Do Inspirational Quotes Motivate You ... or Do They Just Stress You Out?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 28, 2018
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When you're coping with the countless stresses of running a business, you have to take your motivation where you can find it. Maybe you visualize your goals, read daily affirmations or find meaning in cat calendars (hey, I don't judge!). Many small business owners have a favorite quote or two that helps them get through a tough day. But some of us out there -- like me, for starters -- suffer from something I like to think of as IQA: Inspirational-Quote Anxiety (IQA).

I just ran across an oldish article from Forbes titled "Top 32 Quotes Every Entrepreneur Should Live By." Challenge accepted! Here are a few of those potentially life-changing quotes:

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." (Peter Drucker)

"To win without risk is to triumph without glory." (Corneille)

"When you cease to dream you cease to live." (Malcolm Forbes)

These are all great. They also feel about a million percent unrelated to the actual daily grind of working for myself. No wonder I tend to gravitate to the downers:

"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work." (Thomas Edison)

"It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure." (Bill Gates)

And here's one I particularly love:

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill)

Apparently, I find the drudgery and struggle of others to be incredibly inspiring. If Edison and Gates and Churchill can have sucky days then I'm in excellent company, right? My personal favorite on the list is this one:

"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." (Napoleon Hill)

The fact is, many of us who work for ourselves are doing so for totally non-quoteworthy reasons: financial considerations, near-to-hand opportunities, flexible schedules and the like. Most of us will not change the world, just our small corner of it. We do think big, just maybe not Richard Branson-big. We do our very best with what we've got, every single day. I find that to be incredibly inspiring.

What's your favorite inspirational quote and why?

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Shahji

@EmilyCowan Yes the inspirational Quotes do inspire me and i follow one quote which i have experienced and found very true and that is " The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place... and I don´t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently, if you let it. You, me or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain't about how hard you hit... It's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward... how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That´s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you worth, go out and get what you worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying: You ain´t what you wanna be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain´t you! You´re better than that!!!!!"

Its from a movie but great words.