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. 

But I needed it to work, so I didn’t give up.

I did some Googling and found another (more complicated and annoying) option to try. Following those instructions while throwing in my own little curve ball did the trick and it’s now up and running again.

I persisted until I got it right because getting it right was important to me.

27 quotes about persistence

I want you to persist as an author, too. Let these quotes about persistence from notables inspire and motivate you to stay with it.

1. “Persistence, persistence, and persistence. The power can be created and maintained through daily practice – continuous effort.” ~ Bruce Lee
2. “Paralyze resistance with persistence.” ~ Woody Hayes
3. “I would say that more people fail than succeed because few are able to show persistence in the long run.” ~ G. S Clason
4. “He conquers who endures.” ~ Persius
5. “Perseverance – that was the key word then, and it still remains the basic principle for anyone who wants success. You cannot creatively get anywhere in this life without sturdy application of the persistence principle.” ~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
6. “Patience is the productivity factor which keeps you persistent in working on your task.” ~ Abder-Rahman Ali
7. “There is no magic to achievement. It’s really about hard work, choices and persistence.” ~ Michelle Obama
8. “Money grows on the tree of persistence.” ~ Japanese proverb
9. “Continuous effort–not strength or intelligence–is the key to unlocking our potential.” ~ Winston Churchill
10. “Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence.” ~ Denis Waitley
11. “Permanence, perseverance, and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” ~ Thomas Carlyle
12. “A river cuts through rock not because of its power but because of its persistence.” ~ James Watkins
13. “Whatever you want you can have, if you want it badly enough, and if you are willing to persist long enough and hard enough in doing what others have done to accomplish similar things before you.” ~ Brian Tracy
14. “Remain persistent and don’t stray from your path. The power to change your opinion about yourself and your outlook on life is in your hands.” ~ Gavin Bird
15. “Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.” ~ Marabel Morgan
16. “Talent is nothing without persistence.” ~ Dean Crawford
17. “If you have mastered your profession but lack the ability to be persistent, you will not succeed. You are a failure when you stop trying again and again.” ~ Dozie Uzochukwu
18. “Whoever knocks persistently, ends by entering.” ~ Muhammad Ali
19. “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” ~ Napoleon Hill
20. “Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.” ~ Ray Kroc
21. “When life knocks you down you have two choices – stay down or get up.” ~ Tom Krause
22. “If you do not have persistence then no amount of education, talent, or genius can make up for it.” ~ Stephen Richards
23. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” ~ Newt Gingrich
24. “Persistence prevails when all else fails.” ~ Author Unknown
25. “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
26. “The key of persistence opens all doors closed by resistance.” ~ John Di Lemme
27. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.” ~ Calvin Coolidge

Which of these “spoke” to you? Which ones made you think, “I need to keep doing this?” Please tell us in a comment.

Tip of the Month

I like to share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

This month’s free download is for those of you with audiobooks.

BookBub, the daily deal newsletter that also offers marketing information and resources for authors, is offering the “Ultimate Collection of Audiobook Marketing Examples.” Download your copy here.

Be sure to subscribe to BookBub’s Partners Blog, too. You’ll get solid advice in your inbox every week. I highly recommend it.

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.

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.