Inspiring Videos

Ira Glass on the Secret to Doing Great Creative Work

No matter what creative field you’re in, I have no doubt you’ll be inspired by these words from Ira Glass, the host and producer of This American Life.

ira glass“… the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work … Because it’s only by going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.”

Paul Harvey’s Letter from God

I love this video. It’s about 8 minutes long, but well worth a listen … a poignant message delivered in a way that only Paul Harvey could do it.

“Do you think I care which of my special children you feel closest to? Jesus? Mary? Buddha? Krishna? Mohammad, or any of the others? You can call me and my special ones any name you choose if only you will go about my business of loving one another as I love you. How can you keep neglecting something so simple?”

Note: The source of this letter is An impatient letter to all of us from God, by Bo Lozoff, co-founder of the Human Kindness Foundation.

Running for My Existence by Roger Wright

This is the inspiring story of Roger Wright. At age 47, and weighing in at nearly 250lbs, he decided to change his life. Over the next 10 months, he lost over 100lbs, raised money for Cystic Fibrosis and fulfilled his lifelong dream to run the Boston Marathon.

“I have discovered that regardless of my age, previous eating habits, a complete lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle, that I have been able to change my life for the better. I have accomplished this simply by changing the way I look at food (I eat to live, not live to eat), started to exercise, no longer accepted excuses and most important, pure desire to help my niece, other people (friends and strangers) and myself. I know it’s cliche to say, but I have discovered that if you really want something bad enough, you really can accomplish it.”

– Roger Wright

Rocky Balboa’s Inspiring Words on Perseverance

If you feel like giving up, watch this video. I suspect you’ll feel differently after you do.

“The world aint all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it aint about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward … how much you can take and keep movin forward.”

– Rocky Balboa

Inspiring Wisdom from Will Smith

Whether you’re a Will Smith or not, you’ll find these bits of wisdom quite inspiring.

“You don’t try to build a wall. You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say ‘I’m gonna lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid,’ and you do that every single day, and soon you have a wall.”