Are you feeling just as burned out as I am right now? It seems like my mojo went on vacation and decided not to return.

When this happens (not the first time, ya know?), I look for inspiration in the words of others. I search online for the pep talk – the “go get ’em!” words – that I need to restore my focus and energy level.

Here are 10 powerful quotes that are helping me get my balance back. If you need a little help right now, too, they might inspire you in the same way.

10 powerful quotes

These motivational, just-do-it messages are from sources as diverse as Confucius and Thomas Edison.

Want to save and share any of them? Right click on the image, then select “save image as” in the dropdown menu.

Create your own quote graphics

Want to create similar images with your favorite quotes?

To create these 10 images, I used the premium version of the WordSwag smartphone app ($3.99). It’s available in both iOS and Android versions.

I used the app exclusively for these, searching WordSwag’s extensive database of images to find one with just the right mood or setting for each quote. It’s a versatile, easy-to-use tool for creating image quotes to share on social media or elsewhere.

What’s your favorite motivational or inspirational quote? Please drop it in a comment so we can all appreciate it. 

And sometimes, to get things rolling, it takes a little inspiration, too.

Here are some of my favorite marketing quotes to inspire and motivate you to push forward and make things happen.

Which of these marketing quotes speaks to you?

Do a few of these messages resonate with you? Turn them into quote graphics to share on social media. I used the smartphone app WordSwag to create the three I created here.

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

“By definition, remarkable things get remarked upon.” — Seth Godin

“Behind every tweet, share and purchase, there is a person. Care more about the person and less about the share.” — Shafqat Islam

“Content, in all its forms, is the single most critical element of any marketing campaign.” — Rebecca Lieb

“Don’t build links. Build relationships.” — Rand Fishkin

“It’s hard to target a message to a generic 35-year-old middle-class working mother of two. It’s much easier to target a message to Jennifer, who has two children under four, works as a paralegal, and is always looking for quick but healthy dinners and ways to spend more time with her kids and less time on housework.” — Elizabeth Gardner

“Speak to your audience in their language about what’s in their heart.” — Jonathan Lister

“Spending energy to understand the audience and carefully crafting a message that resonates with them means making a commitment of time and discipline to the process.” — Nancy Duarte

“A year from now, you’ll wish you had started today.” — Karen Lamb

“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.” — Beth Comstock

“Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” — Lou Holtz

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” — Zig Ziglar

“Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.” — Tim Ferriss

“It’s important to be where your audience of potential customers is today, and where they might be tomorrow.” — Andrew Delaney

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

“Our head of social media is the customer.” — McDonald’s

“Don’t use social media to impress people; use it to impact people.” — Dave Willis

There’s a lot of marketing wisdom here that can be useful to your book marketing plan. What? You don’t have one? Download my free Book Marketing Plan Template, read the instructions and examples, and start working on yours now.

Did any of these quotes make you see book marketing a little differently? Tell us about it in a comment. 

I need to start a big project and keep finding other things to do.

When I took the time to think about it, I realized that my problem is that I’m afraid of failing.

Will it fly?

Will people like it?

Will it be good enough?

Maybe you’ve had the same questions as you’ve started writing a new book.

Have a little faith

I went in search of a little inspiration to help me overcome my fear of failure and found this gem from Michael Jordan: “Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.”

It reminded me of my other fears, and they all start with “what if.”

What if I never tried?

What if I never gave my idea a chance?

What if I always regretted not trying?

The flip side of this is a nice collection of negative “what ifs” that include my favorite: What if it fails?

And just for the heck of it, let’s throw in: What if I’m not the right person for this?

Making sure you’re not afraid to fail

Years ago, I presented a keynote speech on finding the courage to change. There’s a lot of fear around change. I told the audience that one of the secrets to overcoming that is simple: Before taking the leap that represents change, make sure your bungee cord is attached.

That bungee cord, in whatever form it takes, will keep you from hitting the ground.

I had to think about what my bungee cord might be.

What’s my bungee cord?

The project I’ve been procrastinating around is a new training program for authors. It’s going to take a lot of time to create, and I want the time I invest in this to really pay off. I want this course to make a difference.

I think you can relate. You want your books to have an impact, too, right?

So … how can I be certain it won’t fail? What’s my bungee cord? 

It’s two things.

First, I can beta-test the course before releasing it. Honest, constructive feedback from the people I want to help can make a big difference.

Second, I can be flexible about the launch date. If feedback tells me I need to make a lot of changes, I want to have enough time to do that . . . and to do it well.

My bungee cord involves letting the process define the deadlines, rather than the other way around.

What’s your bungee cord?

Do you make sure your bungee cord is attached, too?

Author bungee cords can involve making sure people are interested in reading what you want to write, but they’re also often quality checks that can include:

• Beta readers for fiction
• Content reviewers for nonfiction
• Checking references for specialists you’ll hire — cover designers, editors, and proofreaders
• Professional development programs on how to write, publish, or market a book

I’m sure you can add to the list.

I think if we get outside input that helps us improve our work and take our time (rushing can be deadly!), we’ll be okay. Would you agree?

Bringing this back to the Jordan quote that inspired this post, what are you more afraid of — failing, or failing to try? Please tell us in a comment. 

What motivates you to spend hour after hour after hour at the keyboard?

Why do you need to put words to paper?

Just as importantly, what makes you stick with it once you get started? Because writing a book is incredibly time-consuming, it would be easy to abandon it before it’s finished.

Yet, you’ve stayed with it, probably for months or even years.

Why Gloria Steinem writes

Journalist Gloria Steinem says she writes because it feels right. “Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else,” she says.

That’s how I feel about it, too. It feels like what I should be doing. Just as importantly, though, I write because I enjoy it. Sometimes, it’s even therapeutic.

It’s also my profession, which makes me a little different from many authors today. I majored in journalism and public relations in college. Unlike most, I’m still doing what I set out to do when I made a career choice as a high school senior.

Fortunately, it was the right choice for me. Nonfiction writing, whether it’s for this blog or for journalism assignments, helps me show others how to do something better or faster. It allows me to introduce readers to interesting people doing good work or to expose them to new ways of solving old problems.

Why do you write?

Do you know why you write?

I think that knowing why you do it might motivate you to stay with your current project, start a different one, or learn how to become better at it. That’s how it works with me, anyway. I sometimes have to remind myself of why I’m doing it, especially when I hit an obstacle or two.

I want to know about you.

Tell us in a comment: Why do you write? What do you hope your writing will accomplish? What’s your motivation? 

I’m looking forward to learning more about you through your answer.

It might seem obvious to you, but it wasn’t to me.

In the past, I would just stop working on the project and move on to something else.

That left a lot of half-finished projects in my wake.

There was a pattern

I began to notice my pattern: When the going gets tough, I watch a Hallmark movie.

Realizing that — noticing that there are situations where I stop moving forward — was pivotal, though.

I started asking myself, “Why?” I needed to understand what made me stop.

When I gave myself the time to accept I had hit a wall and explore why, I was able to identify the obstacles holding me back.

As I did this more and more, I noticed that I usually came upon the same obstacles:

• There’s not enough time.
• I don’t know how to do it.
• I don’t have the right tools or resources.
• I’m afraid I might fail.
• The next step is so big or complicated that it overwhelms me.
• Something else became a higher priority.

What are your obstacles?

Are any of those things obstacles for you, too? Or do you encounter other obstacles that keep you from making progress with your book or how you market it?

I thought about this as I continued to work on my 2018 goals with my goal buddy this week.

There have been too many years when I had plans that didn’t materialize. Last year, for example, I was excited about a new book idea. Something stopped me from finishing it.

Pay attention

So this is the year I pay more attention to my rhythm.

I need to notice when I’ve stalled. That will allow me to identify the unseen obstacles in my path and figure out how to move them out of the way.

I’m experienced enough to know I won’t always be able to do that alone. And I’m smart enough to bring in help when I need it.

In a year from now, I want to be able to tell you that I not only identified my obstacles, I figured out how to get over, under, and around them.

My wish for you is that you can say the same.

I hope that you will also pause to think about why you stopped working on your book, its marketing, or anything else that’s important to you. That will help you plan how you’ll navigate around the obstacles you’ve identified.

Let’s use this quote to remind us.

“Never give in to the obstacles that lie in your path towards the achievement of your dreams.” ~~ Lailah Gifty Akita

If one of your obstacles is lack of a solid book marketing plan, be certain to download my free template. I walk you through every step of the process. All you have to do is click the blue bar below to get your free Book Marketing Plan Template:

What’s holding you back? What are your obstacles? Tell us in a comment. 

Let’s get inspirational and aspirational instead of instructional.

The topic is how much words matter.

As Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”

Do words matter when you write?

This Hawthorne quote represents what I aspire to as a writer. I want to be someone who knows how to combine words in a way that makes a difference.

Whether it’s on this blog, or in the book I’m writing, or in articles I write for clients, I work to combine words in a way that communicates clearly, effectively, and accurately.

Sometimes I write to move people. More often than not, though, I write to inform or to teach or to enlighten. If I don’t use my words effectively, I won’t achieve my goal.

What about you? What do you want your words to do?

Here’s to all of you unleashing the power of words in your books.

What is your goal as you put words together for your book? Please share it in a comment so you inspire the rest of us.

Dream small dreams. If you make them too big, you get overwhelmed and you don’t do anything. If you make small goals and accomplish them, it gives you the confidence to go on to higher goals.”

I selected this quote to share because it reminded me of what I do when faced with a large, overwhelming project, such as launching a book. I break it down into smaller pieces because I am less overwhelmed by the individual actions I need to take than I am by the end goal.

Just one thing

So today, instead of dreaming about how you’d really like your book to be a New York Times best-seller or launch your speaking career, focus on doing just one thing that will bring you closer to your dream. Keep that dream in mind as you take one action step toward it.

Just one thing.

Just one thing today added to just one thing tomorrow will add up to significant progress by month’s end.

If you’d like a daily reminder about what to do, check out our “365 Daily Book Marketing Tips” — one tip a day via email for an entire year for just 99 cents total. Your first tip arrives in your inbox the day after you sign up for these daily gems.

Here’s one tip for today: Create an image quote like the one above with a sentence from your book to share on social media

If it’s nonfiction, use your book title for the source. If it’s fiction and it’s a quote from a character, use the character’s name plus the book title as the source. Learn how in the article, “How to create shareable images with quotes.”

What inspires you?

I’d love to hear from you about how you stay inspired and motivated while writing or promoting your book. We can all learn from each other. What tip would you offer other authors? Please share it in a comment.