We all ultimately have to motivate ourselves. But, we are often helped in doing so by reading an inspiring quote or story.
So, presuming that we would all like to be more motivated, I am sharing some quotes and stories that may help us do so.
First up is a couple of quotes I read on Twitter today:
- @zappos “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” -W.M. Lewis (via @tinybuddha)
- @StephenRCovey He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality… Anwar Sadat http://tinyurl.com/lm72bw
Next, a couple of articles from today’s Google Reader feeds:
- From the I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog: Knowing vs Doing: comparing 2 friends who try to earn more. This is a good story about persistence, about knowing that, in principle, you can succeed and that it all depends on you. It is a reminder that many of us give up too soon on a dream.
- Aaron Wall writes about a case study on the delicious motivation of rock bottom. Not everyone who hits rock bottom is going to learn from it like Shoemoney did, but we all should learn from the times when we are down.
Finally I want to mention two young friends of mine who are entrepreneurs, and fellow Georgia Tech graduates: Chris Pearson (of DIYthemes fame) and Paul Stamatiou, of paulstamatiou.com and Skribit fame). I love to keep up with what these guys are doing because they are doing what they love, and because they are very good at what they do (exceptionally good). Either could have gotten a job where good pay and benefits were a sure thing, but they decided to chase after their dreams. I admire that very much.
These two gents remind me of someone who graduated from Tech when I was going there (over 30 years ago). After he got his PhD in theoretical physics, he started his own bar. It wasn’t because he couldn’t get a job (he had offers from several prestigious national labs), and, in fact, when people on campus talked about him they would say “yeah, he’s a goddamn genius.” He just decided that running a bar was what he really wanted to do. Looking back on that, I sometimes wonder if I ever figured out what I really wanted to do.
Anyway, I hope that this list is useful to you. Looks like the common element in all of this is (1) figure out what you love and (2) just do it.
[Disclosure: I am an affiliate of DIYthemes.]
Great post Bruce – my motivation is all about being on my own terms and I have kind of spoiled myself thus far, not having worked a real job (aside from an internship) other than just working for myself/blog/Skribit and getting to do things my way, but I find that’s how I’m most productive. Granted I need a bit of accountability to work best – and that’s where my coworkers and advisors come in – I would gladly take a huge pay cut to work at home doing what I enjoy.
We’ve all heard that Confucius quote “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Great comment, Paul. Thanks for sharing your motivation. And thanks for the quote … it never seems to get old.
Best wishes to you!