47 motivational quotes for 18 – 105 year olds

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Proud dad this week. My son heads off to Cambridge University on Friday. He’s 18 and so has always absolutely hated the motivational quotes I love and have tried to push on him over the years.

So, what have I done?

Made him his very own book, with 50 of them in there.

He will possibly burn it. I hope he doesn’t.

I wish I had been given this at 18.

So much wisdom and shortcutting of experience.

They are listed below – I hope you can pick one that means something to you … 🦉

  1. Good intentions never work, you need good mechanisms to make anything happen
  2. Be great in small ways and then look back in a year.
  3. Building good habits now helps you to do more of what you want in the future.
  4. It’s easier to stay in shape than get in shape. Maintain your progress.
  5. Optimise for your interests not your happiness. Happiness is momentary. Interest has more meaning.
  6. Have a dream. Make a plan.
  7. Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.
  8. If you refuse to quit you cannot fail.
  9. Many problems are minor when you solve them immediately. They grow when you let them linger. Fix it now!
  10. The time to worry is three months before a flight. Decide if the goal is worth the risk. If it is, stop worrying. Worrying is another hazard. – Amelia Earhart
  11. The prepared person is positioned to benefit from unexpected opportunities.
  12. Often what stands between you and what you really want is a better set of questions.
  13. Do what you say you’re going to do and exceed expectations. That alone will set you ahead of the crowd.
  14. Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life!
  15. The view changes once you start walking. You don’t need all the answers now. New paths get revealed if you have the courage to get started.
  16. Many rewards will elude you if you’re not willing to get a little uncomfortable first.
  17. Success changes, depending on where it gets measured. You’re not failing, you’re in the middle of succeeding.
  18. If you resist the reality of slow progress, five years from now, you’ll be five years older and still looking for a shortcut.
  19. Always do something a little different. There’s then a great potential for reward.
  20. People forget numbers and charts, but everyone remembers a great story.
  21. You can’t remove struggle from your life, but you can improve your ability to handle change.
  22. Those who believe they can do it and those who don’t, are both right.
  23. What am I continuing to do out of habit, which is no longer serving me?
  24. The dog that chases two rabbits goes hungry.
  25. Think about what you want today and you’ll ‘spend’ your time. Think about what you want in 5 years and you’ll ‘invest’ your time.
  26. Too much challenge makes life hard. But so does too little.
  27. On things you don’t enjoy. Rephrase it. You don’t ‘have to’ … you ‘get to’
  28. Not enough time, resources or connections? OR not enough courage? Is that the real bottleneck?
  29. A ship is safe in harbour. That’s not what ships are built for.
  30. The quality of your relationships will determine the quality of your life.
  31. You can’t control the traffic, the weather or your boss. You therefore must learn to control YOU
  32. Your response to failure determines your capacity for success.
  33. We exist temporarily through what we take. We live forever on what we give.
  34. Be first. Say hello first …. Smile first.
  35. Working on a problem reduces the fear of it. It’s hard to fear something even if progress is slow or imperfect.
  36. If it’s not a ‘hell yeah!’ it’s a ‘hard no’.
  37. Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. The world needs more people who have come alive!
  38. Don’t take it personally when someone lets you down.
  39. If you don’t like it, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
  40. Always give value, before you ask for value.
  41. Your current habits are perfectly designed to deliver your current results.
  42. Just beyond yourself is where you need to be.
  43. Life is too short not to be pursuing the best opportunity you know of.
  44. It’s easier to hold your principles 100% of the time, than 98% of the time.
  45. One day you’ll look back and realise that you worried too much about things which don’t matter.
  46. Real wealth is not about money, it’s about freedom.
  47. The hardest part about solving a problem is actively defining it.