The term motivation describes why a person does something. It is the driving force behind human actions. Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. For instance, motivation is what helps you lose extra weight, or pushes you to get that promotion at work.
Unexpected Benefits of a Positive Focus Mindset Take a moment to think about how often you choose to focus on the positive instead of the negatives. When you think of your life, is the glass half empty or half full? Perspective is everything, so if you choose to remain negative, you are inviting negative thoughts to cloud your judgment. This robs you of the possibility of positivity. Below, we’ll give you the important reasons you must put an end to negative thinking and choose to focus on all things positive. What is life like when we focus on the positive more than we do the negative? This kind of attitude switch can actually make you healthier, open you up to new possibilities, and increase your creativity. How it makes us healthier Drinking water, exercising regularly, and eating whole foods are well-known ways to improve your health. But—get this—so is thinking positively! A positive mindset has been shown to have a direct impact on your health. Accord...
In this post, I’m about to give you some of the best pieces of life advice I have ever received that changed my life.
Have you watched the movie The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt?
It’s a fascinating movie about a man who takes an alternate route from his predictable path.
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Much like a diagram of an underground pipe system, you can see how radically different his life was, diverging from its original course as a result!
Let us know your favorite piece of life advice you ever received in the comment section below.
What are the benefits of reading these pieces of life advice?
Well, great advice can do that.
Life advice can:
Lead you to paths and outcomes that are much better for you
Help you spot common pitfalls and avoid them
Offer a new perspective and help you make changes
This post will give you some of the best advice I’ve ever received.
If you apply just one tip from this list, you’ll be like Matt Damon’s character, seeing how your life’s path branches in new and positive directions!
(And lucky for you, unlike The Adjustment Bureau, you won’t have men in suits chasing you down to interfere with your decisions.)
Ready to grab hold of great life advice?
Here we go!
The Best Pieces of Life Advice I Have Ever Received
1. Whatever you do—give it 100%
Wherever you find yourself at work or in your personal life, do the very best you can do.
‘I can’t!’
I hear you say.
I get it.
You’re not in the job of your dreams, and your boss keeps giving you mundane, unchallenging work – it’s hard to be motivated and give 100% to it in those circumstances.
I know what it feels like to be in a job you don’t enjoy.
I’ve been there.
I’ve answered phones all day, sold promotional items in a supermarket, and input mind-numbingly repetitive data into a computer.
But I’ve found that you don’t get to do what you love until you act as though you love what you do!
If you ‘give it your all’—someone will notice.
Then a promotion and more challenging and interesting work will follow.
To do something mediocre harms both our psyche and our prospects.
It negatively impacts our credibility, lets people down, and erodes our self-esteem.
So give your work your all.
Do it with excellence.
Do it more efficiently.
Make it more interesting.
Improve it or automate it.
Give care to even the smallest tasks.
You’ll stand out if you do.
Many people today would rather be noticed than do something noteworthy.
Choose to do something noteworthy.
Getting noticed will then be a by-product.
2. Forgive and let go
When we carry unforgiveness, it’s literally like taking a huge rock, putting it in a rucksack, and carrying it on our back wherever we go.
It weighs us down—it saps our energy, motivation, and enjoyment of life.
Unforgiveness also causes us to perceive people and life through the lens of bitterness and anger—and we get offended and upset at many quite minor things that happen to us.
It harms not only our relationships with friends and family but also with colleagues and clients.
I know that the person who hurt you may not deserve your forgiveness.
But forgiveness brings YOU freedom.
Nelson Mandela, a man with every reason to hold on to unforgiveness against his captors said, ‘As I walked out the door toward the gate that led to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.’
3. Read (A LOT.)
Why is it a good idea to read a lot?
Well, you become smarter!
Books give us access to some of the greatest minds and ideas that ever lived—we can learn from great people we wouldn’t otherwise have access to any other way than through their books.
In the words of Jim Rohn, ‘The difference between where you are now and where you will be in five years will be found in the quality of the books you’ve read.’
4. Never stop learning and growing as a person
The more you learn and grow, the better your life will become.
Grow your current professional skill level
If you continue to grow your skill level in your chosen field, you’ll become a master at what you do.
You may have heard of the 10,000 hours rule—popularised by Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Outliers,’ He stated that to achieve greatness in an area, you need to spend 10,000 hours of deliberate, focused practice on developing your skill in that area.
Grow and develop as a person
Beyond expertise in a job skill, you can grow as a person in other areas.
Your people skills, leadership skills, attitude and ability to handle difficult situations, creativity, and problem-solving, amongst others.
5. Save a portion of your earnings and avoid credit card debt.
This is brilliant money advice, and I wish I had heeded it earlier in life!
Primarily because of the incredible power of the compound effect, whatever you save, with interest, accumulates more rapidly the earlier you start.
Credit card debt is simply the compound effect working against you!
We buy something we badly want and couldn’t wait for—and a few months later, when the ‘shininess’ and excitement of it has worn off, we’re still paying for it, often far more than the original price of it.
Now, why do we do that?!
6. Change your thinking, change your life.
I used to think that if my circumstances magically changed, then everything would be great.
But then I discovered—it was not the circumstances that were the problem.
There’s a phenomenon called the ‘snap-back’ effect.
Because of it, regardless of what changes in our life—a change in income, change in relationship or environment—we will always revert to what our self-image ‘tells’ us we deserve and what we expect from our life.
Soon enough, our circumstances will change back to what we believe about ourselves subconsciously.
Our thinking determines what happens to us in life—not our circumstances.
So, to change our lives, we must first change what we believe about ourselves and how we think.
If you find someone with the desired results, you need to do what they are doing.
Invite them out for coffee and ask them how they did it.
If you don’t have someone available to you to learn from in person, then hire someone—a coach, a mentor, or access to a program or book.
8. Be kind to people; treat people as you would like to be treated.
This is one of the first principles Dale Carnegie teaches in his classic book, ‘How to win friends and influence people.’
Everyone loves to feel special.
Everyone loves to be noticed.
And if you care for people and treat them as the special people that they are, then they will love you for it.
This advice is summed up in the famous words of Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough people get what they want, then you will get what you want.”
9. Never, never, never give in
Winston Churchill, in a speech about Britain’s victory in World War II, encourages us to ‘Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.’
It’s easy to start.
Everyone can start something.
Everyone can have a great idea.
But seeing something important through to completion takes perseverance.
When no one believes in what you’re doing—will you keep going?
If everyone around you is resisting your progress, and you’re getting no support—will you still push through?
When you’ve had setbacks and difficulties and just don’t feel motivated to carry on—will you continue fighting?
You need to.
Because everything I just described will happen.
It’s part of the process.
Disappointments, pain, failure, resistance, setbacks, and criticism from others—you’ll go through all of it on your path to your dream.
And when that happens…. never, never, never give in!
Best Life Advice I Have Ever Received To Know Where You Stand
The American Psychological Association survey emphasizes the impact that positive affirmations and motivational quotes can have on an individual’s ability to manage stress.
It highlights the importance of incorporating uplifting messages into daily routines to promote mental and physical well-being.
10. “Be secure enough in yourself to base success on personal growth.” ― Katie Couric
11. “Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” ― Isaac Asimov
12. “Never argue with a stupid person; they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” ― Mark twain
13. “Never drink to feel better, only drink to feel even better.” ― Reese Witherspoon
14. “No one else knows what they’re doing either.” ― Ricky Gervais
15. “Self-confidence is the most important characteristic of successful people.” ― Katie Couric
16. “When you are doing something important, make sure you have a smile on your face and a shine on your shoes.” ― Katie Couric
17. “Next, write down five things that you’re really good at. Then just try to match them up!” ― Katie Couric
18. “One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.” ― Katie Couric
19. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ― Wayne Dyer
Secrets of Life & Best Life Advice I Have Ever Received
20. “The secret of life is not in what happens to you. It is in what you do with it that happens to you.” ― Norman Vincent Peale
21. “If you know the secret of life, you will never think negatively.” ― Debasish Mridha
22. “Being your authentic self is the ultimate secret to happiness in life.” ― Sheri Fink
23. “If you want to know the secret of life, learn with enthusiasm and love with all of your heart.” ― Debasish Mridha
24. “When God reveals a secret to you, it becomes the job description of your entire life.” ― Dr. Paul Gitwaza
25. “He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
26. “A secret becomes a powerful mantra by revealing rather than hiding” ― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
27. “A man will never receive an invitation to participate in the secret relationships the woman in his life has with other females.” ― Stewart Stafford
28. “Acting like a secret agent doesn’t make you a more valuable loser” ― Arif Naseem
29. “The greatest discovery in life is the knowledge of the Will of GOD.” ― Benjamin Suulola
Best Life Advice I Have Ever Received From Famous People
30. “It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path.” — Michael Dell
31. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” — Dalai Lama
32. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon
33. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West
34. “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”— Albert Einstein
35. “Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.” — Will Smith
36. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” — Steve jobs
37. “Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.” — Seneca
38. “The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.”— Henry Ford
39. “The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates
Have you received any brilliant life advice that has changed your life?
Maybe you’ve heard some of this advice before—awesome.
Maybe not.
Even when we know what we ought to do—we don’t always do it.
So, how about this:
Which 1-2 points really resonate with you? Which do you think you can start doing?
Write 1-3 actions you can take this week to implement something from this post. Schedule it in your calendar.
Let me know what you’re going to do this week.
And if you’ve received any brilliant life advice that has changed your life already, let me know in the comments below—I’d love to hear from you!
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