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The 20 Best TED Talks

by Marelisa

Chris Anderson

There’s a quote attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. that says the following: “The human mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”

That’s what the TED conferences do: they stretch the dimensions of your mind. Each TED speaker has 18 minutes to present an idea worth spreading in the most innovative and impactful way they can. Speakers range from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to a young man living in a remote village in Malawi who–at the age of 14– built a windmill for his family, from an old textbook.

Below you’ll find what I consider to be the 20 best TED talks. This is a massive post, so I suggest you bookmark it, and then come back to it when you have time to select the talks that interest you.

Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained brain scientist who suffered a stroke in 1996, at the age of 37, in the left hemisphere of her brain. She spoke of her experience at TED and wrote a memoir about the experience titled “My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey”.

Although the talk is, in part, about a brain scientist observing firsthand what it’s like to have a stroke, it goes much deeper than that. Dr. Taylor also explains her discovery that through the right hemisphere of the brain, the part of her brain that was untouched by the stroke, inner peace is just a thought away.

Tim Brown on Creativity and Play

Tim Brown, one of the founders of the award-winning design firm Ideo, speaks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play. Tim argues that a playful environment which relaxes natural inhibitions is more conducive to creative and useful ideas than the very “serious” environment you find in most companies.

He explains that creative companies often have symbols in the workplace that remind people to be playful and that it’s a safe, permissive environment. People need to know that breaking the old rules and norms that are no longer effective is encouraged.

Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert–author of the bestseller “Eat, Pray, Love”–explains that in ancient Greece and Rome people did not believe that creativity came from human beings. Instead, they believed that there was a divine attendant spirit that helped human beings in their creative endeavors. The Greek “Daemon” and the Roman “Genius” were magical entities that lived in the walls of an artist’s studio and would come out and invisibly help the artist with his work.

Elizabeth argues in her Ted talk that adopting a belief similar to that held by the Romans and Greeks is a good way for a creative person to establish some distance from their work.

Daniel Pink – The Surprising Science of Motivation

Daniel Pink– author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us–makes the case in his book and in his TED talk for rethinking our reliance on external rewards as our motivation. Popular wisdom indicates that in order to get more out of employees in terms of quantity and quality, you need to give them external rewards, such as cash bonuses.

However, Pink explains that rewards work well for tasks with a simple set of rules and a clear destination to move toward. By their very nature, rewards narrow our focus and concentrate the mind. That is, they work well for routine, rule-based, left-brained work–which includes things such as certain kinds of accounting, certain kinds of financial analysis, certain kinds of computer programming, and so on. These are the kinds of jobs that are easy to automate and outsource.

For tasks that require creativity and innovation, rewards produce the opposite of their intended result: they dull thinking and block creativity. People who are very creative rely on intrinsic motivation, instead of external rewards.

Tony Robbins – Why We Do What We Do and How We Can Do It Better

Personal development author and speaker Anthony Robbins explains in his TED talk that when people fail to achieve something, the defining factor is a lack of resourcefulness. He adds that if people are resourceful enough–if they’re creative and determined enough–they’ll find a way to achieve what they’re after.

In addition, Robbins explains that our ability to be resourceful largely depends on what we choose to focus on. Every moment of your life you’re making the following three decisions:

What am I going to focus on?
What does it mean? (The minute you focus on something you give it meaning. And whatever meaning you give to it produces emotion.)
What am I going to do? (Emotion then drives you toward taking action.)

Robbins then gives examples of how these three decisions shape your life. As an aside, during the talk there’s a great exchange between Robbins and Al Gore, who’s sitting in the audience.

John Gerzema -The Post-Crisis Consumer

John Gerzema explains in his TED talk that overall, society is moving from mindless spending, to mindful consumption. People are moving toward aligning their values with their spending, and driving businesses to not just be about more, but to be about better.

Gerzema identifies four major cultural shifts driving new consumer behavior, and discusses how businesses are evolving to meet new consumer demands. These four major shifts are the following:

Tendency toward a liquid life: the less excess that you have around you, the more nimble footed you are.
Move toward ethics and fair play: people are paying attention to how the companies that they buy from conduct themselves in the marketplace.
Durable living: consumers want more value out of the goods that they buy; they want longer lasting, high quality goods.
Returning to the fold: more and more, people are buying local and are banding together with their communities to get what they want out of the marketplace.

Eve Ensler – Embrace Your Inner Girl

This is fantastic! Eve Ensler is famous for creating the play “The Vagina Monologues”. She also launched V-Day, a global non-profit that works to end violence against women and girls around the world. In her TED talk she declares that there’s a girl cell in all of us, women and men. This cell, or grouping of cells, gives us compassion and empathy, it gives us vulnerability, it’s intuitive, it makes us passionate and emotional, and it’s central to the evolution and survival of our species.

However, patriarchy has been killing off the girl cell, which is essential for balance and wisdom. This suppression of the girl cell has led us to where we are now: extreme forms of violence in many parts of the world, horrific poverty, genocide, mass rapes, the destruction of our planet, and so on.

Ensler goes on to tell stories about girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence, to reveal the strength of being a girl. She makes a call for everyone to embrace their inner girl. Ensler then wraps up by performing her monologue, “I Am an Emotional Creature”.

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of Happiness

Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard explains in his TED talk that we can train our minds in habits of happiness. He explains that often, in our quest for happiness, we look outside of ourselves. We think that if we get this or that, we’ll be happy. However, our control over the outside world is limited, temporary, and often illusory. So, if our happiness relies on something external, we’re on shaky ground.

The way to achieve happiness–which is a sense of well-being, serenity, and fulfillment–, is to look inside of ourselves, instead of looking outside. We need to realize that it’s the mind that translates what happens outside of us as either joy or suffering. Therefore, it all comes down to training the mind. Ricard adds that the best way to train the mind is through meditation.

Steven Johnson – Where Good Ideas Come From

Steven Johnson is author of the book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. He argues in his book, and in his TED talk, that most ground-breaking ideas start out as “slow hunches”. Good ideas spend a long time–even years–incubating; they spend a long time dormant in the background.

In order for a hunch to turn into a great idea, it has to collide with other hunches. These “other hunches” can be yours–by mulling over your idea you come up with new hunches–, or they can be other people’s hunches. Johnson argues that many of the great ideas of the past came about as a result of the best minds of the time meeting at coffee houses to discuss and debate their ideas. This allowed for the collision of hunches, which led to breakthrough ideas.

Johnson goes on to say that a key component of being more creative is building environments like the coffee houses, which lead to innovation. In addition, in many respects, the Internet is today’s coffee house. He concludes by stating that “Chance favors the connected mind”.

Bill Gates on Mosquitoes, Malaria and Education

Bill Gates explains in his TED talk that there are major world problems that are not getting worked on naturally. That is, the market does not drive governments, scientists, thinkers, and so on, to find a solution for these problems. Two of these problems are malaria and education.

Gates points out that more money goes into the research and development of baldness drugs than to the development of drugs that cure diseases such as malaria. The reason is obvious: rich men are afflicted with baldness, whereas the one million people who die of malaria each year, and the other 200 million people that are affected by it, are poor and live in developing countries.

In the area of education, Gates asks the following question: “How do you make a teacher great?” He argues that we should be investigating what qualities and characteristics the great teachers have, so that we can get all teachers to replicate them. In addition, we should find ways to retain the great teachers. Gates explains that neither of these things is being done. But he remains optimistic.

J.J. Abrams – The Mystery Box

J.J. Abrams, co-creator of the hit TV show “Lost” and director of “Mission Impossible III”, explains in his TED talk that when he was a kid he would often go to the Lou Tannen Magic Store in New York City. One time he went to the magic store and bought a “mystery box”. A mystery box is when you buy a box full of items–in Abram’s case, magic tricks–sight unseen. That is, when you purchase the box, you don’t know what’s inside ($15 buys you $50 worth of magic).

Even though Abrams bought his mystery box decades ago, and he keeps it on a shelf in his office, he’s never opened it. For him, the mysteriousness of the box far outweighs the value of any magic tricks it may contain. The box–which has a giant question mark on one side–represents infinite possibility, hope, and potential.

Abrams explains that mystery is a catalyst for imagination. Stories are mystery boxes; you read until the end to discover what happens. In TV, the first act is called the teaser. It raises questions which are going to be answered during the rest of the show. People are drawn to mystery. Abrams encourages those watching his talk to ask themselves how they can use mystery to spark their creativity.

David Gallo – Underwater Astonishments

David Gallo explains that we’ve only explored about 3% of what’s out in the ocean (his talk was in 2007). The oceans contain the earth’s highest mountains and deepest valleys, underwater lakes, underwater waterfalls, and more life and more diversity of life than what can be found in the tropical rainforest. The 97% that we haven’t explored yet is either empty, or full of surprises. This talk has great footage of amazing sea creatures.

William Li – Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?

Angiogenesis is the process our body uses to grow new blood vessels. A typical adult has 60,000 miles worth of blood vessels. The smallest blood vessels are called capillaries–we have 19 billion of them in our bodies–, and they’re the vessels of life; however, they can also be the vessels of death. We get most of our blood vessels in the womb. Blood vessels grow in adults only under special circumstances, such as when we have an injury.

The body has the ability to regulate the amount of blood vessels that are present at any given time, through an elaborate system of checks and balances. When we need a burst of blood vessels, the body can do this by releasing stimulators. When those excess blood vessels are no longer needed, the body prunes them back.

However, sometimes there’s a defect in the system, and the body can’t prune back excess blood vessels, or it can’t grow new ones at the right place and at the right time. This causes disease; there are about 70 diseases that have an imbalance in angiogenesis as their common denominator. Cancer is one of these diseases.

Cancers start out as a small, microscopic nest of cells. This nest of cells can’t get any larger, because it doesn’t have a blood supply; so it doesn’t have enough oxygen or nutrients to grow. Although most people have microscopic cancers in their bodies after a certain age, most will never grow to be dangerous. This is because of the body’s ability to balance angiogenesis, which prevents excess blood vessels from growing and feeding cancers.

One way to treat cancer, Li explains, is to cut off the blood supply. However, Li argues that instead of concentrating on curing cancer once it happens, we should concentrate on preventing cancer. Li goes on to say that diet accounts for 30 to 35% of environmentally caused cancers. So Li asked, “What could we add to our diet that would prevent our bodies from creating the blood vessels that feed microscopic cancers?” That is, “Can we eat to starve cancer?” The answer is, “yes”.

Here are some examples of foods which inhibit abnormal angiogenesis:

Red grapes
Strawberries
Soy beans
Green tea
Lemons
Apples
Nutmeg
Tomatoes

Li explains more about these foods, and their role in preventing cancer, in his talk.

Brian Skerry Reveals the Ocean’s Glory, and Horror

Brian Skerry is an underwater photographer and photo journalist for National Geographic Magazine. Through his photographs he brings attention to the pressing issues which are endangering our oceans.

The first issue that Skerry addresses in his TED talk is how harp seals are being affected by global warming. Pups need a solid platform on which to nurse from their mothers for 12 days after they’re born; if they don’t get 12 days, they fall into the ocean and die. Because the ice is getting thinner, the pups are not getting the 12 days that they need and the pup mortality rate is rising dramatically.

Skerry points out that studies show that 90 percent of large fish–tuna, billfish, and shark, –have disappeared from the world’s oceans in the past half century as a result of industrial fishing. So he decided to take pictures that showed readers what was happening to marine wildlife around the globe.

Another issue that Skerry raises is how shrimp are caught. A net is dragged across the ocean floor; the net not only catches a few shrimp, but it also catches other fish and marine life in the process which have no commercial value. This bycatch, which dies in the process, is dumped back into the ocean as waste.

Skerry also covers other marine creatures that are at risk. However, he ends his TED talk on a positive note. There are places on earth where stocks of marine life which had been declining rapidly are back on the rise, after protectionist measures have been taken. This gives us hope for the future of our oceans, if we take action to protect marine life now. We have to be good custodians of the sea.

William Ury – The Walk From “No” to “Yes”

William Ury–a member of the “Harvard Negotiation Project”–has spent many years involved in the conflict in the Middle East. He speaks in his TED talk about the Abraham Path Initiative which he started.

The purpose of the Abraham Path Initiative is to inspire the creation of a permanent route of tourism, and pilgrimage, following in the footsteps which the prophet Abraham took 4,000 years ago. Abraham is the father of the Abrahamic religions, which include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The idea is to use Abraham as a symbolic figure-as a “third side”, to use William Ury’s term-in order to find a common ground on which the different religions of the Middle East can walk together in a spirit of respect, hospitality, and friendship. The initiative will also promote ecotourism in the area, which will help in the economic development of the rural communities which exist along the Abraham Path.

The Abraham Path is also known as Masar Ibrahim al Khalil, or just Masar (“masar” means “path” in Arabic). The path begins in Turkey and takes you through Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, and Israel. Ury believes that Abraham’s Path is the key to creating sustainable peace in the Middle East.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, Fulfillment and Flow

Positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is author of the book, “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”. In his TED talk he describes the state of ecstasy known as the flow state, which is associated with very high creativity, and he explains how to enter it.

Csikszentmihalyi explains that the nervous system is incapable of processing more than 110 bits of information per second. If you’re listening to someone speak, you need to process about 60 bits of information per second in order to understand what they’re saying. This is why if there are two people talking to you at the same time, you can’t listen to both of them and understand what both are saying.

He then goes on to explain that when you’re completely involved in the process of creating something new you don’t have enough attention left over to monitor how your body feels–the fact that you’re hungry or tired, and so on–, or to think about the problems that you’re having at home, or the spat that you had with a colleague earlier that morning.

People who enter the flow state often report that when they enter this state it’s as if they don’t exist. This is due to the fact that they’re so engrossed in the creative endeavor, that they have no attention left over to think about themselves and feel that they exist.

Ken Robinson – Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Ken Robinson argues in his TED talk that, today, creativity is as important in education as literacy. However, the way in which the educational system is set up, we’re educating children out of their creative capacity. He refers to a quote attributed to Pablo Picasso by saying that all children are born artists; the challenge is for them to remain artists as they grow up, given the way in which they’re schooled.

For example, Robinson explains that if you’re not prepared to be wrong, then you’ll never come up with anything original. Kids will risk being wrong; but by the time they grow up, most of them have lost this capacity. They’ve become frightened of being wrong. We’re running the educational system in such a way that we’re stigmatizing making mistakes.

Robinson argues that the school system creates people who live in their heads; and slightly to one side (since the subjects taught in school are mostly left-hemisphere subjects). He adds that the system is predicated on academic ability, because it was created to meet the needs of industrialism. You probably heard the following as a child:

Don’t go into music; you won’t find a job as a musician.
Don’t study painting; you don’t want to be a starving artist.

The consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people, think that they’re not very smart; the things that they’re good at were not valued in school. Robinson argues that we can’t afford to go on that way.

Stefan Sagmeister: The Power of Time Off

Designer Stefan Sagmeister explains in his TED talk that every seven years he closes his New York studio for a year-long sabbatical. During this sabbatical he pursues creative experiments and other things that are difficult to accomplish during a regular working year. He also uses this time to refresh his creative outlook.

Stefan explains that the value of taking time off is often overlooked. Here are two ways in which he benefits from taking sabbaticals:

Taking a sabbatical improves the quality of his work, so he can charge more for it.
The ideas that he comes up with during the following seven years have their roots in what he does during his year off.

Stefan indicates that we spend the first 25 years of our life learning, we spend the next 40 years working, and then tacked at the end we have about 15 years of retirement. Then he proposes that we take 5 years out of our retirement and intersperse them in between the working years. That is, the standard should be the following: work for 45 years, taking a year off every seven years.

Dan Gilbert: Why Are We Happy?

Dan Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness”, explains in his TED talk that the pre-frontal cortex of our brain is an experience simulator. We have the ability to have experiences in our heads before we try them out in real life. Humans spend a great deal of time imagining the future:

What would it be like if this or that happened?
How about if we bought this or that?
And if we went here or there?

We do this in an attempt to shape our future and, in particular, to try and steer ourselves toward happy futures and away from unhappy ones. Gilbert explains that the problem is that people are really bad at predicting their emotional reactions to different events. That is, we’re terrible at knowing what will or will not bring us happiness.

Dan Ariely- Are We in Control of Our Decisions?

Dan Ariely, the author of “Predictably Irrational”, starts his TED talk by putting up a couple of slides with classic visual illusions. He then says that we should use these as a metaphor; if we make such predictable mistakes with our vision–which is something a very large portion of the brain is devoted to, and something we use all day–, then chances are high that we make all sorts of mistakes when it comes to things we’re not so good at, such as financial decision-making.

Ariely then moves on to cognitive illusions, or decision-making illusions. Many times we think that we’re in control, and that we’re making our own decisions. However, in reality, we just have the illusion of making decisions. Ariely uses organ donations as an example. The Netherlands has an organ donation rate of 28%. Belgium, which we think of as being culturally similar to the Netherlands, has an organ donation rate of nearly 100%. Why?

The Netherlands has the following on the form that people fill out when they’re getting their license: “Check the box below if you want to participate in the organ donation program.”

Belgium has the following on the form that people fill out when they’re getting their license: “Check the box below if you do NOT want to participate in the organ donation program.”

In both countries, most people just don’t check off the box. However, in the Netherlands this means that they’re not donating their organs, and in Belgium it means that they are. So the person who designed the form had a huge influence on the decision that was ultimately made by the people in these two countries on whether or not to donate their organs.

Ariely offers other examples that show that we are not as rational, or as in control of our decisions, as we think. He adds that we need to be more aware of our cognitive limitations.

Which are your favorite TED talks? Please share in the comments section.

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Prosperity Tips – 18 Ways to Increase Your Wealth

by Marelisa

Early Morning Fireworks Over Biscayne Bay - July 4

Increase your prosperity by applying the 18 prosperity tips which you’ll find below.

Some you already know—but they’re worth repeating–, and a few might catch you by surprise.

18 Prosperity Tips

1. Instead of focusing on trying to make money, put your time and energy into creating value for others. Remember that money is simply a medium for exchanging value. Stop focusing on the effect (receiving money), and start focusing on the cause (value creation).

2. Start a business as a way to share your passion, your talents, and your knowledge with the rest of the world. Ask yourself how you can express your talents in a way that benefits others.

3. Stop thinking of what you can “get” from others (how much money you can make), and start focusing on what you can give (how you can increase the amount of value that you give to others).

4. Do your work with love. Just as resentment poisons your work, doing your work with love adds more value to it. There’s a novel titled “Like Water For Chocolate” by Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel. The protagonist, Tita, is a woman who loves to cook. When she cooks, her emotions become infused into her cooking, affecting all those who eat it. Think of the work that you do in the same way, and make sure that you infuse it with love.

5. Look for ways to have a positive impact on society through your business.

6. During times of recession people cut back on the fluff and they become more sensitive to receiving genuine value. This means that if you sell fluff, you’ll do poorly in a recession. But if you’re providing genuine value you should do fine, even if the pundits are running around screaming that the sky is falling.

7. Stop looking for happiness outside of yourself—for example, stop thinking the following: “I’ll be happy when I have six months of expenses saved up in the bank, and when I can finally move out of this dingy apartment”. Instead, tap into the happiness that is already within you and let it flow from you through your work.

8. Be optimistic. Believe that something different from what has happened until now can happen.

9. Ask yourself the following question: When I imagine totally diving in and working hard to make more money, what thoughts pop into my mind that make me feel that I’m not going to succeed? These are your limiting beliefs; work on eliminating them.

10. Make a list of the reasons why you think that you’re not making as much money as you would like to be making. These are your excuses. Stop making excuses.

11. If you feel that you’re creating value, but you’re not making money, it’s because of one of two reasons:

a. Others don’t perceive what you’re offering as being valuable. They’re telling you, “That’s not good enough”, or “That’s not what we want.” You need to go back to the drawing board with that feedback and improve your offer.

b. You’re not doing a good job of delivering the value. For example, if you have a blog and you produce great content, but you have low traffic, you’re not doing a good job of delivering the value.

12. If people don’t want to buy what you’re selling—or they don’t want to buy it at the price that you’re selling it for—don’t take it personally. This is the marketplace responding to what you’re putting out there: it’s simply the laws of supply and demand playing out. Modify your offer accordingly.

13. In order to make more money, you have to feel that you deserve it. If you don’t give yourself permission to make more money, then, regardless of how much value you provide, you’re going to unconsciously look for ways to sabotage yourself. After all, people will go to great lengths to maintain consistency with their self-image.

Give yourself permission to stop seeing yourself as “the type of person who makes $20 an hour”, and start seeing yourself as “the type of person” who makes ten times that.

14. Over-deliver on a consistent basis. If people feel that $20 is a fair price for an eBook that you’re selling, sell it to them for that price. And add a bonus. Charge what you’re worth, but then give just a little bit more. That way, you’re adding to the value of the world with each transaction.

15. Start thinking in terms of the “opportunity cost” of money. Money that you spend today on buying those new shoes or that cute purse is money that you could have put to work for you.

16. If your income increases, don’t adjust your expenses accordingly. Instead, invest the additional money in your future.

17. Identify the things that matter most to you. What are you truly passionate about? What makes you come alive? Who are the people in your life whom you love spending time with? What truly brings you pleasure? What are the absolute must-haves in your life? What can you not live without? What do you need to thrive?

18. Elizabeth Warren—a Harvard law professor and consumer advocate– and her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi wrote a terrific book called All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. The authors recommend a 50-30-20 budget. That is, do the following:

Spend no more than 50% of your income on “Must Haves”, or expenses that must be paid no matter what, such as rent or mortgage, utility bills, health insurance, property taxes, and so on.
Then, 30% of your income can be spent on your “Wants”, such as Cable TV, new clothing, dining out, and so on.
The remaining 20% of your income should be used toward building your financial future.

Please share your own prosperity tips in the comments section below.

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Dealing With Life’s Challenges – Life Is Like a Game of Chutes and Ladders

by Marelisa

Chutes and Ladders

There’s a fabulous legal drama that I watch on TV called “The Good Wife”. In the show, Peter Florrick is a former Cook County state’s attorney who has been jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal. Although he accepts that he betrayed his family by hiring a call girl, he alleges that the corruption charges are false and that he was set up. In Episode 6 of Season 1, Peter is fighting to get his case heard on appeal, have his conviction overturned, and be released from prison.

Here’s a conversation that took place during that episode between Peter and someone who was visiting him in jail:

Visitor: “Do you know what I like about you? You’re three months into a ten year sentence, and you’re plotting your political come-back.”

Peter: “Politics is just a game of Chutes and Ladders. Right now, (he shrugs) I’m at square 1.”

This exchange got me thinking, and it led to this blog post. With the current world economic situation, a lot of people who were far ahead in the game of life are trying to deal with the challenge of finding themselves back at square 1. Perhaps surprisingly, the children’s game of “Chutes and Ladders” can teach us important lessons about dealing with life’s challenges. One of these lessons is the following:

At any moment you could land on a square with a ladder on it and be back at the top of the game; so, wherever you might find yourself on the board at present, just keep moving forward, and keep your eyes open for opportunities.

Keep reading this post and you’ll discover a brief description of the game “Chutes and Ladders”, and an explanation of three valuable life lessons which you can learn from this game.

“Chutes and Ladders” in a Nutshell

In case you’ve never played “Chutes and Ladders”, or it’s been so long since you’ve played that you can’t remember what the game is like, here’s a brief explanation of the game:

The board is divided into 100 squares. All of the players start at square 1 and the objective is to reach square 100 as fast as you can. The first one to reach square 100 is the winner. Everyone takes turns spinning a little wheel which determines how many squares you can move forward. Along the board there are some squares that contain ladders, and some squares that contain chutes.

If you land on a square with a ladder on it, you can jump ahead and skip over several squares. For example, if you land on square 9–which contains a ladder leading to square 31–you make a sudden jump all the way to square 31.
If you land on a square with a chute on it, you have to slide back down and you lose a lot of the area you had already covered. For example, if you land on square 49—which contains a chute leading to square 11—you fall all the way down to square 11.

That is, all throughout the board there are opportunities to jump ahead, and there’s the danger of sliding back down. Here are some of the features of the game:

Anything can change at a moment’s notice.
Even if it looks like all the other players are ahead of you and that you no longer have a shot at winning, there’s still the possibility that you’ll pull ahead.

The three lessons that you can learn from “Chutes and Ladders” for dealing with life’s challenges are the following:

Lesson One: Accept That Chutes Are Just Part of the Game
Lesson Two: Falling Down a Chute May Be a Good Thing
Lesson Three: There Are Ladders Everywhere

Dealing With Life’s Challenges – Lesson One

The fist lesson in dealing with life’s challenges which you can learn from the game “Chutes and Ladders” is that you need to accept that chutes are just part of the game.

“Chutes and Ladders” is purely a game of chance; there’s no strategy involved. You just spin the wheel and move forward depending on the number the pointer lands on. In this way, “Chutes and Ladders” isn’t like life, because in life there are many things which are under your control. You can create a life plan, and you can take the necessary steps in order to follow your life plan. However, in life, even the best laid plans can lead to a chute.

As an example, you may have heard of retired football coach Lou Holtz. In 1966, Holtz was 28 years old, and he had just been hired by Marvin Bass at the University of South Carolina. This was a great opportunity for Holtz, and he moved his family to South Carolina and spent practically every penny he had to make a down payment on a house.

That’s when Holtz slid down a chute which appeared out of nowhere. Overnight, Bass resigned as head coach and, as result, Holtz was suddenly unemployed. He now had no job, no money, and no prospects, and he had a family to support. Through no fault of his own, he had slid back down to square 1. Even if you’re doing everything right, sometimes a chute will appear out of the blue.

Some chutes are small: your car breaks down and you have to dip into your savings to buy a new one.
Some chutes are medium-sized: the company you’re working for is near bankruptcy and, as a result, you have to accept more duties for less pay.
Some chutes are long: you have to declare bankruptcy, your spouse leaves you, or your house burns down.

Visualize your life as a board game, and include some chutes on that board. After all, chutes are a part of the game of life. I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone past the age of thirty who has not fallen down a chute at least a couple of times. You should definitely be on the look-out for chutes, and avoid as many of them as you can, but know that sooner or later you will fall down a chute.

Dealing With Life’s Challenges – Lesson Two

The second lesson in dealing with life’s challenges which you can learn from the game “Chutes and Ladders” is that falling down a chute may be a good thing.

In “Chutes and Ladders” there’s one particularly nasty chute which takes you from the very top of the board, back down to the beginning of the game. A lot of people might be tempted to give up when they land on this chute. However, falling down this chute may be a blessing in disguise. This is because when you land on this chute, and you go back to the beginning of the game, it gives you another chance to land on the longest ladder in the game.

Being back at square 1 means that you get to reassess what you want from life, and where you want to end up. It’s an opportunity to go back to the drawing board. Here are some examples:

Do you want to explore a different career? How about looking for a career that you’re passionate about, instead of just looking for another job that pays the bills?
Do you want to try your hand at starting your own business?
Do you want to move to a different city, or even a different country?
Do you want to reassess your definition of success?
Are you really happy with your old lifestyle, or do you want to change it? Are you tired of living the lifestyle that others expect from you?

Setbacks can be an opportunity to change strategies or directions. By reassessing your life and making better choices the second time around, you might just end up on a square which takes you up the longest ladder in the game; this would mean getting all the way to the top in no time at all.

Dealing With Life’s Challenges – Lesson Three

The third lesson in dealing with life’s challenges which you can learn from the game “Chutes and Ladders” is that there are ladders everywhere.

Just as chutes are a fact of life, ladders are a fact of life as well. This means that you should keep in mind that there are ladders all around you, and that you should always be on the look-out for opportunities. In addition, just as chutes come in many different sizes, so do ladders.

There are small ladders: you could get an unexpected check in the mail (a tax refund or someone paying you back for a loan that you had given up on).
There are medium sized ladders: you meet someone at a party, you mention that you’re job hunting, and they offer you a position in their company.
There are long ladders: you decide to take business classes, you notice a niche in an area that interests you where’s there’s little competition, and you start a business which gives you financial security and an opportunity to do work which feels like play.

Because there are ladders all around you, you need to do the following:

Get out there and meet new people.
Re-establish contact with old acquaintances.
Try new things.
Even if you’re down, don’t give up. Keep telling yourself that the next ladder may be just around the corner.

Conclusion

One of the reasons Lou Holtz is famous is because of what he did when he found himself in the predicament which I described above. Here’s what he did: he sat down and he wrote a life list of all the things that he wanted to be, do and have in life. Holtz filled his life list with grandiose, seemingly improbable items. When he was done, he had a list with 107 goals on it, including the following:

Having dinner at The White House.
Meeting the pope.
Becoming head coach at Notre Dame.
Making a hole-in-one.
Being on The Tonight Show.
Jumping out of an airplane.

Holtz has gone on to achieve 95 of his 107 goals, to date. Not bad for a man who was unemployed at the age of 28, with two small children, a pregnant wife, and no money in the bank!

Life is filled with challenges, and the only way to win the game is to find ways to deal with these challenges effectively. Learn the three lessons for dealing with life’s challenges presented above, and apply them as necessary. Even if you’ve recently slid down a chute, and you now find yourself back at square 1, remember that you can still win the game. And the only way to win the game, is to keep playing.

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49 Gratitude Quotes and A Poem of Thankfulness

by Marelisa

Gratitude is a powerful expression of love and it can perform miracles in your life.

There are countless benefits associated with being grateful. Among these, gratitude has been linked to increased levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Giving thanks is one of the most powerful ways there is to increase your well-being.

Reading gratitude quotes will help remind you of everything that you have to be grateful for, and it will help you appreciate all of the good that there is in your life. In addition, it will help you to shift your focus from the things you lack, to the abundance that is already present in your life. Here, then, are 49 gratitude quotes and a poem of thanksgiving to inspire you to count your blessings and live your life in a constant state of gratitude.

49 Gratitude Quotes

1. “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” — Albert Schweitzer

2. “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” — G. K. Chesterton

3. “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks”. — Unknown

4. “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust

5. “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” — Epictetus

6. “You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

7. “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

8. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein

9. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” — William Arthur Ward

10. “Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.” — Marcus Aurelius

11. “Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

12. “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” — Cynthia Ozick

13. “Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

14. “We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.” — Marcus Annaeus Seneca

15. “When we become more fully aware that our success is due in large measure to the loyalty, helpfulness, and encouragement we have received from others, our desire grows to pass on similar gifts. Gratitude spurs us on to prove ourselves worthy of what others have done for us. The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer.” — Wilferd A. Peterson

16. “Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.” — Shakti Gawain

17. “Thou that has given so much to me,
Give one thing more–a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.”

– George Herbert

18. “(Some people) have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.” — A.H. Maslow

19. “If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.” — Meister Eckhart

20. “Find the good and praise it.” — Alex Haley

21. “Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.” — The Hausa of Nigeria

22. “What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it-would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.” — Ralph Marston

23. “Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

24. “The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” — Henry Miller

25. “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.” — Ralph H. Blum

26. “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.” — Brother David Steindl-Rast

27. “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” — Denis Waitley

28. “As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world. ” — Adabella Radici

30. “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ” — Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear

31. “When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.” — Chinese Proverb

32. “Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.” — Horace

33. “But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting you more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot long keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.” — Wallace Wattles

34. “Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.” — Author Unknown

35. “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

36. “Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” — Albert Schweitzer

37. “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” — William A. Ward

38. “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” — John Henry Jowett

39. “Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.” — Christiane Northrup

40.”The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.” — Richard Bach

41. “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.” — Charles Dickens

42. “Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.” –Sarah Ban Breathnach

43. “Whenever we are appreciative, we are filled with a sense of well-being and swept up by the feeling of joy.” — M.J. Ryan

44. “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” –Doris Day

45. “Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.” — Wallace Wattles

46. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” — Buddha

47. “Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.” — Edwin Arlington Robinson

48. “There is a law of gratitude, and it is . . . the natural principle that action and reaction are always equal and in opposite directions. The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise to supreme intelligence is a liberation or expenditure of force. It cannot fail to reach that to which it is addressed, and the reaction is an instantaneous movement toward you.” — Wally Wattles

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.

Author Unknown

Conclusion

Gratitude shifts your focus from what your life lacks to the abundance that is already present. In addition, behavioral and psychological research has shown that giving thanks makes people happier and more resilient, it strengthens relationships, it improves health, and it reduces stress. Gratitude will change your life for the better.

We all know the importance of giving thanks each day. I’ve put together a PDF with 55 Gratitude Questions you scan through each day to help trigger your memory as you count your blessings for the day. It’s free, and you can get it below.

119 Journal Prompts for Your Journal Jar

by Marelisa

There are a myriad of benefits to journaling, and everyone should consider keeping a journal.

However, one of the obstacles that people face when they want to pick up the practice of journaling is that they don’t know what to write about. In this post you’ll discover 119 journal prompts to help you get started in keeping a journal, or as additional inspiration for dedicated journalers.

I recommend that you do the following:

Get a beautiful jar–it can be a canning jar, a mason jar, or any other jar you have in the house.
Print out the prompts below on slips of paper.
Place the slips of paper in the jar.
Reach into your jar each day as you prepare to write in your journal and take out one of the prompts.
Set your timer anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes, depending on how much time you have available for journaling.
Write anything that comes to mind as you read each prompt and elaborate on each point as much as you can.

Below you’ll find 119 journal prompts for your journal jar.

Sunday Scribblings

Sunday Scribblings is a site that posts a writing prompt every Saturday. The idea is that on Sunday you create a piece of writing inspired by the prompt, post it on your blog, and leave a comment on the “Sunday Scribblings” site letting them know that you’ve participated. These can also be used as journal prompts.

Here are some of their prompts:

What scares you?
Do you have a plan? Do you need a plan? Have you had a plan fall spectacularly to pieces?
What is your take on soul mates?
Are you a worrier? Is there a particular worry that you can’t shake? How do you cope with worry?
Dear Past Me . . .
Dear Future Me . . .

Create Lists

You can create lists of many things, such as the following:

Places you’ve enjoyed visiting.
Things you’ve done that you previously thought you could never do.
The people you most admire.
Your favorite books.
Your favorite movies.
Your favorite songs.
Your top five short term goals.
Your top five long term goals.

As a bonus, here’s an infographic with 60 lists to make when you need to lift your mood (you can download a PDF with these 60 list ideas at the end of this blog post).

Confessions

Do you have anything you would like to confess (even if it’s just to the pages of your journal)?

Nobody knows that I . . .
Dear ____, it weighs on me that I never told you . . .
The biggest lie I’ve ever told is . . .
Is there anything you feel guilty about? Is there anything you need to be forgiven for?
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?
What’s your secret desire?
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever done?

Use Quotes as Journal Prompts

Look at the following quotes and write whatever comes to mind when you read them:

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.” — Rilke
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library.” — Jorge Luis Borges
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” — Jane Howard
“What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul? In the silence between your heartbeats hides a summons, do you hear it? Name it, if you must, or leave it forever nameless, but why pretend it is not there?” — The Terma Collective
“Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul and you answer.” Star Richés

The Most . . .

The most terrifying moment of my life was . . .
The most fun I’ve ever had . . .
The most surprised I’ve ever been . . .
The most disappointed I’ve ever been . . .
What are you looking forward to the most?

Visual Journaling Prompts

Leaf through a couple of magazines and cut out any images that catch your attention. Use each one as a prompt.
Look through your photographs and choose a few to write about.
Buy art books that are at a discount and cut them up for images.

Three Things

Three things you can’t go without.
Three celebrity crushes.
Three favorite book characters.
Three favorite things to wear.
Three things you want in a relationship.
If you had to evacuate your home because of a natural disaster, what three things would you take with you?
Three pet peeves.
Three things you’d do if you weren’t so afraid.
Three favorite TV shows.

100 Things I Love

You’re going to make lists that will add up to 100 things you love. Make sure you give an explanation for each of the things you add to your list. For example, don’t just list your favorite restaurants, write down what you enjoy about each one (the warm bread they serve before the meal, the waiter who always remembers your favorite dish, the whimsical decor, and so on).

10 Activities
10 Restaurants
10 People
10 Foods
10 Games
6 Drinks/Beverages
4 Desserts
10 Paintings
10 Web Sites
10 Writers
10 Famous lines from books/movies

Express Your Emotions

My saddest memory is . . .
Some of the things that make me happy are . . .
How do you deal with anger?
How easy is it for you to forgive those who have caused you pain?
What is the dominant emotion in your life right now?

Rituals and Traditions

My favorite Sunday ritual . . .
The Holiday traditions I most look forward to . . .
Things I always did with my dad when I was small . . .
Things I always did with my mom when I was little . . .

Ask “If” Questions

These prompts were inspired by the book If… (Questions For The Game of Life).

If you could have dinner with anyone currently alive, who would it be?
If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be?
If you could change one thing about your present life, what would it be?
If you could live anywhere you wanted, where would you live?
If you could go back in time and change one things from your past, what would it be?

Memories From Your Childhood

What was your favorite toy?
Did you ever get lost?
Who was your best friend in elementary school?
Did you ever run away from home?
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
What was your favorite subject in school?
Who was your favorite teacher?
What’s your first memory?
What was your favorite cartoon?
What book did you read over and over again as a child?
What is your most vivid memory of the kitchen in your childhood?
As a child, who was your favorite relative?

Thinking of the Week That Just Ended

Who made you feel good this week?
What was the biggest mistake you made this week?
What did you do this week that moved you closer to reaching your goals?
Is there anything you did this week that you wish you’d done differently?
What did you most enjoy doing this week?
How did you procrastinate on important tasks this week?
What did you learn this week?
What’s the funniest thing that happened to you this week?

Write a Letter

Write a letter to someone you need to forgive.
Write a letter to someone who believed in you even when you didn’t believe in yourself.
Write a letter to be read by each of your loved ones after you’ve passed away.
Write a fan letter to your favorite actor/actress.
Write a letter to the editor of your favorite magazine telling them what features you would like to see included in the magazine.
Is there something you’re reluctant to tell someone? Write a letter to help y0u organize your thoughts.

Landmark Events

Write about your first dance.
Write about your first crush.
Write about your first week in college.
Write about your first job.
Write about the first apartment you ever rented.
When did you feel truly independent for the first time?

The Sky’s the Limit

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
What would you do if money were no object?
What would you ask for if a genie granted you three wishes?
What’s your wildest dream?
What would you do if you could live a day without consequences?
What grand adventure do you wish you could go on?
If you could become an expert in any subject or activity, what would it be?
What would your perfect day be like?
Close your eyes and imagine the kind of world you would like to see. What is it like?

An Ode To Your Uniqueness

What makes you unique?
How do you stand out from the crowd?
What are your best character traits?
What are you really good at?
How would you describe yourself?
How would your best friend describe you?
What character traits do you need to work on?
What are some of your idiosyncrasies?
How do you indulge yourself? Do you need to indulge yourself more often?
How do you think others see you when they meet you for the first time?

Dream Triggers

Use your journaling sessions to think about your ideal life. Ask yourself dream triggers, such as the following:

How would you like to make this world a better place? How can you best share your gifts with the world?
What qualities do you want in a romantic partner? What are the top ten characteristics that you look for in a romantic partner?
What are the top ten qualities a friend should have (treats people with respect; listens but doesn’t judge; has a quirky sense of humor; is an artist; lives with passion; doesn’t sweat the small stuff; is loyal and trustworthy)?
What would make you feel spiritually fulfilled?
What famous world festivals would you like to attend?

You’ll find 1000 dream triggers, covering 10 different life areas, here.

Memory Triggers

My eBook, “Create Your Life Story”, contains 444 memory prompts, covering several life areas, to help you get started recording your memories and writing your life story. They can also be used as journaling prompts.

Here are three of the prompts that you’ll find inside:

Was there anything noteworthy about your mother’s upbringing –she grew up in extreme poverty or extreme wealth; she grew up during the Great Depression; she grew up surrounded by artists, philosophers, or politicians; her family moved around a lot when she was growing up; and so on?
Write down three of your father’s favorites (it could be his favorite singer, his favorite book or author, his favorite movie, his favorite time of the year, his favorite basketball player, his favorite artist, his favorite meal, his favorite dessert, and so on).
Do you have any famous or high profile family members? If so, write about them.

Conclusion

Keeping a journal is a great tool for changing your life for the better. In addition, keeping prompts in a journal jar will make journaling easier. The prompts above are a great place to start.

As promised above, here’s the PDF with the 60 lists to make when you need a mood lift. Download it, print it, and put it somewhere you can grab it when you feel like making lists. Just fill in your name and email in the form below.

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Nike Quotes and Videos: Get a Motivation Boost From Nike

by Marelisa

Just Do It

Nike is famous for its slogan, “Just Do It!” In addition, Nike’s marketing department has created many more inspiring phrases, magazine and TV ads, and so on. Here are some fabulous Nike quotes and videos to give your motivation a boost, and to inspire you to get out there and live your best life:

“The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t’ is you. And you don’t have to listen.” – Nike

“All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES.”

Awesome Nike video:

“Training is the opposite of hoping.” – Nike

Barry Sanders (1992):

“Too often we are scared. Scared of what we might not be able to do. Scared of what people might think if we tried. We let our fears stand in the way of our hopes.

We say no when we want to say yes. We sit quietly when we want to scream. And we shout with the others, when we should keep our mouths shut. Why? After all, we do only go around once. There’s really no time to be afraid.

So stop. Try something you’ve never tried. Risk it. Enter a triathlon. Write a letter to the editor. Demand a raise. Call winners at the toughest court. Throw away your television. Bicycle across the United States. Try bobsledding. Try anything. Speak out against the designated hitter. Travel to a country where you don’t speak the language. Patent something. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. JUST DO IT.”

“Everything you need is already inside. Just do it.” — Bill Bowerman

Michael Jordan – “Failure” Nike Commercial:

“That’s right. I’m out of here. Do not chase me down or text me or try to talk me into going out to lunch. I don’t have time to figure out if I have time for a run. I’m just going. The world will not fall apart in my absence. I might miss somebody’s birthday cake or a discussion of last night’s season finale. Even if I do, who cares. I’m coming back with a state of mind three coffees, two flirtatious emails and a week of vacation can’t buy. Just do it.”

Lance Armstrong – Nike Commercial:

Choose your favorite Nike quotes from those above, and put them up where you’ll be sure to see them often. Then, use them as encouragement to live your best life.

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Adventure Quotes: 50 Quotes on Living a Life of Adventure

by Marelisa

When everyday life is getting you down, it’s time for an adventure!

Adventure quotes can help remind you that the world is filled with exciting things to do and see. There are faraway lands to explore, fascinating people to meet, exotic foods to try, and new experiences to savor. However, there are also many small adventures you can go on, close to home.

The first step in living a life of adventure is to decide what adventures you want to go on. Then, you need to map out the steps you’re going to take, perhaps enlist a few adventure buddies to accompany you on the journey, conquer your fear, and set out on your quest. I hope the adventure quotes below will encourage you to get going.

Here are 50 adventure quotes to encourage to get out there and live your life to the fullest:

1. “One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” — William Feather

2. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” — Henry David Thoreau

3. “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.” — Leonardo da Vinci

4. “Somebody ought to tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit every minute of every day. Do it, I say, whatever you want to do, do it now.” — Michael Landon

5. “A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter that the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” — Walt Disney

6. “Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.” — Alan Sachs

7. “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” — T.S Eliot

8. “If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough.” — Mario Andretti

9. “Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.” — Henry David Thoreau

10. “I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending, that haunts our sleep so much as the fear that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived.” — Harold Kushner

11. “Follow your bliss, and doors will open for you that you never knew existed. Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell

12. “When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

13. “Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!” — Friedrich Nietzsche

14. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

15. “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller

16. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – “WOW – What a Ride!” -Anon.

17. “I do not want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” -Diane Ackerman

18. “Look, I really don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive, you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, you’ve got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death.” — Mel Brooks

19. “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” -W. M. Lewis

20. “Remember what Bilbo used to say: ‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”” — J.R.R. Tolkien

21. “Always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.” Sarah Ban Breathnach

22. “A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.” — Wilfred Peterson

23. “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” — Thomas Alva Edison

24. “It is never too late to be who you might have been.” — George Eliot

25. “And the day came when the wish to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” — Anais Nin

26. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” — Ambrose Redmoon

27. “If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau

28. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

29. “We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand – and melting like a snowflake.” — Marie B. Ray

30. “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.” — John A. Shedd

31. “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

32. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anais Nin

33. “Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.” — Annie Besant

34. “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life and in change there is power.” — Alan Cohen Quotes

35. “When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge.” — Constantine P. Cavafy (read the whole poem “Ithaca” here).

36. “Don’t die without embracing the daring adventure your life is meant to be.” — Steve Pavlina

37. “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katharine Hepburn

38. “At dusk the three of us encountered an elderly lady and her beagle hiking toward us. Teetering along on a walking stick, she wore a motoring cap and held a bunch of wildflowers. I said hello and asked her where she was going. She replied in Welsh, “Rydw i yna yn barod.” We looked to Erica for a translation. “She said, ‘I’m already there.’” -“A Ramble in Wales,” from National Geographic Traveler

39. “Keep trying. Stay humble, Trust your instincts. Most importantly, act. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” — Yogi Berra

40. “It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly…. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” -Teddy Roosevelt

41. “The only question in life is whether or not you are going to answer a hearty ‘YES!’ to your adventure.” — Joseph Campbell

42. “I’d been having dreams lately, drunken dreams with their peculiar lucidity in which the Experience Trail, the High Seas seemed to call louder and louder, more and more insistently with a voice that was at the same time music—a siren’s song that almost threatened me if I refused to obey its quixotic urgings . . . ” — Sol Luckman

43. “…adventures don’t come calling like unexpected cousins calling from out of town. You have to go looking for them.” — unknown

44. “The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” — Denis Watley

45. “There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” – Sir Rannulph Fiennes

46. “A man does not climb a mountain without bringing some of it away with him, and leaving something of himself upon it.” – Sir Martin Conway

47. “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” — Kahlil Gibran

48. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs

49. “Adventure isn’t hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life.” — John Amatt

50. “Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

See your life as a fabulous adventure and live your best life.

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10,000+ Bucket List Ideas For Designing Your Best Life

by Marelisa

A bucket list is a list of everything that you want to be, do, have, and experience in life.

I’m a list fanatic; in particular, I’m a lover of bucket lists. If you want to live a life filled with achievement, success, fun, and adventure, you need to dream big. And, the first step to dreaming big, is to create a bucket list.

I created a bucket list with 10,000 items–collected in 18 different eBooks which make up the “Idea Book” series. The “Idea Book” series is the result of extensive research into everything from the best festivals on earth, to creating rituals for strengthening your family ties, and countless things in between. It’s a cornucopia of ideas for you to pick and choose from in deciding what to do with your one wild and precious life (to borrow a phrase from Mary Oliver). The 78 bucket list ideas you’ll find below were taken from the “Idea Book” series.

1. Visit the Grand Canyon. Visit the Grand Canyon in the state of Arizona in the US. Carved by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon is over a mile deep.

In order to really experience the Grand Canyon, drive to the North Rim, 45 miles south of Jacob Lake. Then, hike the ten miles to the South Rim near Tusayan. This is called the Rim to Rim hike.

2. Visit Machu Picchu. Visit Machu Picchu located in the Cusco Region of Peru. Machu Picchu is a citadel of stone built by the Incas more than 500 years ago, nearly 8,000 feet up in the Andes.

The complex of palaces and plazas, temples and homes may have been built as a ceremonial site, a military stronghold, or a retreat for the ruling elite.

3. Visit the Louvre. Visit the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. It occupies over 650,000 square feet in the center of Paris. The Louvre houses one of the world’s greatest art collections.

The collection spans over 6,000 years and is divided into 8 departments: Oriental Antiquities, Islamic Art, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities and, for the modern period, Paintings, Sculptures, Art items, Prints and Drawings until 1848. Perhaps the most famous work of art in the Louvre is Leonardo da Vinci’s the Mona Lisa.

4. Visit St. Mark’s Basilica. St. Mark’s Cathedral is the most famous church in Venice, Italy, and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. It’s located at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge’s Palace.

The basilica was built in 1063, a time during which Venice had become a powerful maritime republic. St. Mark’s was built as a symbol of Venice’s wealth and power. Golden Byzantine mosaics adorn the church’s main portal, as well as the inside of each of the basilica’s five domes. In addition, St. Mark’s houses the relics of its namesake, the apostle Saint Mark.

5. Go to Brazilian Carnival. Each year, right before Lent, people from all over the world descend upon Rio de Janeiro for festivities lasting four days and four nights. The Brazilian Carnival started as street festivities with groups of people parading down the streets playing music and dancing.

These parades then turned into a competition between the different Escolas De Samba–the samba schools–of which there are currently fourteen. The samba schools are community-based organizations that create the music, dances, costumes and world-renowned floats of the Carnival parade.

6. Go to La Tomatina. La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the town of Buñol in Valencia, Spain, in which participants—about 40,000 of them—pelt each other with tomatoes. It’s held each year on the last Wednesday of August. This festival began in 1945; theories of how it got started include anti-Franco protestors, a fight between friends that escalated, and rough-play that erupted during a parade. Everyone ends up covered from head to foot in red mush.

7. Stay at the Ice Hotel. Stay at the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Jukkasjärvi is a tiny town 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. The walls, fixtures, and fittings of this temporary hotel are made entirely of ice. It has to be rebuilt every winter.

Activities you can try while staying at the Ice Hotel include ice sculpting, ice fishing, husky sleighing, moose watching and going on a snowmobile safari.

8. Visit Dubrovnik, Croatia. Visit the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, which was described by Lord Byron as “The Pearl of the Adriatic”.

Dubrovnik is famous for its city walls, and the medieval Old Town Dubrovnik is a UNESCO heritage site. Also, climb to the summit of Mount Srdj to get gorgeous views (it’s an easy two-hour climb).

9. Visit the Pyramids of Giza. Visit the Giza Necropolis on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments includes the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids and the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx.

10. Go Snorkeling in Los Roques Archipelago. Go snorkeling in Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela. The entire atoll, 80 miles north of Caracas, is a national park. Most of the islands of the archipelago–there are about 300 islands in total–are uninhabited, and are only accessible by boat from Gran Roque, the big island. The coral at Los Roques shelters plenty of flora and fauna, making it a premier snorkeling and diving location.

11. Swim in the World’s Largest Swimming Pool. Swim in the largest swimming pool in the world at the San Alfonso del Mar Resort in Algarrobo, on Chile’s southern coast. The pool is more than 1,000 yards long, covers 20 acres, has a 115-foot deep end, and holds 66 million gallons of water.

12. Fly in a Hot Air Balloon Over the Loire Valley. Fly in a hot air balloon over the Loire Valley in France. Located about 200 miles southwest of Paris, the Loire Valley stretches nearly 170 miles and boasts more than 800 castles and manor houses. In addition to getting a bird’s-eye-view of the castles and manor houses, you’ll be flying over vineyards, villages, and fields.

13. Go tandem skydiving. Tandem skydiving, or tandem parachuting, refers to a type of skydiving where a student skydiver is connected to a harness attached to a tandem instructor. Jumping out of a plane, free falling, then slowing down with a parachute is the thrill of a lifetime.

14. Ride a Mechanical Bull. Mechanical bulls were originally intended for rodeo competitors in training, but now you can readily find them in bars and restaurants. They’ve also become popular at parties and fairs. Put on a cowboy hat, clench your thighs, and hold on for dear life.

15. Go Zorbing. Zorbing is a recreational activity which involves rolling downhill inside an orb, generally made of transparent plastic. You have two options: Zydro, a sort of water-ride version of the Zorb, and Zorbit, the dry version.

16. Swim With Manatees. Go snorkeling with manatees in Crystal River, Florida, US. Manatees, or sea cows, as they are sometimes called, are aquatic mammals that can grow to 13 feet and can weigh over 3,000 pounds. From November through March, Crystal River, 70 miles north of Tampa, is the epicenter of manatee-watching. Manatees are gentle and approachable.

17. Edge Walk at Toronto’s CN Tower. The CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, is the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. And now, you can walk around the circumference of the roof, from the outside. The EdgeWalk platform—from which you’ll be dangling– is 1,168 feet/356m high.

18. Learn how to do a perfect push up. Push-ups are considered by many to be the ultimate barometer of fitness. Done properly, push-ups use muscles in the chest, shoulders, triceps, back, abs and even the legs.

Push-ups are performed in a prone position, lying horizontal and face down, raising and lowering the body using the arms. You can get very strong just using your own body weight for resistance. In addition, determine the number of push-ups you should be able to do based on your age and gender.

19. Be able to hold a plank for a minute. The plank tightens the deepest core muscles. It’s a static exercise in which you use your arms to raise yourself off the floor and hold the whole body straight and rigid, like a plank of wood .

To do a plank, start in a push-up position, palms under the shoulders, feet hip-width apart, and toes tucked. Push up so that your arms are straight and you back is flat. Hold that position for one minute.

20. Try CrossFit. CrossFit is a mix of aerobic exercise, body weight exercises, gymnastics, and weight lifting. It’s along the lines of circuit training. Brad Pitt reportedly uses this interval training to get in shape for movie roles. Other celebrities who stay in shape with CrossFit include Jessica Biel and Vanessa Hudgens.

21. Start drinking green tea on a regular basis. Studies have found an association between consuming green tea and a reduced risk for several cancers, including, skin, breast, lung, colon, esophageal, and bladder.

In addition, there are many health benefits to drinking matcha, which is the finely ground green tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies. Matcha has been found to prevent cancer and heart disease, and to slow down aging. It also provides an energy boost, so it’s a good substitute for your afternoon coffee.

22. Use portion control for weight loss. Portion control is understanding how much a serving size of food is and how many servings of each type of food—carbohydrates, protein, fats, and so on—you should have each day.

Portion sizes can be estimated by using objects as a point of reference. For example, (cooked) meat the size of a deck of cards is equivalent to 25g of protein. Adult men need about 56 grams of protein a day, and adult women need about 46 grams of protein a day.

23. Do a Color Run. Do a 5k color run. A color run, also known as “the happiest 5K on the planet”, is an un-timed race in which thousands of participants are doused from head to toe in a different color at each kilometer. You start out dressed all in white and end up covered in a hue of different colors.

24. Run the New York Marathon. Run the New York Marathon, an annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It’s one of six World Marathon Majors. Runners finish at Central Park, amidst changing leaves and cheering fans.

25. Hike the Appalachian Trail. Hike the Appalachian Trail, a 2,184 mile long public footpath which traverses lands of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. It extends between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. The trail passes through the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

The majority of the trail is in wilderness, although some portions traverse towns, roads and cross rivers. The journey can be taken all at once in about five months, or it can be broken down into chunks and done two weeks here, a month there, and so on.

26. Cycle Down the Danube Bike Trail. Cycle down the Danube Bike Trail, a bicycle trail along the Danube, Europe’s second longest river. The trail runs from the source of the Danube in Germany to its mouth in the Black Sea, which is about 1,800 miles. It passes through the following European countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

27. Play the Old Course at St. Andrews. St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland has seven courses, the oldest of which is the Old Course. The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the “home of golf” because the sport was first played on the Links at St Andrews in the early 1400s. Hitting off the first tee on the Old Course is one of the most special and rewarding things a golfer can do in their lifetime.

28. Learn Archery. Learn archery, the sport of shooting at a target with a bow and arrow. The bow and arrow have been around for thousands upon thousands of years. If you’re a hunter, you can use archery for hunting. If you’re not a hunter, but want to shoot solely for competition and recreation, there are many events you can participate in. Traditional archery clubs across the world have regular competitions and events you can get involved in.

29. Learn Capoeira. Learn Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of fight, dance, and rhythm. It’s a conversation through movement. Capoeira was developed by Africa slaves in Brazil in the 1600s. Those who practiced Capoeira, which was a series of self-defense moves including kicks and chops, were punished by the owners of the sugar cane fields. Therefore, Capoeiristas learned to camouflage the forbidden fight with singing and clapping as though it were simply entertainment.

30. Build a Classical Music Library. Although, at first, building a classical music library can be daunting–after all, the genre of classical music spans over 600 years–you can start small. Find a reliable list of the top 10 classical music CDs. Another approach is to find a list of the top ten classical music composers, and look for the best CD for each one. You can then gradually build from there until your collection includes at least 100 of the best classical music recordings of all time.

31. Learn to Read Sheet Music. Music is written on five parallel lines which are a called a staff. In addition, notes are small bits of sound, similar to a syllable in spoken language. The up and down axis of the staff tells the musician the pitch of the note–or, what note to play. The left to right axis tells the performer the rhythm of the note–or, when to play it.

Pitches are named after the first 7 letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. On the staff, every line, and every space between the lines, represents a separate pitch. Some more elements that you need to know in order to be able to read music are clefs, beat, bar lines, and time signature.

32. Sing Karaoke. Karaoke is a form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music–with the voice of the lead singer taken out–and a microphone. The music is typically a well-known song. The lyrics usually appear on a screen to help guide the singer. There are karaoke bars and lounges all over the US, as well as Asia and other parts of the world.

33. Solve a Rubik’s Cube. The Rubik’s Cube hit the mainstream in the 1980s. Although it’s been around for a while, this 3D puzzle is still going strong. The classic Rubik’s Cube is a square that measures 2.25 inches (5.7 centimeters) on each of its six sides. Each of the six faces is covered by nine stickers; in addition, all of the stickers on each face are of the same solid color. An internal pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colors.

You solve the puzzle by returning each face to one color. The Rubik’s Cube has been perplexing both kids and adults for over three decades, and solving one will give you a great sense of accomplishment.

34. Learn to Play Chess. Chess is a game of strategy which can be played by people of all ages. Studies have concluded that playing chess raises IQ scores, strengthens problem solving skills, enhances memory and fosters creative thinking. In addition, it’s not just for the academically-minded; chess can be played at many different levels.

35. Learn to Juggle. Juggling is a great combination of physical activity, brain stimulation, and visual stimulation. Not only is juggling entertaining, but it also helps to improve focus and coordination. Juggling can even be used as a method of active meditation, since the concentration required for juggling can help you to quiet down your inner mind chatter and focus on the present moment.

36. Learn to Knit. Knitting is a craft which involves using two needles and yarn or thread to make a knitted fabric which can take the shape of a sweater, hat, mittens, scarves, and so on. You can learn to knit online or you can look for a knitting workshop near your home.

Although knitting is usually associated with older ladies, the truth is that there are people of both genders and all ages who love to knit.

37. See the Musical “Chicago”. Attend a performance of “Chicago” a musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Prohibition-era Chicago, the musical is based on a play of the same name written by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins. Watkins was assigned to cover the 1924 trials of murderesses Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune. The characters of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are based on these two women.

38. Watch a Baseball Game at Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field–located in Chicago, Illinois, and home of the Cubs–is one of the most iconic baseball stadiums in the US. The famous field turned 100 years old in 2014. Every baseball fan should make the pilgrimage to Wrigley at least once in their lifetime.

39. Attend the Summer Olympics. The Summer Olympics is an international sporting event which is held every four years during the Summer months of the Northern Hemisphere.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan.

40. Become More Confident. The impact that confidence has on your ability to succeed in life and on your level of happiness cannot be overstated. Get your mojo working by taking responsibility for everything that happens to you, deciding what you want and creating a plan to get it, and knowing that you have the ability to face whatever comes. Then get out there and work your stuff.

41. Stop Procrastinating. Procrastination has been called the thief of time, opportunity’s assassin, and the grave in which dreams are buried. Fortunately, procrastination is not a character trait, but a habit. And just as you learned the habit of procrastination, you can unlearn it. Make better use of the time that you have by overcoming procrastination.

42. Become an Early Riser. There are many benefits to becoming an early riser, including watching the sun rise, getting some early morning exercise, being able to work on a project just because it’s important to you before the day officially gets started, and so on. Becoming an early riser is one of the best habits you can adopt. Studies show that early rises are happier, healthier, more proactive, and more productive than their late rising counterparts.

43. Acquire Conflict Resolution Skills. Conflict is a part of life; after all, people can’t be expected to agree on everything. The question is whether conflict–when it arises–will be resolved effectively or lead to discord. Having the ability to resolve disagreements rationally and settle disputes amicably will make you happier and more successful.

44. Release the Past. Most of us are haunted by the ghosts of our past: that opportunity that we let slip by; those kids who bullied us in the playground; that love interest who treated us badly; that professor who graded us unfairly; and so on. In order to be happy in the present, we each need to release the ghosts of the past.

45. Develop a General Knowledge of Important Topics. Can you find Algeria on a map? The War of 1812 was fought between what two countries? Who wrote “Crime and Punishment”? What is Existentialism? While you only need to become an expert in one area, everyone should have a grasp of important topics such as philosophy, geography, literature, and history.

46. Memorize the Periodic Table of Elements. The periodic table is a table of the 118 chemical elements in which the elements are arranged by order of atomic number. The standard form of the table consists of a grid of elements laid out in 18 columns and 7 rows, with a double row of elements below that.

47. Get a PhD. Get a PhD and master a specific subject thoroughly. By getting a PhD you’ll be joining the intellectual elite. At the same time, you’ll become more critically sophisticated in your area of expertise.

If you love intellectual stimulation and exploring new areas of knowledge in your field, then getting a PhD should definitely be on your bucket list.

48. Get an Engineering Degree at MIT. The School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA– has one of the best engineering programs in the world. Engineering degrees offered by MIT include Aerospace Engineering, Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computational Science and Engineering, and so on.

49. Create a Source of Passive Income. Passive income involves making an initial investment of time and/or money in order to set up a service or create a product. Eventually you reach a point at which the passive income stream gets activated and there is very little work required on your part to keep it going.

One way to create passive income is to come up with an idea, get a patent for it, and license it out in exchange for royalties. Another source of passive income is royalties from a book. In addition, many people start a blog and monetize it in such a way that it creates passive income for them.

50. Invest In the Stock Market. Stocks are a part, if not the cornerstone, of nearly any investment portfolio. Begin by educating yourself on how to invest in the stock market and try trading stocks on paper before actually trading stocks with real money. Once you feel that you understand how it’s done, create a small stock portfolio and build from there.

51. Invest in Gold. Invest part of your portfolio in gold. Traditionally, investing in gold has been used as a hedge against inflation. There are many different ways to invest in gold. One option is to buy bullion or gold coins. Other options include investing in gold mining stock or in a gold mutual fund.

52. Prepare a Will. A last will and testament is a legal document that dictates what happens to your estate once you pass away. Having one ensures that your assets will be distributed according to your wishes when you die. You should get this done as soon as possible since the reality is that you never know when you’re going to need it.

53. Have a Romantic Dinner on a Rooftop. One of the most romantic dates you can have–with someone you’re dating or with your spouse–is a rooftop date. There are several ways to accomplish this. One way is to find a restaurant with rooftop seating. An even better option is to set up some patio furniture on the roof of your house (if you have a flat roof) or on your building’s rooftop if you have access to it. Don’t forget a string of white Christmas lights, a CD player, great food, and wine.

54. Create Your Family Tree. A family tree is a tree that maps lineage. You can start with the oldest known generation and work forward, or start with the current generation and work back as far as you can. A family tree can help create a sense of heritage and a sense of roots and belonging. Creating a family tree can also help you to learn more about your ancestors. You can create your family tree on paper or online.

55. Go on a Romantic Picnic. Take a large thermos and fill it with cold lemonade; pack some fried chicken and crispy churros coated in cinnamon in a picnic basket. Then, head out to the beach or to the lake with your significant other and have a romantic picnic at the water’s edge. Or, you can just have a picnic at the park or in your backyard.

56. Go On a Road Trip with a Friend. Sometimes you just have to hit the open road. Enlist your best friend, or your closest two or three friends in the world. Then, get out there and make some great memories. Have a plan, but don’t make it too rigid. In addition, make sure that you stack up on CDs, have lots of road games ready, and take lots of pictures. Make it a trip to remember!

57. Live In a House By a Lake. Live in a house by a lake and enjoy the views–including wildlife, watching the sun rise over the lake, and seeing the moon’s reflection on the water at night. In addition, there are many activities you can engage in if you live next to a lake, including fishing, swimming, and canoeing.

58. Drink a $1000 Bottle of Champagne. You know you’ve hit the big time when you can afford the luxury of drinking a $1000 bottle of champagne. Three possibilities–depending on the size and grade– include Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades, Dom Perignon and Cristal. At some clubs you’ll even have an acrobat bring you the bottle as they hang from the ceiling. Be sure to drink the bottle instead of spraying champagne on your friends.

59. Take Up Mindfulness Meditation. Mindfulness meditation — a practice that encourages focusing attention on the present moment — has many benefits. These benefits include lower stress levels, increased focus and concentration, increased creativity, and an improvement in emotional stability. If you’ve never meditated before, one easy way to get started is by counting 100 breaths. Just breath in and out 100 times and, as you do so, count each breath. Try not to think of anything else as you breathe.

60. Learn to Forgive. In order to live your best life you should consider forgiving those who have wronged you–whether you’ve experienced rejection, ridicule, deception, or abuse–, and clearing out the mental clutter that comes from holding on to grudges and resentments. When you refuse to let go of hurts from your past, you’re keeping yourself imprisoned. In addition, the person whom you hurt the most by holding on to resentment and anger is yourself.

61. Align Your Chakras. Chakras are energy centers found throughout the body. There are seven major chakras: the Root Chakra, the Sacral Chakra, the Solar Plexus Chakra, the Heart Chakra, the Throat Chakra, the Third-Eye Chakra, and the Crown Chakra.

When your chakras are out of balance, this can have a profound impact on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. A healer trained in manipulating the flow of energy can assist you in getting misaligned chakras back to functioning properly.

62. Build a Habitat for Humanity Home. Habitat for Humanity builds “simple, decent, and affordable” housing in order to address the issue of poverty housing all over the world. Their mission statement is the following: “Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope”. Homes are built using volunteer labor. You can choose to donate your time or money.

63. Volunteer At a Dog Shelter. There are many ways in which you can help out a dog shelter. You can donate dog food and treats, as well as grooming supplies and leashes. In addition, you can volunteer to walk the dogs, clean their cages, and become a foster care provider for animals the shelter doesn’t have room for.

64. Make a Kiva Loan. Kiva allows people to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs around the world. For example, you can choose to donate $25 so that Pedro–a farmer in Bolivia–can buy a tractor for his coffee growing business. Once 100 people have each donated $25 to Pedro, he can buy the tractor and make his business grow. Then, he can pay back the loans.

That is, you get your $25 back. You can choose to re-donate your $25 through Kiva to someone else who needs a loan, or you can choose to withdraw your money.

65. Have More Fun at Work. Research shows that a fun work environment leads to increased productivity and creativity, as well as an increase in employee morale. A fun work environment is one in which formal and informal activities occur regularly that are designed to uplift people’s spirits and remind people of their value to their managers, their organization, and to each other. Introduce an initiative to bring more fun, play, and creativity to your work.

66. Get Paid to Travel. Get a job that allows you to travel. This could mean getting a job in the travel industry, such as working as a pilot, a flight attendant, a travel agent, or a tour guide. Other options include archaeologist, English teacher, journalist, or working aboard a cruise ship.

In addition, you could start a travel blog or work for a company that publishes travel magazines or travel books.

67. Escargot. Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails associated with French cuisine. They’re usually served as an appetizer. The most common way to prepare escargot is to cook them with butter, garlic, and parsley.

Escargot is served in a snail dish with snail tongs and a slender two-pronged snail fork. Use the tongs to grip and hold the the shell in place with one hand. Then, with your other hand, use the snail fork to pull out the meat.

68. Raw Oysters. Oysters range from very salty to mild, and from firm to soft. It depends on where they come from. They can be eaten as is–without adding a thing–, or you can add lemon, cocktail sauce, or even a few drops of hot sauce.

69. Ethiopian Cuisine: Ethiopian cuisine characteristically consists of spicy vegetables, pastes, and meat dishes served atop an injera–a large sourdough flatbread which is about 20 inches in diameter. Ethiopians eat with their right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up bites of food.

70. Black Truffle: Black truffles are mushrooms that grow underground and must be hunted (by pigs or trained dogs). They grow on the roots of truffle oaks and, to date, no one has been able to cultivate them.

Black Truffles are incredibly expensive and are generally used in goose liver pates, in sauces, omelets, scrambled eggs, compound butters, and baked in puff pastry.

71. Peking Duck: Peking duck is a delicacy from Beijing, China. Ducks are bred specifically for this dish. One of the most important aspects of Peking Duck is the skin, which has to be thin, crispy, and deep brown.

The duck is served with thin pancakes. To eat, spread a little hoisin sauce on each pancake, add some duck and sprinkle with shredded spring onions.

72. Be Part of a Flashmob. A flashmob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place–such as a park or a train station–, perform a seemingly pointless act, and then they disperse. Flashmobs are about artistic expression and having fun. Most flashmobs dance in sync or sing a song.

73. Ride a Segway. A segway is a two-wheeled personal transportation system with an electric motor. You command the Segway to go forward by shifting your weight forward on the platform, and backward by shifting your weight backward. Segways are popular in tours, and many cities offer Segway safaris.

74. Have Chocolate Fondue. Find a great chocolate fondue recipe online, take out your fondue set, and choose your dippables. Almost anything can be dipped in chocolate. You can try dipping pound cake, fresh fruit, marshmallows, pretzels and biscotti.

75. Attend a Murder Mystery Dinner. Murder Mystery is a popular theme for parties. Each guest is assigned a role, or character. During the dinner all the guests ask each other questions to learn more about the characters each one is playing. At some point during the evening the person who was assigned the role of victim will be found “dead”, and everyone else has to try and guess who the murderer is.

76. Run through the sprinklers. Put on your bathing suit and run through the sprinklers. Just turn on the sprinkler and proceed to run through over and over again until the cold water from the hose finally manages to cool you down from the summer heat. An added benefit is feeling the wet grass beneath your bare feet.

77. Go geocaching. Go geocaching — an outdoor recreational activity in which participants use a GPS receiver and other navigational techniques to look for containers called “geocaches”.

Geocaching is a sport that combines technology and adventure. Once you find the container you log in your visit and you have the option of trading one of the “goodies” in the container with one of your own. Just visit geocaching.com to participate.

78. Have fun with a slip-n-slide. Get a slip-n-slide– a long sheet of thin plastic flanked by tubes on both sides to which you can attach a garden hose to make it wet and slippery. You just run, jump on the slip n slide, and slide on the slippery surface.You can also create a homemade slip-n-slide.

An alternative to water is to use shaving cream.

Conclusion

The 78 bucket list ideas above are just the tip of the iceberg. You can get all 10,000 bucket list ideas in the “Idea Book” series. Start creating, and achieving, your bucket list today!

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How to Make More Money: 100 Questions to Ask

by Marelisa

Making more money, or generating a higher income, can start with a question. In this post you’ll find 100 questions you should ask yourself if you’ve been wondering how to make more money.

1. How can I add value to the life of others?

2. How can I make life easier for others?

3. How can I fill an expanding need?

4. How can I make money doing what I love?

5. What problems do other people have that I can solve?

6. What problem have I solved lately in my life which I suspect other people are having as well?

7. What do I constantly hear my loved ones, neighbors, and friends complaining about?

8. What five opportunities can I identify right now that I could take advantage of?

9. How can I find the money to take advantage of the best of these five opportunities?

10. How many ways of generating income can I come up with?

11. Why isn’t there a . . . ?

12. Is there a shortcoming in the service or goods provided by others that I can fix?

13. Can I start a side-business as a spin-off of my present occupation?

14. How can I turn my hobby into a business?

15. What financial decision would I make from a position of strength?

16. If someone were holding a gun to my head and they told me that I had to generate $250 of additional income by tomorrow at midnight, what would I do?

17. How can I cut back on expenses so that I can invest the difference in income-producing assets?

18. What skills do I have that I can start applying right away to produce income?

19. What information product can I create?

20. What talent do I have that I can turn into a coaching practice?

21. What do my friends always ask for help with, and how can I turn it into a product or service?

22. Is there something I know how to do that my friends are always saying I should charge for (such as baking great brownies)?

23. What task do people usually outsource that I can perform?

24. If I had a $100 bill, how I would leverage it to create $300?

25. How can I upsell to my current clients?

26. Is there a product that would complement what I’m already selling (like french fries complement a hamburger)?

27. Can I add video or audio to my product and sell it a higher price?

28. Can I turn my information product into a webinar?

29. Can I increase the number of times my clients return and buy again?

30. Can I raise my prices without losing too many customers?

31. Would more people buy from me if I lowered my price?

32. How can I get more customers?

33. How can I get others to refer customers to me?

34. What psychological barriers are stopping me from making more money?

35. What are my current beliefs about money?

36. How is my self-talk limiting the amount of money that I can make?

37. Can I ask for a raise at work?

38. Can I get a promotion?

39. Can I change the way that I am paid so that I earn commissions instead of just a straight salary?

40. Can I get a job that pays me more?

41. What reasons do I give for not making more money?

42. What excuses do I need to stop making so that I can allow myself to make more money?

43. How can I free up time to create an additional income stream?

44. Who do I know that has been able to increase their income over the past year, that I can approach to ask how they did it?

45. What would I do to make more money if I wasn’t afraid of failing?

46. How can I make a product that I’m selling better, so that more people will buy it?

47. How can I improve my sales page to turn more prospects into buying customers?

48. How can I increase my copywriting skills so that I convince more people to buy from me?

49. If I had $5000 to spend on self-improvement, how would I spend it? (This is a question that Ramit from “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” asks.)

50. Am I earning interest on my six-month emergency fund?

51. Am I making a good amount of interest from my current investments, or could I be earning a higher interest if I switch investments?

52. Am I paying unnecessary fees (such as bank maintenance fees, or AAA fees when roadside assistance is covered by my insurance policy), when I could be investing that money instead?

53. Are there books in the public domain that I can add value to and sell?

54. Is there a product that I use and love that I can become an affiliate for?

55. What freelancing services could I offer (freelance writer, web designer, blog consultant, and so on)?

56. What books can I read that will improve my financial literacy so that I can learn how to make better use of my money?

57. What blogs can I subscribe to that will show me how to create an additional income stream?

58. What skill could I acquire that would allow me to earn a higher income?

59. What certification could I get that would help me earn more money?

60. Can I do some moonlighting?

61. How can I improve my marketing campaign in order to bring in more clients?

62. How can I improve my sales technique in order to sell more?

63. How can I inspire more confidence in others so that they will buy from me?

64. How can I eliminate distractions that keep me from focusing on the tasks that bring in more money?

65. How can I stop procrastinating on taking the necessary action to increase my income?

66. How can I increase my productivity so that I can get more done in my business?

67. How can I raise my self-esteem in order to feel worthy to earn a larger income?

68. What activities do I spend a lot of time on, that don’t bring in any revenue?

69. What business activities can I automate so that I have more time to spend looking for clients?

70. How can I outsource mundane tasks which need to get done but which take time away from income-producing activities?

71. How can I increase my billable hours?

72. What activities do I perform that bring in the most revenue?

73. How can I increase the time that I spend on the activities that create the most income?

74. Who are the 20% of my clients that bring in the most money, and how can I focus more of my time and attention on them?

75. If I’ve found a system that works and is making me money, how can I make that system even more efficient?

76. Is there a project that I need to drop because it’s not making me enough money to justify the investment of time and other resources that I’m making?

77. Would it be better to charge per hour or per project?

78. Can I offer a more basic version of my product or service, at a lower price?

79. Can I offer a more feature-intensive or more advanced version of my product or service, at a higher price?

80. Can I rent out a room in my house or some office space in my office?

81. Is there a service I can offer my neighbors, such as printing or photocopying services, child care, or cooking and food delivery?

82. Do I own a piece of expensive equipment that I could rent out to others when I’m not using it?

83. Can I come up with a good idea for a design that would look great on coffee mugs and t-shirts which I can sell on CafePress?

84. Do I know how to make jewelry, stationary, or other handmade product which I could sell on Etsy?

85. Am I willing to do things other people don’t want to do (obviously, we’re talking about legal things)?

86. Is there something I enjoy doing which others find mundane (such as mowing lawns)?

87. Is there a topic that others would pay me to lecture on?

88. Is there an item I could buy in bulk and then resell individually at a profit?

89. When was the last time I saw something and thought, “I could do a much better job”?

90. What’s the most creative way I can think of to make more money?

91. What current trends can I cash in on (an example would be offering English classes if a lot of foreigners are moving to your town)?

92. Am I proficient using a certain software, such as InDesign or Photoshop, that a lot of people need to use but aren’t proficient in?

93. Could I teach a class at a community college?

94. Are there any contests that I could enter (baking contests, contests at the state fair, and so on)?

95. Who can I find that would hold me accountable on my goal to increase my income?

96. Who can I brainstorm with for more ideas on how to increase my income?

97. Who could I hire that would help me create a plan on how to increase my income?

98. Who can I partner up with in order to increase my income?

99. Who is the highest earner in my field, and what are they doing differently than I am?

100. How can I leverage a service I provide in order to reach a broader audience (such as creating a fitness DVD if you’re an aerobics instructor)?

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67 Perseverance Quotes to Keep You Going

by Marelisa

Perseverance is what separates winners from losers.

In order to achieve your goals, you must cultivate perseverance and determination. Here are 67 perseverance quotes for when you feel your determination wavering and you need some motivation in order to keep going:

1. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

~ Calvin Coolidge

2. “In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance.” ~ H. Jackson Brown

3. “If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying. “Here comes number seventy-one!” ~ Richard M. Devos

4. “Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

5. “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.” ~ Author Unknown

6. When the world says, “Give up,” Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.” ~ Author Unknown

7. “One of the commonest mistakes and one of the costliest is thinking that success is due to some genius, some magic – something or other which we do not possess. Success is generally due to holding on, and failure to letting go. You decide to learn a language, study music, take a course of reading, train yourself physically. Will it be success or failure? It depends upon how much pluck and perseverance that word “decide” contains. The decision that nothing can overrule, the grip that nothing can detach will bring success. Remember the Chinese proverb, “With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes satin.” ~ Maltbie Davenport Babcock

8. “I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed: and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I fail and keep trying.” ~ Tom Hopkins

9. “A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

10. “If you are going through hell, keep going.” ~ Winston Churchill

11. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. “Perseverance is a positive, active characteristic. It is not idly, passively waiting and hoping for some good thing to happen. It gives us hope by helping us realize that the righteous suffer no failure except in giving up and no longer trying. We must never give up, regardless of temptations, frustrations, disappointments, or discouragements.” ~ Joseph P. Wirthlin

13. “The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.” ~ Author Unknown

14. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” ~ Japanese Proverb

15. “If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.” ~ Flavia Weedn

16. “Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits.” ~ Robert Brault

17. “The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.” ~ Author unknown

18. “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” ~ General Dwight Eisenhower

19. “A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose – a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.” ~ John Maxwell

20. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” ~ Albert Einstein

21. “Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.” ~ Author Unknown

22. “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” ~ Chinese Proverb

23. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” ~William Feather

24. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” ~ Thomas Paine

25. “Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting.” ~ Christopher Morley

26. “Never, never, never, never give up.” ~ Winston Churchill

27. “I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. ” ~ Albert Einstein

28. “The most essential factor is persistence – the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.” ~ James Whitcomb Riley

29. “He who would do some great thing in this short life, must apply himself to the work with such a concentration of his forces as to the idle spectators, who live only to amuse themselves, looks like insanity.” ~ John Foster

30. “Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” ~ Jacob A. Riis

31. “Success . . . seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” ~ Conrad Hilton

32. “At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found.” ~ Hudson Newsletter

33. “Boys, there ain’t no free lunches in this country. And don’t go spending your whole life commiserating that you got the raw deals. You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it. It’s called perseverance.” ~ Lee Iacocca

34. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” ~ Billie Jean King

35. “We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.” ~ Helen Keller

36. “The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit.” ~ Mark Twain

37. “God helps those who persevere.” ~ The Koran

38. “Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” ~ Napoleon Hill

39. “Decide carefully, exactly what you want in life, then work like mad to make sure you get it!” ~ Hector Crawford

40. “It is not enough to begin; continuance is necessary. Mere enrollment will not make one a scholar; the pupil must continue in the school through the long course, until he masters every branch. Success depends upon staying power. The reason for failure in most cases is lack of perseverance.” ~ Miller

41. “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” ~ Confucius

42. “A jug fills drop by drop.” ~ Buddha

43. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” ~ Newt Gingrich

44. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.” ~ Walter Elliott

45. “Try not to do too many things at once. Know what you want, the number one thing today and tomorrow. Persevere and get it done.” ~ George Allen

46. “He conquers who endures.” ~ Persius

47. “Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.” ~ William James

48. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

49. “Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one`s liberty.” ~ Henri Frederic Amiel

50. “There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.” ~ Author Unknown

51. “What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.” ~ Napoleon Hill

52. “Persist and persevere, and you will find most things that are attainable, possible.” ~ Lord Chesterfield

53. “In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.” ~ Mao Tse-Tung

54. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

55. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela

56. “’Tis a lesson you should heed. Try, try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try, try again.” ~ William Edward Hickson

57. “In case of doubt, push on just a little further and then keep on pushing.” ~ General George S Patton, Jr.

58. “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” ~ Buddha

59. “The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” ~ Napoleon Hill

60. “Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.” ~ Karl von Clausewitz

61. “I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.” ~ Og Mandino

62. “If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.” ~ Dr. Samuel Johnson

63. “I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.” ~ Arnold Palmer

64. “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.” ~ Zig Ziglar

65. “Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.” ~ Victor Hugo

66. “There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.” ~ Vincent Lombardi

67. “The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.” ~ David Sarnoff

The difference between failure and success lies in your ability to persevere. Use the quotes above to increase your perseverance, and begin living your best life.

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