Do you enjoy and feel inspired by motivational quotes?
We will of course all have different reactions to different sayings, proverbs and words; some will resonate with you more than others.
Sometimes I use quotes in my coaching work with clients. They can help you take a different perspective on things, to get out of a rut, to shed new light or make you smile. Their positivity can serve as a powerful motivator of change.
Here is a short selection of some of my favourites:
(A) Dr Seuss
Today you are you, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive who is youer than you.
A great message
What a lovely way to say: you are unique. How important it is to celebrate your uniqueness, not to try to be a copy.
(1) Remind yourself of your own talents and strengths.
(2) Don’t compare yourself unfavourably to others.
(3) Stand up for what you want and what you believe in.
(4) Avoid going along with others’ wishes to please them but not yourself. Ideally seek win-win outcomes, rather than one party wins and the other loses.
(5) Take time to think – about what you want from life, what you want to gain from specific situations, how you feel about the world – so you are prepared to ask, to express your feelings and opinions, and be you.
(B) St Francis of Assisi
Start by doing what’s necessary;
Then do what’s possible;
And suddenly you are doing the impossible
A great message
It can be so difficult to get started, but once you take action, you never know what you may achieve. Sometimes a big project or great idea can seem daunting. You may ask yourself, where do you begin. So procrastination sets in, a sense of not knowing how to make a plan and where to begin. Follow these steps:
(1) List the absolute essentials of what you must do.
(2) Put them in order of priority
(3) Decide how long these tasks will take and when you will do them – and do them, ensuring you have only a realistically manageable amount each day
(4) Now you have achieved the essentials – put some creative thinking time in your schedule and map out what you’d like to achieve if there were nothing in your way. What does success with this ideally look like? How will you make it happen? Who else might you involve?
(5) Don’t be deterred by thoughts of “I can’t” – follow your dreams, start testing the possibilities and you’ll be half way there.
(C) What a wonderful poem by the late, great Spike Milligan.
Smiling is infectious, You catch it like the flu
When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too
I walked around the corner, and someone saw me grin
When he smiled, I realised, I had passed it on to him
I thought about the smile, and then realised its worth
A single smile like mine, could travel round the earth
So if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected
Start an epidemic and get the world infected.
A great message
Doesn’t this make you smile? It reminds me of when someone yawns in an underground carriage, and suddenly the yawn travels all the way along the train! However, yawning is involuntary, whereas smiling is what we actively choose to do.
(1) Smile when appropriate, not a fake plastic smile, as if in a toothpaste advert, but genuinely given
(2) You may make a big difference to someone’s day. Yours may be the first smile they’ve had.
(3) It will likely come back to you and your own day will feel more pleasant
(4) Contrast how it is on the street, the tube, the bus, when people look glum or are glued to their phones
(5) Re-read the poem – it will make you smile again
These are some of my favourites. What are yours?
If you feel inspired to achieve positive change, coaching can help. To arrange a free 15 minutes session, please contact me.
Who’s who?
Dr Seuss 1904–1991. American children’s writer & political cartoonist
St Francis of Assisi c1181-1226 Italian Catholic friar
Spike Milligan Born in India 1918-2002 British-Irish comedian, poet & actor
