“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
—Samuel Beckett

“Live your life with a purpose beyond yourself, and you’ll find that the world is as bold and broad as the interests that brought you here today.”

-Bryant Gumbel

“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”

–Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps

US Olympic swimmer Dara Torres is 41 and FIT! ‘Nuf said.

Drool over her abs for a minute, marvel over her bio, rock out to her playlist and then plan your weekend around the Olympics schedule. Coverage of the opening ceremony starts at 7:30 p.m.

While you continue to admire the amazing athletes and their fit bods, do some crunches during the commercial breaks.

“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”

- Ella Fitzgerald

I love So You Think You Can Dance–the show is an awesome showcase of talented dancers and choreographers. The dancers prove that the art takes not only artistic skill, but athletic skill and strength too–just take a look at their bodies! Every week, six dancers end up at risk for getting kicked off the show and are forced to perform their solo, ‘dancing for their life.’ Time and time again, the dancers that end up leaving the show are the ones that don’t give it their all and show off everything they have during their solo.

As these dancers put all of their passion out there on that stage, I always think about how there are times in our lives where we have to do the same thing. There are times when we have to prove ourselves and throw everything we have out on the table.  We have to dance our hearts out in a lot of different ways showing the world the best pieces of ourselves and letting our strengths shine. And when we’re put to the challenge, whether it’s opening up our heart to someone, nailing a presentation at work or finishing a race, we have to remember to dance for our life no matter what stage we’re performing on.

Here Twitch, a breaker, shows everyone exactly why he deserves to return to the stage as he gives 125% to his performance–let it inspire you the next time you need to give it your all.

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”

-Ayn Rand

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

-Buddha

According to a study in published by Psychological Science, you can be motivated subconsciously by reading inspirational words such as triumph, strive, confident, go for it, achieve or graceful. So if you need an extra push to go for what you want, surround yourself with these words so you see them everywhere you look. Sounds easy enough, right?

Self magazine suggests writing them on sticky notes and posting them throughout your house. Another great idea is to make a collage of inspirational words and use it as your computer desktop image. Or you could wear your motivation on your t-shirt like this “Chase Dreams” organic cotton and bamboo option from Tees for Change.

“By the age of ten I had won Wimbledon in my mind thousands of times.”

-Andre Agassi