Tag Archives: inspiration

Monday Morning Motivation – John Young

14 Aug John Young - paratriathlete

John Young

One of the most inspirational triathletes that I’ve read about recently is John Young who is a ‘little person’ (his words).

http://bethehammerjy.blogspot.co.uk/

If John can achieve a Boston Qualifying marathon time and complete an Ironman, what excuse do the rest of us have?!

If you want to find out about John’s latest adventures, check out his Facebook page. You can also read the official Ironman article about him: John Young breaks barriers in triathlon.

 

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Monday Morning Motivation – Drive progress

7 Aug

I really like this Audi commercial that emphasises that men and women should be treated equally, however, it was deemed to be controversial when it was first screened.

What do you think?

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Monday Morning Motivation – Angela Shartel

31 Jul

I’m guessing that first thing in the morning probably isn’t when you have time to watch a 20 minute documentary, but please do yourself a favour, save this link and schedule time to watch this brilliant 20 minute documentary this week.

Ultra Angela tells the story of Angela Shartel who has battled depression and poor health to become an ultra runner.

You can read more about Angela on her website.

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Monday Morning Motivation – Courage is already inside

6 Mar

OK, so I’ve never seen a Ram Truck (they’re not available in the UK), but I love this inspirational commercial showing strong women breaking stereotypes…
Have you ever though ‘I could never do that!’

Have you ever thought, ‘I could never climb a mountain or compete against that!’

Have you ever thought you just didn’t have anything left in the tank? Well, you do. You can break a stereotype and throw it into a whole ‘nother gear, because the courage is already inside.

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Monday Morning Motivation – How good are your bike handling skills?

27 Feb

One of the reasons why I’ve decided to take part in cyclo cross is that I really want to improve my bike handling skills. I know that I’m nervous at times, and I don’t always react to hazards as well as I could, so I admire anyone who is a really confident cyclist. However, there is one man whose cycling skills I admire above many others: Danny MacAskill. If you’ve not watched his latest video, Wee Day Out, then be prepared to be amazed and inspired:

Anyone want to go for a ride?

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Monday Morning Motivation – What can you endure?

20 Feb
Jaret Grossman: There’s a certain delusional quality that all successful people have to have. You see all successful people have this belief, they have this understanding, that I’m going to do something different than has ever been done before. They have this idea that they’re not going to be told what to do, because they know where they’re going. You always hear this time in life be realistic. Well, realism and success are not on two opposite ends of the spectrum.”
Earl Nightingale: “There’s nothing more pitiful to my mind that the person who wastes his life running for one thing to another, forever looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and never staying with one thing long enough to find it. No matter what your goal may be, perhaps the road to it can be found in the very thing in which you’re now engaged.”
Joel Osteen: “You are where you are today in part because of what you’ve been saying about yourself. Words are like seeds. When you speak something out, you give life to what you’re saying. If you continue to say it, eventually that can become a reality. Whether you realise it or not, you are prophesying your future. This is great when we’re saying things like,  ‘I’m blessed. I’m strong. I will accomplish my dreams. I’m coming out of debt.’ That’s not just being positive, you are prophesying victory, prophesying success, prophesying new levels. Your life will move in the direction of your words. But too many people go around prophesying just the opposite. ‘I never get me good breaks. I’ll never get back in shape. Business is slow, I’ll probably get laid off. ‘Flu season is here, I always get it.’ They don’t realise they are prophesying defeat. It’s just like they’re calling in bad breaks, mediocrity… You are planting seeds when you talk. At some point, you’re going to eat that fruit.”
Greg Plitt: “Every hero you guys had was called an idiot, crazy, a loser! You must break society’s status quo. Status quo is normality – it’s alive, but not living. It’s death on a stick, guys. The belief of the individual can overcome thousands of followers. One person with the belief overrides thousands of people with just intent. Your life, guys, is not about making money. It’s not about having the titles, it’s not about having the hot trophy wife. Your life is about a moment to come. It’s inevitable. Right now we have the most valuable asset on earth on our side: time! But it’s running out and right now you guys are sitting there and to make that first step towards greatness is the hardest step. But there is one thing harder than that, my friend. It’s later in life. As you look back on your life. The window of opportunity has closed. Your ability is no longer present and you think back that you could have been great.
Right now you have the ability to never had that debate inside your head. That’s the debate you can never win. You can go back and forth, back and forth, but there’s no verdict. The jury’s always going to be in the jury room – it’s never going to come back saying, ‘You did okay’. What you will do is you will bury that deep inside. You won’t tell anyone that you could have been this. You will be second best to your true potential and you’ll live your life fine. But then one of your friends going to succeed in some endeavour and you’re going to hate him for it because his success is a spotlight shining down your missed opportunities. We all have the ability to do anything. There’s people in here far superior than me, but there’s no one here that will work harder than me.”
Les Brown: “Whatever you want to do, whatever idea that you have, the longer that you’re sitting on that idea, you are either creating or you are disintegrating. If you’re not using it, your skills are diminishing every day and there goes a second, there does another second and life is happening right now. Get your butt out of the way!”

T.D. Jakes: “I know I put in it what it takes to withstand the pressure. So what, your neighbours say, you don’t know what you got, you don’t know what you’ve got until all hell breaks loose. You don’t know what you can take until the pressure is applied to your life. You don’t know what you can endure and take though until people stab you in the back and walk away from you. You don’t know how much courage you have until you’ve been under fire, and under struggle, and under tribulation. You can’t learn what’s in you sitting back on a lazy boy chair hitting the remote control watching… but when all hell breaks loose, that’s when you get to see what you got.”

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Monday Morning Motivation – Unlimited you

13 Feb

Life isn’t about finding your limits. It’s about realizing you have none.

Narrator: Shhh. Baby Daniel is just waking up. He’s going to win a State Championship one day.
Narrator: This guy? He’ll run a marathon.
Runner:Who will?
Narrator: You, man!
Runner: Me?
Narrator: She is going to have the best swing in the state.
Golfer: Who, me?
Narrator: Yep, that’s right.
Narrator: She will totally win the city open tournament.
Tennis player: Get out?!
Narrator: Oh my god, you get out. All of these athletes are terrible now. But, they’ll do big things one day. But, this is where everyone reaches their athletic peak. Go, Barry!
Swimmer: Get tough! I’m winning!
Narrator: Be cool, Barry. Be cool. One year ago, I said, she would score… every… time… she had… the ball. And guess what?
Footballer: Now I score every time I get the ball.
Narrator: I know. When everyone pushes their limits, they reach their maximum potential and they live happily ever af…
Gymnast: What? Hold up. I’m not done. Hey.
Narrator: No, you’re done, that’s a wrap.
Gymnast: It’s a warm up! [kicks JUST DO IT off the screen]
Narrator: Oh come on! That was my tagline! Hey, story’s over. What are you doing? Whoa! He’s going to kill you! And your mother’s going to kill me!
Boxer’s mother: I’m going to kill you!
Narrator: So sorry, ma’am. What are..what are you doing?!
Diver: You said, I could do amazing things.
Narrator: I didn’t mean jump off a frickin’ cliff!
Runner child: I’ve never lost.
Narrator: Kid, you can’t out sprint a sprinter. You can’t either! Zach, what are you doing on top of that van? Aaron!
Basketball player: Hey.
Narrator: What are you guys doing?!
Cyclist: Watch this.
Narrator: Oh! Whaaat?! I can’t take it. Neymar, whoa! That is humiliating on so many levels. Oooh! Giancarlo. Serena. What kind of training is that?!
Serena Williams: Excuse me?
Narrator: So sorry. Nyjah, that is so unnecessary.
Child playing American football: Ahhh!
Narrator: Whoa, Tim, Tim… You can’t be the star of every sport.
Martial artist: Yes, he can.
Narrator: Come on!
Fencer: Let’s do this.
Narrator: No, no let’s not do this. Run! Everybody is going… way… too… far! Hello?! Why is no one listening to me? You too, Mo! Stop! The race is over, man! Oh, kid, no, no, no, no, no… Kid, please, please don’t do this. Psst.
Child on skateboard: I got this.
Narrator: This is out of control.

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Monday Morning Motivation – Anything is possible

23 Jan

To accomplish something extraordinary, one must have an extraordinary dream. A goal so high, a journey so demanding, that its achievement to most seems impossible.

For 35 years, Ironman has defined a sport, growing from a single race into a global movement and a new generation of athletes.

25 countries with over 200 events, Ironman inspires us to reimagine our limits, to set our sights higher, to go farther than we ever have before.

Ironman is a statement of excellence, passion, commitment.

It is a test of physical toughness and mental strength.

Ironman is about persevering, enduring and being a part of something larger than ourselves.

It shows the heights that can be achieved when we push beyond our boundaries and go the distance to earn the title ‘Ironman’.

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Monday Morning Motivation – Be tougher than your life is

16 Jan
Scott Medcudi: “I knew I was on a mission, on a very specific quest. You know, it was bigger than just wanting to be a musician or do movies. It was about finally showing the world what Scott could do. I wasn’t the best student. At that moment in life you feel like that’s all that matters. High school’s like, ‘Oh this girl doesn’t like me, this guy here’ and it’s all this drama, this drama and you go onto the real world and you know what it’s about. Just trying to make your mark in the world and I never got a chance to do that academically, so I had this fire. I had this fire to pursue this musical career.”
Eric Thomas: “If you only have 24 hours in a day your success is dependent upon how you use the 24. You got to hear me. People talk about Oprah Winfrey, you know, Ted Turner, Warren Buffett – listen to me. I don’t care how much money you make, you only get 24 hours in a day and the difference between Oprah and the person that’s broke is Oprah uses her 24 hours wisely. That’s it. Listen to me, that’s it. You get 24. I don’t care if you’re broke, you grew up broke, I don’t care if you grew up rich. I don’t care if you’re in college; you’re not in college. You only get 24 hours and I blew up literally. I went from being a high school drop out to selling six thousand books in less than six months. What happened with my 24 hours? I was like,  ‘Okay, here you got to get a grip on your 24 hours, because you’re about to be broke for the rest of your life’, and that’s all I need you to do for me. I can tell you all about your life, if you just write down your 24-hour schedule for me, you let me look at it, I can tell you where you going to be in five years, I can tell you where you’re going to be in 10 years, I can tell you when you gonna be 20 years, if you keep that schedule.”
Chris Ross: “Some of you are doing OK, as you say, but want to go to the next level, but none of you are going to reach the next level unless you’re committed every day to be better than yesterday. I know none of you are happy with average. Average is not for you and average will not be you. You might be at a great level, but you must understand there is always another level. At the same intensity week in, week out. And expect improved results. The world doesn’t work like that. You give more and you get more. You must understand that despite perceived limitations, if you push yourself, you can always raise the bar in your life. You have to always raise the bar. First you set the standard, then you raise the bar. Don’t you dare quit. Don’t you dare settle. Don’t you dare back down. Not today or any other day. When the tough moments come, never forget you are in that moment writing your legacy. In that tough moment you are setting the standard for your character. Do you have the character? You do! Never forget, never quit. The key is hard work. The key is found in my grind, in my hussle, the key is found in believing in myself. The key is believing in myself, when no-one else does. The key is my obsession with reaching success, my obsession with reaching my targets. The key is out working my ??? The key is sacrificing my today for a better tomorrow. The key is in getting out of my comfort zone and pushing myself past perceived limitations. The key is in daily growth. The key is sticking it out when times are tough. The key is being tougher than my life is. The key is using my pain as fuel to drive me to success. The key is in my goals. Goals so big they scare small minds. The key is in my vision. The vision that keeps getting bigger every time that I conquer my last goal. The key is in taking responsibility for my life, no matter what happens, no matter what tests my life throws my way.The key is in doing whatever it takes. The key is within me. The key… the key is within me.”
“I just want to show you something. When I was broke, when I was broke, if you looked at my schedule you’ll see that I woke up whenever I felt like waking up. That’s what you’ll see first. Now, I told you before you watched my video. I studied the top millionaires in the world and I discovered that they all wake up at 3:00/3:30 in the morning. You say, ‘How did you find that out?’ ‘Cause they were all talking about the 3 o’clock news. I didn’t even know news came on that early, I’m going to be real! But that’s it: 3:30. I start thinking, I’m like wow – if they’re getting up at 3:00/3:30 and everyone else os getting up at 8:00/8:30, the reason why they’re successful is not because they are smart, the reason why they’re successful is because they’ve just got a 5 hour jump on the world! So I started first at seven o’clock and then I played a trick on life. I started getting up at 7 o’clock in the morning and then you know how the time changes, well I’d pretend like it was still the same time when it went back. Then, I’d start getting up at six and the year after that when the time went back again, I’d just pretend like it was the same time and I started getting up at five. And then the next year, I’d start getting up at four and now I get up at three. And I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve been getting up at three for 6 months and it’s getting bad now. Sometimes I’m getting up at 2:15, sometimes 1:45 and I’m starting to see everything in my life change. Why? Because I’m putting more time in. And guess what? If you get up at 2 and put in work, if you finish you can take a nap!”
“Life will throw you a ton of curve balls. It’s scary, but like if you believe, man, if you believe and if you want it and if you want to work hard enough for it, it can be so.”

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Monday Morning Motivation – When it hurts

2 Jan

Quentin Tarantino: Bottom line is the fact that I realised that even the group people I hung around with, you know, it was easy for me to think that I was doing a lot because I was doing more to try to move myself forward than they were and I should be the weakest link in my chain that I have and that will make me be stronger and make me run faster. I mean like an analogy I’ve always used is, all right, if you run the hundred-yard dash with people that can’t run as fast, yeah, you’ll win hands down, yeah you know that, but if you run with people much faster than you, all right, yeah you might come in last every single time but your time will be better because they’re making you run all the faster. They’re making you dig down just a little bit more. It doesn’t matter that you run, your time is faster.”

William Hollis: “My dreams don’t live down there – that’s what my granddad used to tell me. When I used to walk into projects, I look down – I see crack needles, I see bullets, I see bloodstains… but when I looked in the sky, I saw my dreams. I saw my opportunity. When I would go to school they would tell me I was too dumb. They told me I’d be like my father, like my family. Selling dope! Going to the penitentiary. Never seeing what the real world would be. See, I was a kid couldn’t read till was 16, but my dream was bigger than my reality. I’m telling you, young king, keep fighting, because your life depends on it. Just like when you get hit with that bullet and your boys are telling you don’t stop breathing, don’t stop fighting. You still got life to live, because if you lay there in your pool of blood, you’re going to die there, young king. Young king learn how to fight for your purpose and not the money.”

Tony Robbins: “You got to have a vision. A vision for what it is you really truly want. A vision is about what you’re here to create. A vision that really works is one that excites you. It has to be a compelling vision, has got to have something that has the power to pull you, not something you have to push yourself to do. With the two different kinds of motivation push requires willpower and willpower never lasts. What will last is pull. Having something so exciting, so attractive so… something you desire so much, that you have a hard time going to sleep at night, you get so up early in the morning to a rocket and take it to the next level.”

Chris Ross: “Do you know what it takes to be great? Are you willing to go that extra mile. Our grinder wakes up early; he stays up late. I tell you time and time again you will get tired, but if you have a why it will give you that extra strip, that extra foot you need, that extra hour you need. The courage. The mental mentality. Why are you different from everyone else who’s trying to do the same thing you’re doing? What makes you stand out? Why are you so important? Somebody is waiting for you to mess up. Somebody is waiting for you to give up. Someone is waiting for you to fall. So, don’t just talk about your grind. Don’t just talk about how much you’re this and that. Show me!”

Les Brown: “Now what do you do during the hard times, Les? Here’s what you must do. Number one is: you must have faith. Paul said you must have the faith to call forth those things that be not as though they were. Judge not according to appearances. Don’t judge your circumstances and the possibilities for your future based upon what you have now and because of what’s going on now. No, no, no, no. That’s not the real reality there! What you’re going through, if you’re going through some hard times, it has not come to stay, it has come to pass. No matter how bad it is or how bad it gets I’m going to make it… as I used to say to myself when I would get up in the Bernard Scott building and I had to go into the bathroom and bathe in the bathroom sink, I have written on the mirror that I put up this piece that I read,  ‘No matter how bad it is or how bad it gets, I’m going to make it!’ – so you’ve got to have faith, you talk to yourself, you say that affirmation. The next step is you must have patience. and engage in consistent action.”

“Get back up. Somethings you can’t change, you just have to live with. What if you do have a choice? Make the right choice. When it hurts, keep going. Those cloudy days, those storms tell you to keep going. Get back up. Dust yourself off.”

“When you wake up every morning what drives you?”

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