Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
A few months ago, I caught a link to a motivational video filled with inspirational quotes. I still watch the video almost every morning as I prepare to take on the world for the day. It centers my thoughts on what I am going to do that particular day to help me make positive progress towards the goals I am trying to accomplish.
After several weeks of listening to this video, I wanted to find out who the voices in the video were. With the help of Google, I was able to determine one of the people featured was a motivational speaker named Les Brown. When I searched YouTube and started to watch other videos featuring Les, I got sucked in for the entirety of a Saturday morning.
If you ever need some motivation, I suggest you do the same. You will not only feel empowered to achieve your goals, you will begin to believe that it is your basic right to do so.
The original motivational video’s imagery is very sports orientated, thus I applied the energy and spirit of the inspiration towards my fitness goals, and my desire to do the very best I can when I run my next marathon in June. But the more I listened to other Les Brown videos, the more my thoughts started to drift in a more general sense. I started to think about how the principles Les laid out for his listeners applied to any life goal, including my financial goals. I wanted to share with you three things that really resonated with me as I watched video after video.
- Les drives home that in order to achieve your goal, you need constant action. You cannot work at your goal one day out of the month, or even each week and believe you will ever make it happen. You cannot make the right spending decision once out of ten and expect to get out of debt. You cannot contribute to your retirement accounts one time out of the year and expect to become financially free.
- He also talks a lot about patience, which is a really tough one in today’s world of immediate gratification. Great things are not achieved in a single day. Big goals are achieved over the course of time. He emphasizes that it will not be easy, but it in the end, it will be worth it. When I listen to Les talk about patience, my mind instantly jumps to a point in the video I watch daily where former Baltimore Raven’s linebacker Ray Lewis is quoted, “Greatness, is a lot of small things done well. Day after day.”
- Les also reminds us that there will be times where we will be challenged and tells us that we must prepare for it. If we wait until we are faced with adversity to figure out how to deal with it, we will likely fail. He asks what will keep us strong when the messenger of misery pays us a visit. He suggests that we write down five reasons we are trying to achieve a particular goal, and make sure the list is readily available for when we meet a potential moment of weakness.
Here’s my own personal list:
Why I Want To Be Wise With My Money:
- Laying in bed, staring at the ceiling wondering how you’re going to pay your bills sucks.
- To be a role model for my children
- To achieve financial freedom for my retirement years
- To be the best husband I can be
- To not cheat myself from the life I deserve
This list is going into my wallet. I will see the piece of paper each and every time I open it to buy something. I can read the words if I want or need to, but just the presence of the white piece of paper will remind me of it’s meaning.
Three things: Constant action, patience, and a reminder of what you’re working towards for those moments of weakness. Separately very simple, but together extremely powerful.
Do you have a favorite motivational speaker? What is your own personal methodology to achieve your financial, or any other life goal?
My motivational speaker is Nike… Just do it! haha
This is great, I’m going to listen to this video to help me push myself a little harder this up-coming year.
LOL, Aldo….sometimes simple is best, right? Glad you liked the video….the more you watch it, the bigger impact it has!
“Greatness, is a lot of small things done well. Day after day.” Word! It reminds me of all the people who go gung ho with exercise and crazy hard eating plans Jan 1st and somehow stop on Jan 7th. But it’s really about those tiny habits that lead to long lasting success. I think I’ve seen the video but I need to re-watch anyway. I don’t have a particular guru, but I love inspirational quotes in general.
I’m with you, Tonya….before this whole thing happened, I wouldn’t have been able to name a motivational speaker. But man…between Les Brown, and Eric Thomas (another guy featured in the video), I’m hooked!
I can’t think of motivational speakers without seeing Chris Farley circa 1990 talking about living in a van down by the river….. I do like your list and aside from the part about being a better husban, those could be my motivations. I can remember many a night staring at the ceiling at 2AM, not a place I ever want to revisit.
LOL, I love me some Chris Farley – especially when he’d fall and break a coffee table. 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Wow Les Brown, there’s a name that I haven’t heard in awhile. I came across a video of his on Twitter sometime last year and ended up watching it 3 times in a row haha. Thanks for the reminder, going to use his fiery speeches to get pumped for 2015!
He’s very motivating, isn’t he, Dividend Champion? There’s something about not just his words, but his delivery and tone of voice. I just can’t get enough!
Ha ha, I just had to laugh at Kim’s comment because that’s my first thought too. 🙂 Seriously though, I love the list – especially #1. It can be easy to trick ourselves into thinking that we don’t need that constant action only to find we don’t get to where we want in life. But, that action is important even if done in small steps to reach whatever our desire end goal is.
Exactly, John – we can’t just pull out a goal and work on it whenever we feel like it and expect to achieve the goal – financial, fitness, or any other life goal is not like knitting a quilt. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
“Constant action” makes me tired! But “small things done well. Day after day,” reassures me : )
Your goals for the year are very worthy, and it’s a great strategy to put them in your wallet. It never ceases to amaze me how EVERY aspect of life is connected to our personal finances.
It seems like the skills and methodologies to conquer one goal is really applicable to *any* major life goal. Les actually talks about that in one of his videos! Great to hear from you Prudence!