Category: motivation

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Attitude motivation

How About Some Good News?

Cartoon of two cups. One is a styrofoam cup and says, "The news doesn't bother me. I'm very insulated against the world."

There are some days when it seems the best way to stay positive is to shun any news program or alerts and flee to a forest guaranteed to have no cell signal or wifi. I’ve found checking the news in the morning is the worst. Was the world really that bad while I slept? It makes me yearn for some refreshment.

Good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty.

Proverbs 25:25 NLT

Seek some good news today. If you are in a place where Daylight Saving Time is observed, celebrate you had an extra hour to sleep in this morning. Spend time with someone who is positive and makes you feel alive. Create good news by being generous or doing a kind act for someone.

Too often, we gravitate towards bad news. It generates fear and dread. Seek some good news and be refreshed as you start a new week and month. After all, in the United States, November is a good month to focus on gratitude.

Categories
motivation

The Average Success

Boy stands on top of a box that says, "average." A girl says, "Are you going to keep standing here until everyone says you're above average?"
© 2019 Kevin Spear

Is success only reserved for the rich and geniuses? If success has alluded you, is there any hope? 

The average man who wins what we call success is not a genius. He is a man who has merely the ordinary qualities… who has developed those ordinary qualities to a more than ordinary degree.

Theodore Roosevelt

It is true some people are naturally gifted and can do things the rest of us only dream of. But there are naturally gifted people that will remain in obscurity. All of us have heard the story of a gifted athlete that couldn’t control himself and lost the contract. Each hometown has the story of their talented hero that could never get their act together.

Don’t worry about some who have talents you can only dream of. Develop what you have and use it to your fullest.

  • Be a lifelong learner
  • Learn something new every day
  • Develop goals and work towards them
    • This allows you to define what success looks like to you
  • Do something uncomfortable that makes you grow

Keep plugging away. If success has alluded you until now, you have today to develop your ordinary qualities.

Categories
motivation

Costumes and Goals in the Making

Cartoon of a boy and an older man

Some people go to great lengths in order to find the perfect Halloween costume. They may spend weeks perfecting the look, the character, the effect of their fear-producing ensemble tonight.

Others are more like me. When I was little, it didn’t occur to me to think of a trick-or-treat costume until October 30. I knew I was going to get candy no matter what I looked like. I blame Charlie Brown. Everyone in the Halloween special seemed to gravitate towards cutting holes in a bedsheet and going as a ghost. That seemed a perfectly reasonable costume to me.

Drifting into Halloween seems perfectly acceptable to me. Drifting through life is not. It is far better to plan your life than to drift through it. There may be a nice costume awaiting you in the linen closet, or your Grandpa’s attic. But if you want a fulfilling life, it is far better to plan what that looks like and reach for it.

Cartoon of a boy and an older man
Categories
motivation

No Longer a Slave to Fear

Cartoon of son standing on sleeping dad. The son says, "Wake up, Dad! It's time to fearlessly face the day!"

There was a time I would let fear dictate my actions. If I’m honest, I’d say it was as recently as last night. It’s a constant battle to vanquish all the bad news and doomsayers from my mind. It’s a shame our minds are wired to ignore good news and focus on all the doom and gloom.

But today is a new day. It is full of potential. Nobody really knows what tomorrow will bring. So why not face it with courage? Why not be fearless?

I have to be intentional to do that. If I run by autopilot, If I allow the latest headline to dictate my mood, I can become a slave to fear rather quickly. But that’s not how we would like to live, is it?

Take some time today to find the good. One great resource I recommend is The Good News Network. Read something inspirational, such as The Bible. Be intentional in finding something to be grateful for. We don’t have to be slaves to fear today.

Categories
motivation

Fangs of Fear

Cartoon of a man with vampire fangs

I marvel at people who take pride in instilling fear in others. Some have black pickups trucks with skulls and threatening slogans. Others go out of their way to make it clear they are worthy of fear. They may yell, swear and are more than ready for a fight.

While I have yet to see someone have their teeth surgically altered with vampire fangs, I’ve heard such stories over the years of people altering their appearance in order to look threatening. It can be a power play. They may think, “If you fear me, I gain power and respect.”

If that is their thing, so be it. Halloween will give them plenty of options to do that, if even for one evening this week. Instilling fear in others may work for a while, but it isn’t a good long term solution. Fear wears off. It forces the one instilling fear to raise the stakes (poor choice of words for a vampire!). When people call their bluff, they have to be more scarier to get the same result.

It is much better to attain respect by being encouraging and showing kindness. Fear motivation makes everyone feel worse, including the one dishing it out. Motivation through hope, encouragment and faith goes much further and inspires others to greater heights. 

Cartoon of a man with vampire fangs