I have really never been into motivational speaking (although I did go through a self-help book phase – I drove my friends crazy until one of them bought me a novel and saved me from it); I just didn’t think I needed it. It’s kind of like yoga… when I was younger and doing martial arts and running, to me yoga was for people who were naturally skinny, and just want to be able to say they ‘work out,’ it just wasn’t enough of a work out for me; the final relaxation at the end of a yoga session was torture… my mind and body were going too fast.

Now I crave yoga, and that final relaxation is now my favorite part!

The same is true of motivational speeches and quotes… I ignored them; now they ignite me. They truly help. Making the decision to give up the job search and start my consulting firm was scary (at times it still is) and I just feel like a good motivational quote gives me affirmation that I made the right decision. Here are a few favorites to take with you, alongside a blurb about what to get out of them:

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.” – Mark Victor Hansen

“The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and actualizer… He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.” – Robert L. Schwartz

In a way, entrepreneurialism is the intersection of business and leadership. These first two quotes remind us that you must dream, visualize, and actualize your dreams and goals to make them your reality.

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

“Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin

Act. It’s a simple step in bringing your dreams and goals into reality, but arguably the most important and most difficult. Growth is attained through action. It’s how we learn, it’s how we grow, it’s how we change our lives, and it’s how leaders change the world…I leave you with one last quote from the Master…

“Without conflict we cannot grow.”  - Sigmond Freud