Yesterday morning I woke up thinking, damn, I need a kick in the pants. Motivation felt lower than dirt. So I grabbed my coffee and my laptop. Typed into the search bar: “Lou Holtz motivational quotes”. Coach Holtz always talks straight.
Starting Simple
I didn’t want just any list of quotes. I wanted the heavy hitters, the ones that actually stick. Googled “top 10 Lou Holtz quotes” – clicked the first few links. Printed out two pages full of sayings. Felt a bit overwhelming, honestly.
Picking My Favorites
Spread the printouts on my kitchen table. Coffee mug ring showed up right under quote number 3. Grabbed a yellow highlighter. Read each one slow. Tried to imagine Coach Holtz saying it in that raspy voice. Which ones punched me in the gut? Which ones made me wanna run through a wall? Scribbled question marks next to a bunch. Circled others.
Landed on ten that really hit:
- “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
- “The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.”
- “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”
- “Don’t complain. Eighty percent of the people don’t care; the other twenty percent are glad you’re having trouble.”
- “How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.”
- “You’re either growing or you’re dying; there’s no in-between.”
- “I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.”
- “No one has ever drowned in sweat.”
- “Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.”
- “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”
Wrote these ten on sticky notes. My handwriting sucked big time. Stuck them all over my monitor frame.
Putting Them to Work
Had that feeling like, okay, now what? Reading quotes is easy. Living by them? Different story. My main gig was writing a blog post that felt impossible. Kept staring at the sticky notes. “No one has ever drowned in sweat” stuck out. Thought, just start typing. Anything. Get the sweat going. Wrote garbage sentences for twenty minutes straight. Then slowly, it started to suck less.
Later, hit a snag on a phone call. Wanted to complain SO bad about an annoying client. Glanced at another sticky: “Don’t complain. Eighty percent don’t care… the other twenty percent are glad you’re having trouble.” Shut my trap. Felt weirdly powerful just staying silent and pushing through the frustration.
Wrapping Up
End of day, peeled the sticky notes off the monitor. Put ’em in a messy pile on my desk. Realized they aren’t magic spells. Most useful part was catching myself about to whine or quit, seeing Lou’s face in my head saying, “Quit your bellyaching,” and choosing to do the damn thing anyway. Simple, but not easy. Will dig into these top ten again tomorrow. See if I can sweat a little more.
