At Counselor Utopia we are well aware that motivation goes a long way. Everybody can benefit from motivation and counselors are no exception. Please enjoy some of the following bits of motivational material to help you and your caseload build on your confidence, pride and self-esteem!

• "A lot of people have gone farther than they thought they could because someone else thought they could."
  
  
• "People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their talents."

• "Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with.  Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up."

• "Life is not easy for any of us.  But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves.  We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this something must be attained."

• "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."

"It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice." "Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure." "Success doesn't mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives.  It means winning the war, not every battle." "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great."

• "There has never been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering."

• "Successful people are successful because they form the habits of doing those things that failures don't like to do."

• "What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."

• "The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity."

• "I contribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse."

"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do.  Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.  Try to be better than yourself." "Ability is what you're capable of doing.  Motivation determines what you do.  Attitude determines how well you do it." Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance."

• "Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

• "Excellence can be attained if you...
  care more than others think is wise.
  risk more than others think is safe.
  dream more than others think is practical.
  expect more than others think is possible."

• "Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it."

• "If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today."

• "Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on our own expectations for ourselves.  What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon."

"Be more concerned with your character rather than your reputation...Your character is who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." "Success doesn't come to you, you go to it." "The ideal day never comes.  Today is the ideal day, for those who make it so." "Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."

• "A machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men.  No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man."

• "An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."

• "People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do."

• "The real secret to success is enthusiasm."

• "The highest reward for a man's struggle is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it."

"The truest measure of a person is determined by two factors: (1) What he/she does when nobody is looking, and (2) Making the right decisions in the presence of peer pressure." "Commit yourself to a dream...Nobody who tries to do something great but fails is a total failure.  Why? Because he can always rest assured that he succeeded in life's most important battle - he defeated the fear of trying!" "In pressure situations an athlete does not rise to the occasion, he falls to his level of training." "Success is a journey, not a destination."

• "The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."

• "People who attempt the difficult, often attain the impossible."

• "Coming together is a beginning...Keeping together is a process...Working together is a success."

• "Guard well your spare moments.  They are like uncut diamonds.  Discard them and their value will never be known.  Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life."

• "All people dream, but not equally.  Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible."

"Champions know that success is inevitable, that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback.  They know that the best way to forecast the future is to create it." "You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them." "Do not let what you can do interfere with what you can do." "The difference between a successful person s not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

• "Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities"

• "Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens; not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst...a spark that creates extraordinary results."

• "Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny."

• "The rock that is an obstacle in the path of one person becomes a stepping stone in the path of another."

• "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters when compared to what lies within us."

"If you treat yourself as if you have something to offer, as if you have a contribution to make, as if you have a lot of potential, then you will behave accordingly." "The one thing in the world in which you have absolute control is your own thoughts.  It is this that puts you in a position to control your own destiny." "No matter how excellent you are, you can be better." "Whatever you want to accomplish, you must think it, see it, feel it, then do it."

• "If you can view difficulties and setbacks as a challenge, as a test of your inner strength, as an opportunity for personal growth, then you can turn these experiences into victory."

• "Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react."

• "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

• "What is popular is not always right.  What is right is not always popular."

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz." He then pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table. He produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them one at a time into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." Then he said, "Really?"

He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing it to work down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied.

He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand and started dumping the sand in the jar until it filled the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good."

Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!" "No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point."

"The truth this illustration teaches us is that if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the 'big rocks' in your life? Your children, your loved ones, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching others, doing things that you love, your health; your mate. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. If you sweat about the little stuff then you'll fill your life with little things and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff."

So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the 'big rocks' in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.