Decisions

Small decisions are vitally important. Because they're the ones that keep you on track.

The big, momentous decisions set the direction for your life. And the small, everyday decisions are what enable you to maintain that direction.

Small decisions are easy to make. Unfortunately, they are just as easy to ignore.

Pay attention and take active, intentional control of the small decisions. You'll quickly experience great power in their cumulative influence.

The big decisions are expressions of your commitments. The small, moment-by-moment decisions give life and substance to those commitments.

Give careful thought and consideration to the big decisions. Then use the hundreds of small decisions you make each day to bring those big decisions to life.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Curiosity

Curiosity will take you to wonderful places you never would have otherwise known you could go. Curiosity is, at its heart, a love for life and everything in it.

Those who are the most authentically and persistently curious are the best informed. Simple, sincere curiosity brings a richness of wisdom and unique experience into your life.

The biggest impediment to curiosity is arrogance. For in order to be truly curious, you must first admit that you do not know.

Keep in mind that intelligence is more than a measure of what you already know. Intelligence depends on always being open to learning new things, some of which will contradict and supersede what you already thought you knew.

Though curiosity will often compel you to undertake great effort, curiosity itself requires no effort. Drop your pretenses, allow yourself to be curious, and you are.

There is no end to the wonder that you can discover, wherever you are, whatever you do. Be curious, and be fully alive.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Free from frustration

You choose your frustrations. And you can just as easily choose to be free of frustration.

What is it that makes you frustrated? What kinds of things bring on so much frustration that you can't get anything accomplished?

Actually, nothing makes you frustrated. Frustration is just the way you respond to certain situations.

Frustration is useful when you first feel it, because it calls your attention to the conflict between your inner values and your outer situation. But once it has your attention, frustration has done its job, and it is then time to let it go.

As soon as you feel frustration, ask yourself what that frustration is attempting to tell you, and listen carefully to the answer. Once you truly get the message, the frustration has done its job and it falls naturally and easily away.

By immediately understanding and appreciating what your frustration has to say, you can quickly get beyond it. Then, with a new sense of purpose and positive direction, you'll be even more effective than before.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

The life you choose

Life is the way you see it. Life is the way you perceive it to be.

If you constantly focus on all the things that could go wrong, things will indeed go wrong. Turn your focus to the positive possibilities, and those possibilities begin to become real.

Expect to find the resources you seek, and they will be there. Know that life's abundance is available to you, and more of it flows through your life.

From your perspective, everything is subject to your own interpretation of it. Much more important than what happens is what you make of it, and you can make of it anything you choose.

You are never at the mercy of random events unless you allow yourself to be. No matter what may come your way, you can decide what it means to you and how you will integrate it into your life.

The life you live is the life you choose to see and to experience. Choose, in this moment and every moment, to fill it with joy, meaningful purpose and fulfillment.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Get moving

Get up and get going. If you feel lousy, it will make you feel much better, and if you already feel good, it will make you feel great.

You know all those things you've been meaning to get done for the past six months? Pick one right now and make it happen today.

Life is much more rewarding when you actively participate in it. This very moment there are good times in your life just waiting to be created.

Do you feel the need to be more positive about life and about the world in which you live? Then get moving and get yourself positively engaged in it all.

The moment you take positive action, your outlook begins to change. When you're making a difference, the world is suddenly a much better place.

Get hot, get cold, get tired, get informed, get out of your comfort zone and get involved in this magnificent life. Drink in the delightful richness of a life fully lived.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

No excuses

Every day offers you plenty of reasons to make excuses. But excuses bring you nothing of real value.

Sure, a plausible excuse may enable you to save face, to appear more diligent and disciplined than you know you are. But do you merely want to appear successful, or would you prefer to actually be successful?

Excuses hold you back because they enable you to avoid responsibility and the achievement it brings. You deserve more than just a life filled with useless excuses.

Instead of making excuses, choose to make some honest, authentic progress. Even a tiny effort is infinitely more productive than a big, impressive excuse.

Don't settle for a growing list of reasons for failure. You can just as easily give yourself real, compelling reasons to succeed.

Free yourself from the shackles of useless excuses. And see this day as the grand opportunity that it is.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Changing conditions

When conditions change for the worse, there is no need to despair. For you have the ability to respond.

With every new problem there are plenty of new opportunities. Every setback represents a new starting point from which you can raise yourself to higher levels of purposeful achievement.

Just because things have changed is no reason to give up. In fact, that makes your worthwhile goal even more valuable.

There is always a way to get where you have chosen to go. Each challenge gives you new ways to add value to your dream.

Always, life is overwhelmingly abundant. When conditions change, you have the chance to see aspects of that abundance that you did not previously know were there.

Pause for a moment, take a deep breath, assess the situation, and re-focus yourself on the path you have chosen. Then step boldly and enthusiastically forward with more positive determination than ever.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.