Motivational Quotes For Students Who Need Inspiration

 

The struggle is real -- especially for students and recent grads.

I know because once upon a time I was a college student, and it wasn’t exactly fun. You have to juggle working with interning with studying with going to class and attempting to have a social life.

Then, you graduate, and you still find yourself poor and underemployed. It can suck. But eventually, if you keep on fighting through the suckiness, you’ll get past the crappy stage and into the prospering phase. I know this because I’ve made it past that hump. And if I can do it, you can do it.

One thing that got me through the bad times was motivational quotes. My thinking is that they can help you too. That’s why I collected a massive list of motivational quotes for students and recent grads. I hope they help you as much as they’ve helped me.

Motivational quotes by famous people

1. Michael Jordan

I love this inspirational quote by Michael Jordan because it's easy to forget that the more you do, the more you fail. As they say: "You win some. You lose most."

If you're not failing, then you're either not doing enough, and/or you're not challenging yourself enough.

Not only that, when you graduate and step into the real world, you won't have a syllabus or an academic calendar that tells you exactly what you can expect for every day of the year. That's a big deal. That fact alone is why you're going to fail a lot at first. Just remember it's a learning experience, and the more you practice, the more you'll succeed.

2. Seth Godin

Seth Godin reminds us that the majority of people will try to shoot down our dreams. They'll poke holes in your work, your dreams and your ideas -- especially when you have little experience and are just starting out. Keep an open mind and listen to their suggestions, but don't let them deplete you or even stop you. 

As one of my mentors always says: "You only need one yes." One day, you'll get that "yes," and you'll be so glad you didn't listen to the naysayers. 

3. Elon Musk

I think it is possible for an ordinary person to choose to be extraordinary.

When you think of Elon Musk, you probably think of a freakin' superhero. I don't blame you. He runs, like, nine ridiculously transformative, forward-thinking companies. How could anyone but a superhero do that, right?

Wrong. Musk reminds us that he is just an ordinary person who has chosen to be extraordinary. You can do the same. You should do the same!

4. Tupac Shakur

So many of us overanalyze failures -- or what feels like failures -- over and over again in our heads. This is not good because then we begin to believe we are a failure. 

In this quote, Tupac Shakur is telling us that just because something ends -- a job, a relationship, whatever -- life still goes on. You have the power to forget about it, and move the eff on. 

5. Martin Luther King

We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in life, you're going to face A LOT of disappointments. You may not get that dream job you wanted or your boyfriend might dump you or you might not get that dream job and your boyfriend might dump you simultaneously.

Whatever the disappointment is, you must remain hopeful because, after all, hope is what keeps us alive.

6. Peter Thiel

Traditions are like cliches. They are everywhere. They may sometimes even be correct, but often they are justified by nothing except constant repetition.

In the beginning of Peter Thiel's commencement speech, we learn he almost didn't become the founder of PayPal. Instead, he almost became a lawyer, but when he didn't get a coveted clerkship, he decided to give up being a lawyer, and instead, he founded PayPal. 

This is what Thiel had to say about it: 

“Looking back at my ambition to become a lawyer, it looks less like a plan for the future and more like an alibi for the present. It was a way to explain to anyone who would ask—to my parents, to my peers, and most of all to myself—that there was no need to worry. I was perfectly on track. But it turned out in retrospect that my biggest problem was taking the track without thinking really hard about where it was going.”

Some of you may be considering graduate school simply because you have no idea what the hell you want to do with your life. Most of the time -- unless you want to be a doctor or a lawyer -- more school isn't the answer. Figuring out what you're good at and what you enjoy doing is. 

7. Tina Fey

There will always be assholes in the workplace, which is why Tina Fey's quote is so important. You don't want jerks to get away with holding you back, but you also don't want them to make you miserable. What a quandary, right? 

Fey's suggestion? Ignore them and reallocate all that pent up energy you would've spent hating them to positive energy you use to outperform them. 

8. Desmond Tutu

If you're neutral in situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

At work, you'll inevitably notice a lot of "yes men." Yes men just do as they're told. They don't ruffle feathers. And they never speak up -- even when they know something a superior is doing is wrong and hurting the business. 

Please don't ever be one of these people, who either doesn't speak up or doesn't support someone who does speak up, when you know they're actually right. 

Why? I want a steady paycheck you say, and so you'd rather not tell your boss he's wrong. I get it. I do. But there's safety in numbers. If you know something is wrong, speak up and/or stand up for the people who aren't afraid to speak up. Your voice can make a difference. 

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9. Dharmesh Shah

Success is making the people who believed in you look brilliant.

There are going to be people who believe in you and those who won't. When you find a mentor or a boss or even a friend -- anyone who believes for you, sticks up for you, gives you a job or a reference when you're inexperienced -- TLDR: Don't make them regret it. They took a chance on you, so you owe them your everything to be a success.

10. Ray Allen

Don’t ever put yourself in the position to wish you could hop in a time machine.

Ray Allen really moved me in his "Letter to My Younger Self." His father was in the military because they moved a lot, and the kids made fun of him because he "talked like a white boy." 

At the time, he felt pretty alone, so he focused all of his energy into basketball. Still to this day, he pretty much is alone, he admits. But, today, he's at peace with his life and happy. 

When you're younger, life is all about fitting in, but when you're older, life is all about standing out. Standing out is how you land jobs, how you get paid more and how you make it to the top. So don't steer away from standing out. Embrace it.

11. Ira Glass

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

I remember my first eBook, my first email campaign, and my first blog post, unfortunately. It's unfortunate because they all sucked. But here I am seven years later successfully doing these things without wanting to cry every time I do. 

You have to be persistent. Great athletes don't become great players overnight. They persist. They keep going back to the court or the field. You know why? Because they love what they do.

Find something you love to do, and then don't stop doing it. Keep practicing.

12. Tim Cook

You don't have to choose between doing good and doing well.

I wasted two years of my life pursuing business school, regardless of the fact that I sucked (and despised) at math. Business classes were all math all the time, and it made me delay doing my passion -- writing.

One day, I remember calling my father crying. I told him I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to study something I was good at -- writing. I was told him I thought I wanted to apply to journalism school. I'll never forget what he said to me:

"Lauren, do what you love, and the money will follow." 

Don't tell him I said this... But he was right. 

How many of you enrolled in a major that you're not good at or don't enjoy? Just stop. Take a moment to figure out where you are excelling in life, and think about giving that an honest try. You can and should make money doing what you love because then you will do great work.

13. Dr. Seuss

You have to be odd to be No. 1.

This quote pretty much speaks for itself. (And Dr. Seuss was never a man of many words) 

14. Steve Jobs

I saved the best for last: Steve Jobs. 

"I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle."

Don’t settle, but also, don’t take Jobs’ quote the wrong way. It takes time to find the perfect career if there is such a thing. You have to take on less exciting gigs before you make it to Oz. If you don’t then you may never get there.

Keep testing different career paths and skill sets by freelancing. Apply to jobs for interview experience, but if it’s a job you won’t be happy at, or don’t feel right about (assuming you’re making money freelancing), then don’t accept the offer — even if it is for more money.

Don’t settle for a full-time job you hate. Hack freelancing until you know what it is that you want out of a career, which may not turn out to be an actual full-time, in-office gig.