Sometimes when the going is tough, I recite these phrases, some stolen, some original, to help me muddle through. Hope they help you as well. Add your own!

1. All I’ve got left is tenacity, but I’ve got a LOT of tenacity!
   I repeated this phrase over and over again during my first 20-mile run, which was one of the toughest physical and mental things I’ve done. I was running alone, overheated, dehydrated, crying, exhausted, dead last and absolutely not in shape for the physical exertion. But I kept repeating those words, and somehow I finally got to where the rest of the team was waiting. I still use it when the road gets rough.
2. Enjoy this day.
   This is Mom’s phrase. She ends almost every conversation with those words, said in a way that never sounds commonplace. She really means it. “Beth, enjoy this day.” It makes me smile every time, and I really try to think about the enjoyment of my daily life because of her words.
3. “I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.”
   The line is from “Invictus,” a poem by William Ernest Henley. What a motivator! What a rise-from-the-ashes inspiration! I’ve memorized it, and I often think of it when I need to be strong. You’re probably more familiar with the last two lines: “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
4. If you’re happy where you are, you can’t regret where you’ve been.
   This is another Beth original. My philosophy is that we are the sum total of all the good and bad that we’ve encountered… every experience, traumatic or euphoric, has shaped our lives to get us to where we sit today. And if today we’re sitting in a wonderful chair in a beautiful apartment as we work at a job we love, we cannot regret choices we’ve made or be sad about situations that have befallen us. Because if those things hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
5. Today is a great day to be amazing.
   This is my signature phrase — definitely my favorite. I thought of it in Philly and turned it into a wall decal for my office. I have a dream to get someone creative to turn it into a nice design and sell these on CafePress. But I don’t think anyone would buy it… Every time I say it, I get surprising reactions, such as, “Beth, I think today is a great day to be mediocre,” and “That makes me tired,” and “Who wants to be amazing all the time? It’s too much work.”