To help you find the best motivational quotes for work, we asked professionals and business leaders this question for their best quotes. There are several motivational quotes that you may internalize to help you stay consistently motivated to work productively.
Here are 11 motivational quotes these leaders embrace to guide their attitude toward work:
- Action Kills Fear
- There’s No Such Thing as a Self-Made Man
- You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take
- Magic is Believing in Yourself
- A Real Decision is Measured by the Fact That You’ve Taken a New Action
- It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done
- Don’t Worry About Failure
- Process Saves Us from the Poverty of Our Intentions
- If An Opportunity Doesn’t Knock, Build a Door.
- Success isn’t Always About Greatness
- Creativity Takes Courage
Action Kills Fear
We often don’t want to take on new challenges at work because we are afraid of failure. The idea of taking a risk scares us, and in many cases, we resign from our creative ideas just because we don’t want to do something stupid. One quote motivates me to act, regardless of the negative inner voice that tells me I can’t. It says, “action kills fear.” In other words, there is no point in overthinking all the possible outcomes when deciding to follow a specific path. There is a danger that we will think of many negative scenarios that will discourage us from taking action. If we want to achieve our goals, we need to cross our comfort zone. However, we will never feel ready to take a step in a new, unknown direction. That’s why we should do things despite being scared. Only this way can we build our confidence, fulfill our dreams, and become the best version of ourselves. Ultimately, we will be proud to overcome our fear simply by deciding to “just do it.”
Dorota Lysienia, LiveCareer
There’s No Such Thing as a Self-Made Man
My favorite motivational quote is “There’s no such thing as a self-made man.” This quote reminds me that we are all products of our environment and the people who have helped us along the way. We owe it to ourselves and to others to pay it forward and help those who are coming up behind us.
Travis Lindemoen, nexus IT group
You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take
By far one of my all time favorite, motivational quotes I use for work is from the great Wayne Gretzky himself: “you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.” This motivational quote has been so important to me not just for work sake, but for all aspects of my life as I’ve gotten older. For work, if there is ever a promotional opportunity, raise opportunity, project opportunity, job switch opportunity, or any other big event that comes up that could change your working career forever, why not go for it? If you never go for any big opportunities coming your way in the workplace, you know for a fact you’ll miss your chance and fail before you even start. Even if you’re afraid you may miss your chance or fail, it will always be better to improve from that failure and try again rather than never trying at all. Eventually, you can make your shot.
David Ring, MCT – Trading
Magic is Believing in Yourself
“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen”, quoted Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Those words are the most inspiring affirmations that have strengthened my soul and well-being on my darkest days. As a result, I constantly study and read different quotes from women who overcame hardships more intensely than my own. It has taught me that positive thinking uplifts the spirit and enables strong leadership within your community or social group.
Anamika Goyal, Cottage
A Real Decision is Measured by the Fact That You’ve Taken a New Action
“A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action you haven’t truly decided.” – Tony Robbins. This quote has proven itself to be true many times throughout my life and I’m guessing that when you think about it the same is true for you. When we take action, we cement a little slice of reality into the decision we’ve just made. Without taking the first step, there is no way to build positive momentum in any meaningful direction.
Patrick Robinson, Paskho
It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” This Nelson Mandela quote encapsulates one of my favorite things about entrepreneurship. When you’re starting a new business or you first are sparked by an idea, the mountain between you and success feels insurmountable. But if you take each stage one step at a time, you’ll soon realize that big goals are achieved by completing tons of smaller ones.
Vimla Black Gupta, Ourself
Don’t Worry About Failure
My favorite motivational quote for work is “Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” There are a lot of reasons why I love this quote. First, it’s a great reminder that success doesn’t depend on the number of times you fail—it only depends on how long you keep going after you’ve failed. Second, it’s so empowering! It tells me that my ideas are valuable and worth pursuing, even if they don’t work out the first time. Finally, it’s just an awesome line: “don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.”
Amer Hasovic, Love & Lavender
Process Saves Us from the Poverty of Our Intentions
Sculptor Elizabeth King said, “Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.”
This quote motivates me in my work because it holds me accountable for creating and following systems. When I feel stuck or stagnant in a task, it’s often because I don’t have a clear system in place to follow. Systems don’t sound sexy but when we understand why some workplaces and jobs feel like chaos, it often comes down to a lack of systems and processes. If we’re left to our own devices to work without any solid systems in place, we flounder. We procrastinate and jump all over the place. We end our day feeling scattered and getting little done. Chaos is the enemy of productivity.
The solution to this is to build systems. Whatever you do, make systems do the work for you. If an action will be done more than once, it can be systematized. They take subjective intention out of a task and save you from your own good intentions.
Emily Amor, Digital Darts
If An Opportunity Doesn’t Knock Build a Door
The quote by the famous actor and comedian Milton Berle has impacted me personally. The quote signifies that instead of sitting and waiting for opportunities and people to come to you, stand up and grab them. I use the quote as my inspiration to always look out for work and chances to prove myself. While other people love to sit free and relax on no-work days, I tend to get up and ask for work to shine bright and let my capabilities see for myself. I am a believer in action rather than work, hence working out for new things and being an opportunist for work will help to grow in position and mark positively in the eyes of seniors. With work comes appreciation. Hence the credibility I get after creating new opportunities for myself keeps me motivated and self-respected.
Agnes Zabawa, Insurance Navy
Success isn’t Always About Greatness
Quote: “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” When you are consistent in the things you do you will be a lot more successful than others, this will relate to any business or job role you are in. With doing something consistent you will become better at it, which makes the output greater after a certain time frame.
This is the compounded effect of consistent [read: daily] action we put towards the sometimes boring, unexciting tasks as we work towards our bigger goal. It would also mean being consistent about your intentions. Don’t expect to get things right the first time, don’t expect to become an overnight success. Ideally you would set up an intention every day that aligns with your bigger goal, and then consistently work towards it. Consistency builds momentum. Consistency creates success.
Joran Hofman, Reditus
Creativity Takes Courage
One of my all-time favorite quotes is by French artist Henri Matisse. He said, “Creativity takes courage.” It takes a lot of courage to be a creator and share things your are passionate about. It’s deeply personal, but we have to be courageous and fearless. The more you can share your gifts with the world, the more successful you will be.
Emily Ryan, Westfield Creative
Submit Your Answer
Would you like to submit an alternative answer to the question, “What are the best motivational quotes for work?” Submit your answer here.
Related Questions
Pursue The Passion · Career Education & Inspiration
Back on the road
