Motivational quotes; we hate them
A poster of a road going into the distance: "determination".
A picture cat in a tree: "go get them".
We've seen them at training venues and on office walls. But not only can motivational messages fail to make a positive impact, they can actually make a negative one.
Maybe we see the long road “determination” motif and think; "well, that doesn't make sense... The straight road is designed as the shortest distance between two places, what's that got to do with 'determination'? Are they saying that I'm determined if I drive on what looks like a nice open road?...etc"
And regarding that cat in the tree; "I’m a dog person, so I don’t even want to see any meaning here. Stop showing me pictures of cats." *
A picture cat in a tree: "go get them".
We've seen them at training venues and on office walls. But not only can motivational messages fail to make a positive impact, they can actually make a negative one.
Maybe we see the long road “determination” motif and think; "well, that doesn't make sense... The straight road is designed as the shortest distance between two places, what's that got to do with 'determination'? Are they saying that I'm determined if I drive on what looks like a nice open road?...etc"
And regarding that cat in the tree; "I’m a dog person, so I don’t even want to see any meaning here. Stop showing me pictures of cats." *
A fun example of a motivational message backfiring is this post on The Poke.
We hate motivational quotes because they are not aimed at us, they are for someone to whom this phrase or representation resonates. For us however the message and representation may not resonate, it may seem ridiculous, we may hate it.
Motivational quotes; we love them
A lyric from your favourite song.
A line from a memorable film.
A quote from a book.
The motivational quotes that mean something to us aren't an outside voice telling us to be 'tenacious', 'confident' or 'bold', It's our voice. Someone else may have found the words or image for what we need, but this is our message, it means something to us and therefore can motivate us.
A line from a memorable film.
A quote from a book.
The motivational quotes that mean something to us aren't an outside voice telling us to be 'tenacious', 'confident' or 'bold', It's our voice. Someone else may have found the words or image for what we need, but this is our message, it means something to us and therefore can motivate us.
Epilogue
It would be remiss of me to create a post regarding quotes and not logging a few that I like. I'm aware that you may not like them, but that's okay, as someone once said "Not everyone is like you".
“The World is Yours Ours”
La Haine
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams - this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness - and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
Man of La Mancha
“Not everyone is like you.”
In the mood for love
* Although I'm a dog person I actually have cats.
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