are bright and warm, others are dark, gloomy, frigid. Some people are cheerful and helpful, while others are withdrawn and dispirited.

Yet everywhere, at every moment, with every person, is the opportunity to impact life in a beneficial way. Whatever the conditions, whatever the environment, you can work to improve life for yourself and others.

In the ups and downs, in the victories and the frustrations, always there is opportunity. Have the vision to see it, the courage to seize it, and persist in making life better no matter what.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 4

Use your time wisely

Don’t settle for just any activity when you can benefit from purposeful, focused accomplishment. Fill your time with the actions that will fill your life with value.

What things are you planning to do in the next hour, over the rest of the day? When you look back later at how you spent your time today, will you be filled with gratitude or filled with regret?

Today is your opportunity to improve all the rest of your days. If you squander these particular moments, you’ll never get them back.

The greatest influence and leverage you’ll ever have over your future, is now. Choose to use that influence in a positive, productive, intentional way.

Sure, it’s tempting to waste a few minutes, or several hours, with meaningless diversions. But before you do, remind yourself of the much better alternative.

You can choose instead to use your time wisely, to create value that could improve your whole future. And that’s a choice you’ll never have to regret.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 5

Welcome the resistance

Seek to create or improve, and you’ll meet resistance. The more ambitious your goal, the more powerful the resistance is going to be.

Welcome that resistance, because it represents the value of what you’ve decided to do. Welcome the resistance, because it proves you are making meaningful progress.

Welcome the resistance, but do not succumb to it. Do not let it stop you, or distract you, or turn your focus away from your intention.

Smile knowingly at whatever person, force, or situation seeks to block you. You knew it was coming, you’re ready for it, and you’ve taken full responsibility for getting around it.

Whatever you seek, the resistance you encounter is your opportunity to prove how much you want it, how much you deserve it. Be eager to seize that opportunity, and enthusiastic about the great value it enables you to create.

The resistance is strong but you are stronger because you have a worthy purpose. Welcome the resistance, and do exactly what it’s trying to prevent you from doing.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 6

Beyond the doubt

Doubt is sometimes a sneaky way to be lazy. When you doubt your abilities you don’t have to go to the trouble to use them.

Go ahead, challenge yourself, your ideas, beliefs, perceptions, skills, with the intention of making improvements. Be careful, though, about doubting yourself too much.

Stay away from the kind of doubt that results in giving up. When you feel such doubt beginning to seep in, respond by renewing your commitment to persist.

Address your concerns, but don’t let them stop you. Consider your doubts, but don’t turn them into excuses.

Don’t let apathy and inactivity slip in through the back door in the form of doubt. As burdensome as the challenges and setbacks may be, you can always respond with positive action.

When doubt arises, see it within the larger context of all the great possibilities open to you. Then step beyond the doubt, into action.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 7

Great treasure

There is a great treasure in this day. Find it not by looking for it, but by being an active part of it.

Be the eyes through which life sees its unbounded beauty. Be the hands through which good work brings new richness into the world.

Resolve to see the best in the people you encounter. Let them bring out the best in you.

Every small moment is an opportunity to to deepen life’s meaning, to add fulfillment. And this day is full of small moments.

From the soft rose hue of sunrise until brilliant stars are scattered through the night sky, this is your day to live. Remind yourself what a great treasure you already have and what an even better treasure you can now help to make.

For another beautiful day you can live, you can give, you can care, you can dare to love, to hope, and bring new goodness to life. Here is great treasure, ready for you to create.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

This is truly the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be very glad in it.

[bluidkiti]

January 8

Put change to work

Life is defined by change, from moment to moment, from day to day. Making the most of life means adapting to whatever changes come your way.

It’s easy to see yourself as a victim, cursed by certain changes. The more powerful response, though, is to see yourself as blessed by the opportunities the changes deliver.

Every change is a change you can choose to respond to positively. Instead of focusing on whether the change will be a good one or not, put energy into making it a good one for your world.

Many changes you cannot control or even anticipate. Yet you can know for certain they will come.

And you can make the choice right now to make the changes work for the good. When life changes you can up your game, renewing your commitment to what truly matters.

Changes are what keep life going and progressing, so make change your friend. And put change to work to take you precisely where you choose to go.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 9

To live and to give

Don’t seek to avoid all the effort of life. Seek instead to make life worth all the effort.

Ask the difficult questions and be willing to listen to, understand, and implement the difficult answers. Embrace the meaningful challenges and persist in working through them.

Dare to choose the most ambitious goals. Put in the work to achieve those goals that improve the world and the lives of those around you.

Acknowledge that life is inherently difficult and fully embrace it as such. Commit yourself to making that difficulty count for something meaningful.

Lead by example, always making the best choice even if that choice is far from the easiest choice. Seize upon opportunities to add new richness and beauty to life, knowing it will ask much of you.

You are here to live and to give. Go out of your way to do both, in the most meaningful ways you can imagine.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 10

Let life humble you

Humility improves your experience, your effectiveness, your connection to what matters. Let life humble you.

Let life remind you that you don’t have all the answers. Let life surprise you with how limitless its possibilities can be.

Continually expand your awareness by realizing how small it always is. Add to the depth of your wisdom by being eager to confess what you do not know.

Arrogance is a lonely, frustrating, empty life. Genuine humility offers escape from such a disheartening state, and access to your highest possibilities.

When plans go awry, be thankful for the humbling experience. When others fail to understand or respect you, take the opportunity to let life humble you.

Let life humble you. And let that make you stronger than ever.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 11

Positive territory

Some days it seems the whole world is infected with negativity. But that’s no reason for you to be similarly infected.

Where you see carelessness and incompetence, let it lead you to be more caring and effective. When you encounter anger and disparagement, let it inspire you to be more tolerant, optimistic and encouraging.

In a negative environment, be the person to claim the positive territory. Then set out to expand that territory.

You’re not likely to stop the discord and fighting by fighting against it. What you can do, is to think, speak, and act so positively that you render the negativity useless and irrelevant.

It could be that those negative people you encounter have forgotten they have any other option. Be the person to show them, with the way you live, a better choice.

Live with love, with excellence, with an optimistic, affirmative outlook. And make the world around you a more positive place.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 12

Best of what is possible

What can you do, that you’ve forgotten you can do? What can you do, that you’ve never known you could do?

What would cease to be impossible if you could stop assuming it to be impossible? What would you achieve if you were convinced you could achieve it?

Reality is more than what has already been, or what is now, or what you’re sure of. The most exciting and valuable part of reality is what is possible.

Your possibilities are just as real as your memories, your doubts, and your assumptions. Which will you choose to believe, to express, to follow into the future?

Instead of focusing on the obstacles, you can decide to see the opportunities inside the obstacles. Instead of being dismayed at what has happened, be encouraged and excited about what is now possible.

Open yourself beyond your fears, beyond your doubts, beyond the excuses and assumptions. Open yourself to the best of what is possible, and make that your central reality.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

January 13

Let the beauty brightly shine

See that wherever life may find you today is a beautiful place to be. Realize that whatever you have to work with is everything you need to make new richness in this moment.

You can create value right now that will always be with you. You can experience joys today that can change your life forever.

You are surrounded by life’s richness. Possibilities stretch out in every direction.

Wherever you may choose to go, the first step is ready for you to take. The journey toward any destination you can imagine begins right here and now.

Recognize the beauty in every detail and appreciate the value in every challenge. Feel the purpose that springs from deep within you, and follow its lead as you move through each day.

Allow the sparkling new abundance that is born every moment to fill you with its warmth. Right here, right now, with life as it is, take it all in and let the beauty brightly shine from you.

— Ralph Marston