The Impact of Motivational Messages

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” For those who still operate a Pinterest account, this Martin Luther King, Jr. quote may be familiar. At a college rally, King posed this statement to students to encourage them to fight for justice despite their abilities. Quotations by figures such as King, Marilyn Monroe, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mahatma Gandhi seem to be scattered across the internet, making their ways across not only bedroom walls, but also Facebook walls. Though the verbal word can be moving as it is interpreted, perhaps the written word can enforce the same effect. Just as this message by Reverend King was a motivator for change, psychology has proven that motivational messages can also inspire.

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Through motivational messages, positive thinking is encouraged. Quotes, like “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!” from Audrey Hepburn shed light onto our own lives. Quotations such as these can lead to a more positive outlook on our futures. Examining the work of Barbara Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina, we can see how positive thinking affects long-term skills. According to the abstract of Fredrickson's research, the practice of positive thinking “produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms).” Motivational messages, in fact, can be the framework for a better life.

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Beyond this, however, our friends may also play a part in making motivational messages motivate us. For one, our friends’ words can influence us more than we think. “When we message each other, scroll through each other’s timelines, and like each other’s posts, we add value to the friendship, and we feel closer to one another,” according to Western Illinois University professor Bree McEwan. With our friends and relationships in mind, social media plays a large role in our lives. Furthermore, when motivational messages are added to the equation, they become more influential. According to Aaron Lee, a social media influencer, "Quotes work well because in general, people can easily relate to them, because of that, they get liked and shared easily compared to more targeted content." Motivational messages are especially powerful when applied to our lives. With social media and the popularity of motivational quotes, not only do positive messages become more visible, but by relating to our own situations, they become more memorable.

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Students who have wandered around Behrend’s campus may have discovered a project by the Random Acts of Kindness club on campus. In the Reed Union Building, there is a staircase that leads to Personal Counseling Office on the first floor and the Student Affairs and Residence Life Office on the second floor filled with Post-It notes. Between suggestions such as “Call your mom,” or “Offer a piece of gum to a classmate,” this staircase truly has something to offer everyone. Whether we see motivational quotes in person or on our phones, they play an important role in our lives. These messages spread positivity in a world where darkness can feel overwhelming.