A Little Morning Motivation

After each sunset, there is a sunrise. With the sunrise comes a new start.
Original photography.

I woke up this morning determined to change my attitude.

Working on a long-term academic project with a 40 hour/week work schedule is a new challenge to me, and am experiencing a bout with the mental burnout that normally accompanies these types of endeavors. So, as I searched for a quote of the day (a ritual that I have been performing every day this summer) I found this on forbes.com:

“Life is a short day; but it is a working day. Activity may lead to evil, but inactivity cannot lead to good.”

 - Hannah More (I highly recommend you look up who she is, an incredible and inspiring woman who thrived in 3 careers -- as a poet and playwright, writer on morals and religion, and a practical philanthropist)

“…but it is a working day…” In life, we are presented with a dynamic set of challenges and are blessed with unprecedented flexibility to face them. More importantly, we are recharged every night and given a fresh start every morning. Those are the tools given to us, what we do with it then falls under the domain of our beautiful free will. Men can build skyscrapers, scale mountains, heal the sick, consolidate a nation, or even sit at home all day. That is our choice. Where will you dedicate yourself? What will you do with the amazing tools bestowed to each of us, who will you impact?

“Activity may lead to evil, but inactivity cannot lead to good.” The first step, regardless of the path over which your choices will guide you, is to commit yourself to something, no, anything. Set a goal, an objective; something so perceivably unobtainable that only fools would conceive of its accomplishment. In reality, it is the fool who would tell you so. Then, have the vision. See yourself there, after the completion of that (those) goal(s). How have you changed? How did you grow, whether it be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically? Think about that image you have created of how you have transformed from how you are today to how you will be tomorrow. Make the steps tangible. If you make it manageable, the summit suddenly becomes closer and closer. It’s amazing: once you begin taking the steps, there are less to be taken. Now, get there. No excuses. You have what you need; the flexibility, the access to technology, the ingenuity, and most importantly the ability to choose. If you drop the ball; no one will notice, no one will care, that is because you are responsible for your own success.

More so, the umbrella of that responsibility extends to failure. Embrace it, love it, learn from it, move on. “Activity may lead to evil,…” sometimes failure happen, unintended externalities may mitigate the gains you hoped to achieve. It happens, that is why life “is a working day…” you have to roll with it, adapt, be better the next time, be the best the time after that.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is this: YOU are the only one that is limiting yourself. If its grades, don’t dwell on what you did do, focus on what you will do. Study harder, study longer, make what you do different than what it was before and I’d guarantee that the result of those inputs will never be the same as the original.

“I’ve always figured out that there are 24 hours a day. You sleep six hours and have 18 hours left. Now, I know there are some of you out there that say ‘well, wait a minute, I sleep eight hours or nine hours.’ Well, then just sleep faster, I would recommend.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

If its your physique. Eliminate the phrase “I’ll start tomorrow” from your vernacular. Every. Single. Day. is an opportunity, a blessing, and a curse. “..inactivity cannot lead to good.” Each day can be one day closer for you to not only accomplish the objective, but embody the vision you have set out for yourself. Each day also presents the opportunity to tear down that vision. Take the chance, take the risk, and always move forward.

 Carpe Diem.

-Stephen