Daily Motivator - October

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October 14

Look beyond

Look beyond your immediate concerns, beyond the view you’re accustomed to, beyond your familiar perspective. A whole universe exists out there, and it’s filled with unique people, thoughts, experiences.

Step away from your assumptions. Refuse to allow your perceptions to be channeled into pre-defined boxes by you or anyone else.

You are capable of discovering and experiencing what no one has even imagined. That’s a whole lot more interesting, compelling, and inspiring than just repeating what everyone else is repeating.

Don’t cheat yourself out of the creative power that lives and grows within your every moment. Take each opportunity to have what cannot be bought, to know what cannot be researched, to live what cannot be pre-programmed.

That restlessness you so often feel is telling you something you need to hear. Your spirit longs to live, not to be assembled, cataloged, and manipulated.

Challenge yourself to keep your perspective fresh, original, and fulfilling. Continue to find out for yourself how life can always be so much more than it already is.

— Ralph Marston

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October 15

Great time to live

Put your past mistakes behind you. Put the past mistakes and transgressions of others behind you.

Don’t continue suffering for what is no longer happening. Leave the difficulties and disappointments of the past in the past.

Make room in your awareness for new joy, goodness, energy, and achievement. Make more room in your life for all you love and care about.

Today is a new day with new opportunities for richness and fulfillment. Focus your attention on how you can make the most of right now.

Remind yourself of your best possibilities and of all the skills, capabilities and resources available to you. Urge yourself to do something good and meaningful with what you have.

Your life is a beautiful, wonderful thing. And this is a great time to live it.

— Ralph Marston

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October 16

Good times

The difficult times are times you’ll eventually treasure. Because they’re times when you have no choice but to be your best.

The enjoyable times are times you can already treasure now, and then continue to treasure as the years pass. Knowing how good life can be provides the courage and the strength to make it good again.

In times of confidence and stability you discover how much you can achieve. In times of uncertainty you learn the value of being decisive, committed, resourceful.

Times of loneliness can be painful, yet they can also be insightful, productive and strengthening. Times of camaraderie and fellowship can be hectic and demanding while also uniquely enriching.

Indeed, all times can end up being good times, each in their own way. Whatever may be going on, you can find value to live and to share.

The potential for goodness exists in every stretch of time. In each different situation, during all the times you inhabit, choose to live that goodness fully, and to spread it far and wide.

— Ralph Marston

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October 17

Escaping from ego

Your ego pushes you to appear impressive. Yet that same ego prevents you from being truly impressive.

To the extent you can, get your ego out of the way. Rather than forcing a contrived image of yourself, allow and enable your authentic beauty to shine through.

Before you speak, tell yourself that what you have to say doesn’t matter. That takes all the pressure off and gives you permission to speak your highest truth.

Before you act, tell yourself that what others think of you doesn’t matter. That allows you to go forward with sincerity and confidence.

Making things all about you is severely limiting. Stepping as far as possible away from your ego is highly liberating.

Be you, without being focused on you. Feel the freedom of escaping from ego, and experience all the advantages that brings.

— Ralph Marston

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October 18


Fill today with more than just wishing, planning, and speculation. Fill today with action.

It’s difficult to know the best thing to do but it’s very easy to know the worst thing to do. The worst thing to do is nothing.

If it works, do it again. If it doesn’t work, do something else.

You are alive, aware, capable, and resourceful. Put all that to good use by putting yourself into action.

You have dreams, desires, priorities, goals, passions, and values. Connect with them, understand them, and do something about them, today when you have the opportunity.

Stand up, shake off the doubts, let go of the excuses, and rise above the distractions. Give your best action to this day and get the best of life in return.

— Ralph Marston

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October 19

Gratitude and ambition

Be thankful for what you have, for all you’ve experienced. But don’t let your gratitude become an excuse for complacency.

Be ambitious about the possibilities and all you can do with them. But don’t be so blinded by ambition that you fail to appreciate the goodness already present in your life.

Gratitude and ambition serve you best when they exist in a healthy balance. Rather than forcing them to compete, allow them to cooperate with each other.

Regard your ambition as an extension and expression of your gratitude. Expand your gratitude to encompass not only what is, but also the possibilities for what can be.

At the deepest level of purpose there never has to be a conflict between gratitude and ambition. Nourished and energized by that purpose, you can move thankfully and enthusiastically forward.

When you feel gratitude let it push you to do more, and when you feel ambition let it remind you to be thankful. Keep gratitude and ambition working together and get maximum benefit from both.

— Ralph Marston

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October 20

Bigger opportunity

Effort that is not followed by more effort is largely wasted. Put forth the effort, then put forth more.

No, that doesn’t mean you must push yourself beyond exhaustion. Take a regular break and rest when you are weary, but be sure to put in plenty of productive time between the breaks.

Build something valuable. Then realize its full value by building on what you have built.

It’s great to be satisfied with what you’ve done. Just don’t become so consumed with satisfaction that you fail to do any more.

Success is more than just an occasional, isolated incident. Success is an attitude, a perspective, a way of being and doing over the long term.

When you’ve made some progress, that’s great. Now seize the bigger opportunity to make even more.

— Ralph Marston

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October 21

Live, love, and enjoy

Live, love, and enjoy. Walk, run, breathe, and relax.

Don’t make every activity into an occasion for proving your point. Don’t make every moment into a reason to worry and fret.

Just be you, and just be fine with that. Let go of any concerns about how you will look or what they will think of you.

Let other people’s foolishness be their problem. Stop complaining that someone else’s crazy behavior is ruining your life.

It’s not your job to save the world and it’s not the world’s job to save you. It’s not your place to set everyone straight and it’s not your obligation to cater to the insecurities of others.

Take a deep breath, smile, and have fun. Let yourself and everyone else enjoy the beautiful day, the beautiful life that is here right now.

— Ralph Marston

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October 22

What you put in

Garbage going in results in garbage coming out. To get a high quality outcome you must provide high quality time, effort, and resources.

What can you do when you’re not getting the results you desire? Take a good, objective look at what you’re supplying to create those results.

Yes, there are unfavorable factors beyond your control, things you cannot improve upon or eliminate. That’s all the more reason why you must maximize the quality of what you can control.

Your results are heavily influenced by your priorities, your standards, and your diligence. When you’re disappointed by anything in your life, look carefully at what you’re putting into it.

You have distinct power over the quality of your career, your health, your relationships, and your overall fulfillment in life. What you put in plays a major role in what you get out.

Life is certainly not fair but it is most definitely responsive. You can’t ever make it perfect yet you can always make it better by improving the quality of what you give.

— Ralph Marston

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October 23

Question your needs

Question your needs. Stop being burdened with needs that exist only because of your assumptions or self deceptions.

Some of your needs are authentic. Others are merely choices you’ve allowed yourself to characterize as needs.

Seek to be more honest with yourself. Is every need real, or are some of them fabrications?

There are plenty of desirable things you can have, and use, and enjoy, and benefit from, without needing them. Indeed, you can improve the quality of those things in your life by making them choices instead of needs.

Look for opportunities to live more by intention and less by compulsion. Examine the differences between what you assume you need and what you actually need.

Refuse to operate at the mercy of needs that are not really needs. Take responsibility for your choices and you will greatly improve where those choices lead.

— Ralph Marston

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October 24

Can you see?

What if you were less concerned about what others think of you, and more concerned about the truth and quality of their lives? How would that change the things you say and do?

What if you could see every situation from a perspective that’s two or three levels higher than your current one? Would that improve the quality and effectiveness of your responses?

What if you could instantly remember the sum of all difficulties you’ve overcome? Would that make you less worried and anxious about the future?

What if you decided at the beginning of each day to be positive about life no matter what might happen? Would that enable you to spend more energy solving the problems and less time complaining about them?

What if you could see at a glance how deeply interconnected you are to each person you encounter? Would you approach those interactions with more kindness and generosity?

What if you make each choice, and act in every moment, like the very best person you can imagine yourself to be? Can you see the positive difference you will make in the world?

— Ralph Marston

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October 25

Defuse the situation

The answer to rude behavior is not more rude behavior. Retribution doesn’t get you anywhere good, doesn’t create anything useful.

An insult in return for an insult is predictable and ineffective. You have the opportunity and the skill to be much more innovative and constructive than that.

You can be the person to rise above it. You can chart a new, more beneficial path.

Be the original and intentional person you are. Put forth a positive perspective rather than just reacting to a negative one.

Yes, someone else has said or done something objectionable. But do you really want to create additional incitement for doubling down on that?

Be the strong one, the reasonable one, the one who defuses the situation. You’ll vastly improve the possibility that something good will come of it.

— Ralph Marston

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October 26

A whole lot of good

You are not perfect, not all knowing, not endlessly powerful. Yet you can do something good today.

You don’t have access to endless resources. Your life has challenges, shortcomings, disappointments, and frustrations.

Even so, you can make a positive difference in someone’s world right now. You can bring a genuine smile to someone’s face.

You are not in the most ideal situation that ever existed. However, you are in a situation where you can be kind, loving, generous, and understanding.

Your life has its share of difficulties, concerns, unfairness, and discomfort. It also has plenty of beautiful possibilities.

Focus on those possibilities for goodness, and find great fulfillment in bringing them to life. Though you’ll never make everything perfect, you can always do a whole lot of good.

— Ralph Marston

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October 27

The sooner the better

The sooner you tackle the problem, the better. The sooner you face the challenge, the better.

The sooner you put forth effort, the better. The sooner you make a commitment, the better.

Some situations are difficult, uncomfortable, and even painful to deal with. But putting them off until later makes them even worse.

There is no easy way to handle life’s inevitable challenges. Yet you can make them much less difficult by meeting them head on.

Don’t waste your energy avoiding reality. Acknowledge the hard truths and direct your energy toward making life good within those truths.

You have what it takes to discipline yourself, to meet the challenges, to transcend the difficulties. The sooner you do so, the better.

— Ralph Marston

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October 28

Get it done

What you must accomplish is not easy. Get it done.

No one understands what you must go through to make it happen. Get it done.

You’re short on resources, you’re pressed for time, and people treat you unfairly. Get it done.

The value of what you’re doing is not diminished by the challenges you face. Indeed, those challenges are what make the accomplishment mean so much.

Your best choice is not to complain, or give up, or feel sorry for yourself. Your best option is to go ahead, face the challenges, and get the work done.

As difficult as the task might be, living with the regret of a missed opportunity is much more difficult. Do yourself a big and lasting favor, and get it done.

— Ralph Marston