The Motivation Movement | Inspirational Quotes, Daily Advice, Lifestyle Design, Personal Development

2020 has been fucking crazy, there’s no other way to describe it. We experienced invasive murder hornets, destructive wildfires in Australia and all along the West Coast of the United States, Tiger King, civil unrest, and a very hectic, extremely divisive election. This year has been challenging to say the least.  It’s now more important than ever to practice gratitude in the wake of such troublin...

The New Year is right around the corner. Do you have any resolutions in mind? Are you going to start exercising, eating healthy, become more organized, read more, etc.? If so, you’re going to need to learn how to develop these good habits, building them into your routine in a way that encourages long term sustainability. We all have ambitions to do and be better, we briefly become hyped up to crus...

NATURE abhors a vacuum . . . This idiom is used to express the idea that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural as they go against the laws of nature and physics. Despite what you may believe, the physical, emotional, digital, and spiritual space we occupy has a significant impact on our lives.  When you create space in your schedule or unexpectedly discover yourself with unanticipated FREE time,...

Have y’all ever been involved in a network marketing organization, AKA a direct selling company? Amway, Avon, Mary Kay, Herbalife, Tupperware, NuSkin and Primerica are a few of the more popular examples.  Network marketing is a business model that depends on person-to-person sales by independent representatives, often working from home. A network marketing business may require you to build a netwo...

Taking the first step towards conquering a goal, learning a new skill, or studying a foreign language is often the greatest challenge. We’re confronted with doubt, thoughts of giving up before you even start run wild. Everything you dream of achieving sometimes feels unreachable. Maybe it’s because you feel disadvantaged. Maybe it’s because the activity you’re pursuing has physical and/or financia...

Through learning to control your temperament, it is very achievable and possible to better regulate your attitude, internal dialogue, and outlook.  Temperament, psychologically speaking, is the facet of personality involved with emotional dispositions and responses and their velocity and intensity; the term frequently is used to describe the consistently prevailing mood pattern of an individual. ...

Are we fundamentally FREE to forge our own path, or is our JOURNEY predetermined, fated to unfold in an already scripted series of events?  Free will is simply defined as the power to select or decide amongst an array of options or potential actions. The concept of free will provides us humans with a purpose, accountability, and personal agency.  Individuals who believe in FREE WILL are more likel...

Anxiety disorders can be attributed to a wide ranging, complex set of risk factors, including brain chemistry, genetics, environmental factors, personality, and life events. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. Worrying, feelings of doubt and general fears are all...

Are your ideas, emotions, experiences, senses, and desires things that happen in addition to all the physical processes in your brain, or are they themselves just a few of those physical processes?  What exactly is meant by the word "mind?" It's important to note that "mind" is not one and the same with the brain. Instead, in our description, the mind comprises of mental states such as beliefs, fe...

Have y’all ever heard of ZEN?! Have you ever had a ZEN moment, that unexplainable feeling of interconnectedness and innate understanding?! What exactly is ZEN, though?! The essence of Zen is endeavoring to comprehend the meaning of life clearly, without being deceived by logical thought or language. Zen often seems contradictory - it requires an extreme self-discipline which, when practiced correc...

How would I describe my 18-year-old self?! SAVAGE. Confused. Opportunistic. Ambitious. Outspoken. Arrogant. Motivated. Daring. I had a solid number of positive characteristics, but an equally as important number of character flaws. I never had clearly defined plans or goals growing up, all I knew is that I wanted to have as many unique experiences as possible, and to make a difference in the world...

The word patience is derived from the Latin word pati which means to suffer, to endure, to bear. Patience is a difficult, painful, STRUGGLE for many people. It’s not always easy to endure long waiting periods, delays, and simple frustrations without becoming disturbed or anxious. Having patience requires self-regulating your feelings and reactions when confronted with adversity or complex situatio...

Marketing is defined as, “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” The traditional marketing mix is the combination of the four controllable variables – PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION and PLACE. Essentially, putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. Sounds easy enough, right?  Months, som...

Don’t underestimate the power of the SWOT Analysis, it does a damn good job of examining internal and external factors contributing to or preventing your growth, in a personal and/or professional context. What makes this exercise particularly powerful, is that, with a reasonable amount of genuine effort, it can assist you in unlocking your potential, by identifying opportunities you may have been...

The Foundation for Critical Thinking defines CRITICAL THINKING as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Sounds complex, but simply put, critical thinking is ab...

The Ancient Greeks blessed us with several world-changing ideas, democracy, and philosophy, just to name a couple. Upon initial examination, ancient history may seem useless today, but if you dig deeper, there are tons of relevant lessons and theories that are worthy of a deeper analysis.  The Greeks were ahead of their time, particularly advanced in their revolutionary contributions to society; t...

Work-life balance is a popular term that was coined approx. 40 years ago! Work-life balance has been used in the context of needing more time to develop personally, outside of the workplace, be it through vacation or quality time with family. I, myself, have gravitated towards using the term work-life integration, instead of work-life balance.  In my experience, I’ve never sensed the opposition be...

Thinking outside of the box is a time-tested phrase intended to spur creativity and disruption! It’s a method of tackling obstacles in an innovative fashion, diagnosing and analyzing problems with a unique approach.  Thinking outside of the box entails questioning assumptions, re-imagining the rules, working backwards, asking for advice, and genuinely feeling comfortable being UNCOMFORTABLE. This...

We’re all on the hunt for the latest and greatest keys to successful leadership. One of the most inspirational doses of leadership knowledge was shared with me about two years by a friend; he gave me the book Extreme Ownership, how US Navy SEALs lead and win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.  This book details the SEAL leadership ideas critical to completing the most challenging missions in war and...

Driving accountability should not be thought of in the repressive, autocratic sense. Accountability is an EXTREMELY positive quality, that when fostered properly can be a powerful force that increases productivity and performance. People are motivated to take action for many different reasons, which we’ve discussed in previous episodes, but ordering tyrannical mandates is NOT ONE OF THEM!  It’s a...

Central to being an entrepreneur is the responsibility of being a strategic decision-maker. The success of the operation depends on YOU. It’s NOT an easy lifestyle; staying accountable, efficient, organized, and energized is extremely challenging. Inspiration and information can’t develop inside an echo-chamber silo. If you’re not often exposed to NEW people w/ FRESH perspectives, it becomes diffi...

We all have an ego that’s made up of specific ideas about our true-self, personality, talents, and skills. Your ego, while an essential component of your identity, if LEFT UNCHECKED, can cause you to act immorally, unethically, and generally out of character. Ego is an aspirational process . . . we aim to achieve a particular image of ourselves that’s displayed to the world, and we succeed or fail...

Most of us go through some type of toxic relationship in our lives. Whether it’s a romantic relationship, a friendship or within a family dynamic. A toxic relationship is any relationship that makes you feel worthless or devalued. Toxic relationships can include dealing with a loved one who’s a complete narcissist, an alcoholic, a gambling addict or even a pathological liar. Essentially, toxic rel...

You may or may not have known this, but music isn’t just a means of entertaining ourselves. Music inspires creativity and productivity. Music has therapeutic effects on our brain and works to relieve feelings of stress to boost your ability to focus and concentrate on tasks. Listening to MUSIC influences the co-ordination of activity inside and across various sections of the brain. Studies analyzi...

Emails. Tweets. Texts. DMs. Slacks. Facebook Notifications. The constant flow of content being pumped into our brains is difficult to process, hence the term INFORMATION OVERLOAD. Even if it’s totally useless knowledge, it’s nearly impossible to ignore.  Humans are super-efficient at downloading information. We recognize images within fractions of a second, scan hundreds of words per minute, and v...