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I'll get back to theme days once I find a groove of posting regularly. In the meantime, most of my posts are about some variation of books, bikes, buses, or Broadway. Plus bits about writing, nonprofits, and grief from time to time.

This blog is mostly lighthearted and pretty silly. It's not about the terrible things happening in the world, but please know that I'm not ignoring those things. I just generally don't write about them here.

17 March 2011

Motivation

I followed along on the Kid Lit Chat on Twitter on Tuesday night, which I rarely do since it isn't my genre (and since I don't really keep track of when it happens). But so much good advice was free-flowing that I had to stop and read. And then I felt all energized to start writing, just from people talking about writing. It's like yawning, I guess-- very contagious.

Motivation is a funny thing. It comes, it goes, it takes all forms, and turns up in unexpected places. It drains away when you need it most. It's predictable in its unpredictability. And-- here's the really fun part-- it varies from person to person and circumstance to circumstance (what motivates me to write might motivate you to read and motivate the next guy to take out the rubbish, for instance). It's available, it's everywhere, but sometimes it's ridiculously hard to find.

So, in case you need some motivation today, here you go:

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing-- that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." - Jim Rohn

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." - Confucius

"You are the only person on earth who can use your ability." - Zig Ziglar

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

cool quotes - how did you dig all those up?

J E Fritz said...

Stay motivated! It can be hard sometimes, so you have to really force yourself. That sounds weird, but it works for me.

Julie Hedlund said...

I love how you compare people talking about writing to yawning - contagious. That's so true. It really gets you fired up and re-energized!

Su said...

@Charlie: The "motivation doesn't last" thing comes up a lot on Sparkpeople-- I googled it to get the wording right & these others popped up with it!

@JE: Very true!

@Julie: And now I'm yawning again from all this talking about it! It's like I'm going around in a never-ending circle.

erica and christy said...

I still haven't figured out that elusive Twitter creature...which might be a good thing or I'd get even less done!! I was at a conference several years ago where Zig Zigler was the keynote speaker and he did a fabulous job.
erica

nutschell said...

New follower here. Awesome quotes. I'll add something Lauren Kate said at one of her book signings: "Never ever give up. It only takes one person to say yes"

Su said...

@Erica: When I first heard of him a couple of years ago, I thought it was a joke. Oops! He has a lot of good stuff to say.

@Nutschell: Welcome! Thanks for stopping by! I love your username. And that's an awesome quote!

Anonymous said...

Great quotes, hope you are motivated now. Motivation: so easy to lose, so hard to find.

Su said...

I'm totally motivated! Although it's getting late and at this moment I'm more motivated for bed.

Michelle in a shell said...

Love these tidbits of wisdom! Motivation is a tricky thing indeed

Su said...

Me, too! I was happy to run across them.