Motivational quotes we love to hate
Life is short, so make the most of it while you can - a phrase thrown around so often that it falls under the “cliche quotes” category.
Other quotes that typically fall under this category include:
“Life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but the amount of moments that take your breath away.”
“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
A quote is considered cliché when it becomes so overused in society that the initial response is to roll your eyes instead of actually taking something meaningful away from it. They are so commonly used because there’s generally some truth behind them that can apply to a multitude of situations for a multitude of different people.
So why do we love to hate on them if there’s some truth behind their messaging?
Here’s the thing: Motivational quotes are vague enough to resonate with almost everyone on some level, yet they’re not really specific enough to result in any momentum in our individual lives moving forward. That’s why a lot of the time when you see or hear one of these cliche quotes, rather than finding yourself motivated and inspired, you may actually come out feeling more down on yourself for resonating with them but not being able to truly live by them in your own life. The broadness of the message can become overwhelming rather than encouraging… it gets blurry because you resonate with the overall message, yet you’re still stuck on the HOW of applying it to your own life.
And what’s the point of a motivational quote if it’s only surfacing negative energy within you?
We hear these motivational quotes alllll the time - so let’s look at how we can apply them to our lives rather than feeling bad about ourselves for not having it all figured out just yet.
How? Get specific. When you hear/read a motivational quote, try to zone in on one specific area of your life (usually it’ll be the first thing that pops into your head), and APPLY the motivation to that specific situation.
For example, let’s say you see a post on Instagram that says, “Life is short, so make the most of it while you can.” For a lot of people, this might bring about a small smile at first, followed by shame, overwhelm, and guilt as you spiral into thinking about everything you should be doing to “live your best life,'“ but aren’t. When we don’t know where to apply this motivation, we become defensive —> the opposite of motivation. So instead of trying to think about how the heck you’re going to upgrade every area of your life in that one moment… zone in on what you’re currently doing, or about to do, and apply it to that.
Let’s say you were planning on working out that night after work and you saw this lovely motivational quote on your commute home. Perfect. A specific task/moment/time frame to zone in on and apply our super cliche quote to.
Note: Be cautious of using these motivational quotes as reasons to self-sabotage - pulling you away from what you truly want to be doing for yourself rather than empowering you to make decisions that will raise your baseline.
When applying our “life is short” quote to this specific workout situation, rather than having a mindset of “life is short, so in the grand scheme of things, will doing this one workout really matter… probably not, so let’s just skip it,”… try applying the same quote to the same situation through a different approach. Think about how getting that workout in is you actively making the most out of life right here, right now, at this moment. Because, yes, obviously exercising regularly leads to a healthier, longer life, but when you’re tempted to stay on your couch watching the Bachelor vs getting your booty up to do a Peloton class… you’re going to be motivated to do whatever sounds most pleasurable to you in that exact moment, during those next few hours ahead of you.
So we scale it down even more. Bring the pleasure and motivation to the current moment and activity at hand. Think about the chunk of free time you have that night and what will truly make you FEEL alive, making the most out of the one life you have. Whatever you’re trying to motivate yourself to do, add as much pleasure to it as possible… making it a win-win. Maybe that looks like getting your sweat sesh in while you listen to your favorite music that lifts you up and makes you feel happy to be in that moment in time… and then binging your favorite Netflix show. Maybe it looks like getting some light stretching in or going through a yoga flow as you listen to your favorite podcast. Whatever your jam is, the key here is to tie your motivation to pleasure in the current moment, instead of trying to motivate yourself with some far off future result.
What’s your favorite motivational quote that you love to hate, and how can you reframe it to have a powerful impact on your life?
xo,
Em