Tag Archives: motivation

Quoting: Plan Your Day

At the beginning of each day, ask yourself:

[1] What are my goals for today?

[2] What are the five most important things that I need to do today and what is their order of priority?

[3] What new Torah knowledge do I plan to gain today?

[4] What acts of kindness can I do today?

[5] What one trait would I like to excel in today?

[6] What positive change am I resolved to make or maintain today?

[7] If today were my last day, what would I make certain to do?

[8] How can I gain by looking at today as the first day of the rest of my life?

[9] What would you like written on my tombstone? What do I plan to do today in that area?

[10] What is important for me to remember today?

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Gateway to Self Knowledge,” p.188

I must admit to not being this organized.

Quoting: Think and Act Your Wisest and Best

The quality of your choices will depend greatly on your mental state at the decision-making moment. Your choices will be different if you are at your wisest and best.

When you are at your wisest, you think more clearly. You weigh your options more skillfully. You give greater thought to the possible outcomes of a specific course of action. You realize when something is not a good idea. Since your quality of thinking is at its highest, your decision will be the best choice that you can make at that moment.

When you are at your best, your talents and skills represent your best efforts. Remember your best moments and utilize this to create your wisest and best ways of thinking and acting.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – pages 43-44

Quoting: Think Before Taking Action

Action will enable you to accomplish and achieve. But something must come before taking action: thinking.

Think first. Yes, think big and think bigger, but always think first.

Taking action without thinking will lead to many avoidable mistakes and errors. Taking action without thinking first will lead to unnecessary quarrels and arguments, hurt feelings, and misunderstandings.

Taking action without thinking will lead to wasting much time and energy.

Taking action without thinking might get you far, but it’s likely to get you far in the wrong direction.

When you spend time thinking about your options and about consequences, you will be able to learn from each experience to think even better and wiser next time.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – pages 40-1

Quoting: Create a Taking Action Habit

Create the habit of taking action right away. To make anything a habit, you keep doing something many times. The wise person doesn’t wait until a new habit becomes a habit. He acts the way he would act if he already had the habit. And then automatically his actions become a habit.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – page 38

Quoting: Believe You Can Become an Action Oriented Person

If you presently find it difficult to believe that you can become an action-oriented person, you will benefit greatly from a teacher, mentor, friend, or coach who believes in you and your abilities. Having someone you respect believe in you is inspiring and motivating. You will gain a stronger and deeper belief in yourself.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – page 35

Quoting: Mastering the Habit of Taking Action

People who are lazy and habitually procrastinate lose out in all areas of their life. They ignore their health. They don’t take care of their financial obligations on time. They don’t study when they should study. They waste a lot of time. They tend to be late to things.

The antidote is to become a person who consistently takes action with joyful zrizus. You gain tremendously in all areas of your life when you make and reach goals, when you do what you say you will do, when you take care of things on time, and when others are counting on you. You gain spiritually and materially.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: “Taking Action” – pages 30-1

Quoting: Cheer Yourself On

Every hour on the hour, create an inner mental cheer for being alive. Hear an inner enthusiastic voice shouting, “It’s great to be alive!” Imagine a stadium crowd cheering for your being alive.

When you control your anger or other character trait you’re working on, see and hear the same immense crowd cheering for you!

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Anger: The Inner Teacher,” p.342

Quoting: All Action is in the Present

Everything that you have ever done in the past, you did in a present moment. Everything that you will ever do in the future, you will only be able to do in a present moment.

All your thoughts are thought in a present moment. All your feelings are felt in a present moment. And everything you actually say or do is said or done in a present moment.

Since you live your whole life in the present, moment by moment, it is wise to consider the wise thing to say and do in the present moment, in the here and now of that moment. It is also wise to prepare the wise thing to say or do in the future.

Someone who tends not to have zrizus (alacrity) might be thinking about how challenging it is to have zrizus. It’s actually not difficult to have zrizus. Rather, it might appear difficult when you are not in a zrizus state, or when you are thinking about having future zrizus that you don’t now have. But all moments of zrizus are just present moments, and when you are in that present moment of zrizus, it isn’t difficult. Someone with a tendency to do things with zrizus will tend to look at zrizus as something he only needs to have one moment at a time.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin”s book: “Taking Action” – pages 26-7

Quoting: Meaningful Goals Create a Meaningful Life

When you have meaningful goals, you create a meaningful life. Being goal-oriented gives you a direction. Goals create a focus for your efforts. Setting goals that you want to reach makes it easier to have the quality of zrizus. When a goal is very important to you, you are driven to do what you need to do to achieve that goal.

When you have clear goals, you can accomplish more than someone without clear goals. The most accomplished people in the world are experts at setting and reaching goals. Learn from them. All great people are great because they have made meaningful goals and took action to reach those goals. All joyful great people are among the happiest people in the world because they enjoy all that they are doing to achieve their meaningful goals.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin”s book: “Taking Action” – page 20

Quoting: The Awesome Power of Joyful Willpower

Your thoughts are the source of your willpower. The actions you take flow from your thoughts about them. Every step you take is through the use of your willpower. Every time you do anything, it is through the use of your willpower.

A person who uses his willpower to engage in meaningful goals will feel a great sense of victory and joy. This might be difficult initially, but in the long run a person who uses willpower wisely will live a life full of joyful accomplishments.

You have the ability to choose to be joyful when you use your willpower in positive, meaningful ways. There is tremendous power in mastering “joyful willpower,” to joyfully do what is in your best interests to do.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin”s book: “Taking Action” – pages 16-17