Danielle is gifted with artistic hands that could put Picasso and Da Vinci at bay. Her paintings are full of life and are all original masterpieces. Ever since she was a child, Danielle has always dreamed of becoming a painter and owning an art studio – a dream that was far from the law firm that her family ran.

Today Danielle is a zombie working for her family’s law firm. Although she has good job performance, she just couldn’t put her heart and soul in it. She took up law after college because her father encouraged her to take a more ‘sensible’ path. The field demanded much of her time that she stopped painting, stopped practicing her art and stopped living her dream.

As Danielle’s best friend, I couldn’t bear to see her watch her life pass her by. I knew that I had to do something. I had to remind her of how different she was before. Then, she was teeming with life and pulsating with motivation. Now, she is as animated as a brick. I had to motivate her once more. While cooking up ideas on how to help Danielle, I remembered that Montaigne once said ‘The pleasant things in the world are pleasant thoughts: and the great art of life is to have as many of them as possible.’ So I bought my friend a book compilation on motivational thoughts.

Here are some examples of the motivational thoughts contained in the book:

• It’s YOUR Life, Live BIG – Josh Hind. If you want to eventually succeed, you need to do things that would move you closer to it. You just can’t dilly-dally and drag your feet around. However, if your dream is consists entirely of watching TV for hours on end, then by all means, drag your feet as much as you can.

• There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. You’re a service company with a single employee! Being in autopilot will lead you no where near success. Who is responsible for your success? Look in the mirror. Don’t settle on being a follower—be a lifelong learner and leader.

• In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity – Albert Einstein. Tomas Alva Edison made 10, 000 wrong choices in the process of making the incandescent bulb. His only reply was that he now knew ten thousand ways by which it cannot be done.

• We don’t grow unless we take risks. Any successful company is riddled with failures – James E. How will you know if you will pass a class in physics if you don’t even take it? It is always better to try and fail than to live a lifetime of regret knowing that you had the chance to succeed.

• To be successful, you must decide exactly what you want to accomplish then resolve to pay the price to get it – Bunker Hunt. Success is earned. It is not like manna that will simply fall down from heaven. Decide what you want then work for it no matter how many boulders block your path.

• Life is like a bicycle – villagehero.com. The moment you stop pedaling, you start losing momentum. If you coast for too long, you fall. If your goal is something worth pursuing, do something to move you closer to it.

• This above all, to thine own self be true – Shakespeare. What’s the point of being someone you’re not? Will you forever wear that mask? Because it IS tiring—and sooner or later you’ll have to take it off.

• “Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference” – The Serenity Prayer. Change is the only thing permanent. You have to learn to accept it. Not living your dream right at this moment doesn’t automatically mean that you will forever not be able to reach it, because if you really want to live your dream, you will find a way to do so.

I am sure that Danielle found the book that I gave her beneficial because when I visited her yesterday, she looked happier. Perhaps you are also in need of motivation. Well, I am positive that the above motivational thoughts could also help you. But you have to remember that these motivational thoughts will remain nothing but words unless you make them your own. They are there to guide your actions, not to make the actions happen. They can help mold your attitude but they cannot do the whole thing for you. They can influence you to change your perspective but they cannot maintain that perspective for you. You are the one responsible for the action. Napoleon Hill said “Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man alone, can dream and make his dreams come true’.