MOTIVATION — SEPTEMBER 20 WRITING PROMPT
Until One is Committed
Find a motivational quote and write about it. In what way does it offer encouragement for you?
William Hutchison Murray wrote, in “The Scottish Himalayan Expedition”:
Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
I first ran across this quotation in 2006, just after I had decided to quit smoking. It resonated with me, and I printed it out, and stuck it to a corkboard on the wall behind my monitor.
