The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation Quotes

“Carl Jung once said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“I decided that I would keep going until I died,” he told me in the interview. “And then it got a whole lot easier. Am I dead yet? No? Then I can keep going.” Many people think that finding answers to the right questions is the “secret” to setting and achieving goals. They’re wrong. That’s the easy part. The secret is facing the answers.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“Many people think that finding answers to the right questions is the “secret” to setting and achieving goals. They’re wrong. That’s the easy part. The secret is facing the answers.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“predominantly pleasurable, so we constantly search for ways to escape physical and psychological pain. Even our self-help books speak in soft, flattering tones, reassuring us that we’re just fine the way we are, and that with enough positive thinking and self-talk, the universe will reward us with abundance and bliss.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“We, on the other hand, have it easy. And that makes it easy to go soft, lose perspective, and be lulled into idleness.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“[T]he more of yourself that you're willing to sacrifice to your cause, the less perfect you have to be to succeed. You just have to get enough right, enough of the time.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“You have to hustle just to pass muster, and work twice as hard as that to gain ground.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“If we have the power to change our bodies, we have the power to change our lives.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“Some individuals learn to assess stressors as challenges rather than threats. This outlook, which researchers call a “challenge response,” is characterized by viewing stress as something productive, and, much like we’ve written, as a stimulus for growth. In the midst of stress, those who demonstrate a challenge response proactively focus on what they can control. With this outlook, negative emotions like fear and anxiety decrease. This response better enables these individuals to manage and even thrive under stress.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. —BENJAMIN FRANKLIN”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“In this age, which believes that there is a shortcut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest. —HENRY MILLER”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“Don’t talk about your goals until you can show objective results. The reason for this is twofold, he explains. First, it prevents the fear of what others might think if you fail, and second, it prevents you from feeling satisfied with yourself by merely talking about what you’re “going to do” as opposed to actually doing it.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence,” wrote President Calvin Coolidge. “Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men 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.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation

“what most everything in life really comes down to: necessity. There’s probably very little we’re actually incapable of; there’s only our sense of urgency and willingness to act. When we lie to ourselves and say otherwise, what we’re really saying is that we find alibis more attractive than achievements, excuses more seductive than excellence, and comfort more desirable than challenge.”
― Michael Matthews, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation