Daily Motivator - August

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August 1

You must choose

Not only are you able to choose. You must choose.

Though the possibilities may be unlimited, you cannot follow and fulfill them all. You have to have a clear concept of what’s most important to you, and choose your priorities accordingly.

You cannot make progress by saying no to everything. But neither can you make progress by saying yes to everything, because you would simply be overwhelmed.

Choose, based on what’s most meaningful, most enriching, most affirming. To do that, be honest with yourself about what matters, and then engage your courage to support it with the way you live.

How do you know if a particular choice is right for you? It must be a choice for which you have authentic enthusiasm.

Don’t miss the best opportunities by failing to choose, or by failing to narrow your choices. Choose, based on authentic purpose, and give your best to all you choose.

— Ralph Marston

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August 2

Problems are not the problem

No situation is going to solve all your problems. But that’s okay, because the existence of problems is not really such a problem.

Much of what makes life good is the satisfaction of dealing with its problems. If there were no problems, such satisfaction would be impossible.

Go ahead and be thankful for the problems. Then get to work dealing with them in creative and enriching ways.

Let go of the fantasy that you can somehow make your way to a perfect utopia that’s free of all problems. Instead, use your creative energy to envision and implement ways to thrive and to spread joy even when problems keep cropping up.

Rather than letting the problems nag you and disappoint you, allow them to energize and inspire you. Appreciate the power they have to direct your focus toward what truly matters.

Look confidently out at life, and see every problem as an opportunity to enrich your experience. Then go out among those problems and reap the rich rewards of a life well lived.

— Ralph Marston

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August 3

Authentic rewards

It’s easy to cheat, but what you gain by cheating is merely an empty token of success. Real success comes only by doing what’s honest and right, for yourself and others.

If you wish to live well, really well, you must be committed to honesty and integrity. Sure, you can accumulate money, fame, and power by being dishonest, but those things won’t bring any true fulfillment.

For any part of your life to be truly good, you must live with goodness in every part of your life. You cannot successfully integrate dishonest work practices, for example, with a good and fulfilling personal life.

Integrity literally means being whole. Without it, your life gets ripped apart.

You have to honestly earn the rewards of life in order for them to have meaning. Anything short of that just leads eventually to disappointment and regret.

Don’t cheat yourself out of even the smallest opportunity to give goodness and meaning to life. Do the demanding, honest work, because you deserve life’s true, authentic rewards.

— Ralph Marston

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August 4

Prepared for opportunity

You cannot run and catch up to an opportunity you’ve already missed. Yet you can prepare yourself for the next one that is sure to come along.

The reason you missed that last opportunity is because you didn’t recognize it soon enough. The time to seize an opportunity is before it has paid off.

Opportunity is not a free ride that’s available only to those who are lucky or well connected. Opportunity is a fertile situation where value can be created, available to those who are willing to take the risk and do the work.

You see what you look for. To see opportunity, look for ways to help others, to create value, to make life more fulfilling and enjoyable, to solve problems, to learn and grow.

Prepare yourself by choosing to be generous, optimistic, enthusiastic, and willing to see the best possibilities. Opportunity emerges from a positive-facing perspective, so get yourself there.

The next opportunity is on the way. Get yourself in its path, ready to give your best.

— Ralph Marston

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August 5

Richness of now

Set an intention and follow it. Choose a goal and achieve it.

Pick an adventure and experience it. Identify a problem and solve it.

Get up, get going, and get yourself participating in life. Discover how much the possibilities expand once you start actively moving through them.

Watch the sun come up and know that by the time daylight fades you will have made great progress. Use this day for more than just waiting, wondering, and wishing.

Do that thing you’ve always wanted to do, meant to do, needed to do. Now is when your life is lived, so fill it with the best you can envision, now.

Look far, aim high, give generously to the most positive possibilities. Demonstrate with your actions how thankful you are to be living the richness of now.

— Ralph Marston

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August 6

Life at its best

You can make a difference, and you can make it now. You can make a difference, in your own life, in your family, your community, your world.

You can observe, you can think, you can learn, you can plan, you can act. You can choose what is beneficial over what is harmful, what is helpful over what is hurtful.

You can stand up straight, eager to move forward, instead of slumping in defeat and despair. You can look people in the eyes, and listen intently to what they say, and understand, and care.

When the world feels cold and cruel, you can be warm, compassionate, encouraging. Although life is not fair, and circumstances often go terribly wrong, there are plenty of ways you can improve the world around you.

You’ve done many good things and you can do many more. You know what is good, what is right, what is helpful, and you can act to make it happen.

Today you have the power to lift life a little higher. Make a difference, and feel yourself living life at its best.

— Ralph Marston

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August 7

Clear purpose

What is the goal behind the goal? What is the fundamental desire that undergirds all other desires?

In order to achieve what you truly desire, you must know clearly what it is. Seeking a vague, generic objective can never produce satisfying results.

It’s easy, for example, to assume you want a lot of money. Yet in order to reach that goal you must be clear about why, precise about what you wish to do with that money.

Just because everybody else wants it, just because it sounds good, is not sufficiently motivating. Achievement requires long, difficult personal effort that must be driven by a well-defined personal purpose.

Understanding that purpose takes hard work, which leads in turn to even more hard work. It’s a serious investment, and can bring spectacular results when you give it ample respect and commitment.

Be clear about what you care about, what you love and value at the deepest level. Give yourself to it, filling each moment with purpose and filling your world with meaningful achievement.

— Ralph Marston

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August 8

Existing value

In your zeal to make improvements, be careful not to destroy the value that’s already there. Though things are not perfect, that doesn’t mean they should be completely destroyed.

It can be quite useful to be dissatisfied with the way things are. Just don’t let your dissatisfaction obscure all the existing goodness that’s worthy of preserving and defending.

You and countless others have worked long and hard to get to this point. All that effort obligates you to move carefully forward, not to arrogantly stumble backwards.

Move ahead with respect and gratitude for what is, even though it is not perfect. Refine your ambition with a healthy sense of humility, with appreciation for the progress that’s already been made.

Yes, sometimes you have to risk or tear down what’s already built in order to build something better. When that’s the case, make sure the value of the improvement is well worth the potential loss.

Despite the flaws, remind yourself of how good you have it before you set out to make changes. Then build on what you have, and make it even better.

— Ralph Marston

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August 9

Get good at challenge

Challenge energizes your life, pushing you to higher levels of creativity and resourcefulness. What can you do today to give yourself a nourishing measure of challenge?

Go somewhere you’ve never been. Learn something complicated and useful.

Engage in a friendly, substantive conversation with someone who disagrees with you. Undertake a task that requires more focus and discipline than you’ve previously been willing to invest.

The more challenge you experience, the more challenge you can handle. And that’s an essential skill for any kind of achievement.

Whatever you seek to create, to become, to acquire, to undertake, you’ll work through challenge to get there. Get good at challenge and you set yourself up to make great progress.

Willingly choose to give yourself more experience at working through challenge. You’ll develop strengths and skills that can serve you in every part of life.

— Ralph Marston

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August 10

Deep richness

You keep up to the millisecond on every news item, every opinion, every cultural micro trend. But do you have any concept of what it all means?

You’re highly connected to servers, routers, networks, and data. How deeply connected are you staying to the people in your life?

You can instantly express momentary whims using hundreds of clever emojis. When was the last time you wrote a long, heartfelt letter offering a glimpse into the yearnings of your soul?

It’s nice, exciting, useful to go far and wide. Yet that breadth is of little value if it is not accompanied by depth.

Seeing everything, knowing everything, having everything, going everywhere, will not provide the fulfillment you seek. That requires a sustained investment of your time, your effort, your focus, your love.

Information is powerful, sensation is compelling, yet you are capable of, and hungry for, so much more. Set aside time to think, to consider, to focus, to discuss at length, to give deep richness and meaning to the life you live.

— Ralph Marston

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August 11

Forgive and get beyond it

You can’t change unfortunate things that have already happened. What you can do is forgive, and move on.

Forgive yourself, forgive others, forgive whoever and whatever caused it to happen. Forgive, and get beyond it.

The longer you carry a grudge, the heavier it gets. Forgiveness lightens your load, frees your energy for more positive pursuits.

Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. It brings you peace, resolution, and freedom.

Forgiveness puts you in control of how you feel. Forgive, and experience the positive power.

The pains of your past have already continued long enough. Forgive, be finally done with those pains, and allow new joys to take their place.

— Ralph Marston

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August 12

Live the miracle

Fill your day with meaningful activity. That way you won’t be tempted to waste time being less than you can be.

When you’re not engaged in climbing higher, it’s all too easy to slide into negativity. When you’re not clear on what you intend to do, you won’t do anything of much use.

You have so many capabilities and opportunities, it’s nothing short of miraculous. Live the miracle.

Feel the wonder of being, as you come fully alive in the service of a useful purpose. Know the joy, the satisfaction, the power of living this day on your own highest terms.

Allow yourself to be powerfully pushed in a positive direction by your natural desire to make a difference. Marvel at the abundance that surrounds you, as you transform it into value and fulfillment.

This whole day, this whole existence, is yours now. Now, make it count for something great.

— Ralph Marston

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August 13

Love for life

Don’t let your earnest desire to save the world end up poisoning it. Step back, dial down your ego, be sure your own house is in good order.

Take full responsibility for you, before you allow yourself to even have an opinion on how anyone else should live. Be quick to offer generosity, compassion, understanding, and slow to direct judgment.

No one person has all the answers. That includes you, me, each and every leader, philosopher, commentator.

History is massive and your perspective is miniscule. If looking at life doesn’t fill you with humility and gratitude, look again.

There is much good you can do, right here, right now. Just don’t compromise your potential achievement by the need to prove a point.

Live life well, and let live. Love, and let your love for life and all who live it guide your every choice.

— Ralph Marston

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August 14

Live the adventure

Great adventures never happen in times and places where everything is perfect. The very essence of adventure is in dealing with confusing, imperfect conditions.

Let the adventure unfold in all its imperfection and let it draw out the best in you. After all, that’s what adventures are for.

Expect to confront ignorance, irresponsibility, hostility, and apathy. See each such encounter not as a personal insult but as an invigorating, empowering challenge.

Insert yourself willingly into the gap between the flawed way things are and the better way you know they can be. Live the adventure by working tirelessly to bridge that divide.

Make sense of the nonsensical, push forward on the twisting, uneven path. Watch as the adventure grows, along with your strength, your effectiveness, your level of achievement.

No setback, no inconsiderate person, no interruption or frustration can stop you. For you have chosen to transform it all into a positive, rewarding adventure.

— Ralph Marston

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August 15

Even better

You are doing a lot of things well. And you can do even better.

You have made significant progress. And you can make even more.

Sure, you’ve made mistakes, and you’ve learned from them. Yes, you’ve lived through difficulties and disappointments, and grown stronger, more resilient.

Now you’ve arrived at a time and place where you can put all your strength and experience to good use. Now you are greeted with multiple possibilities for making life even better.

Pause for a moment and consider all that you can be thankful for. Then remind yourself that the most powerful form of gratitude is to make full use of the good things you have.

Life has been good in many ways, and still can be good, and is good. Now, make the commitment, do the work, to make it even better.

— Ralph Marston