Bullshit Motivational Quotes

Ahhh Motivational quotes…the insipid platitudes plastered throughout office cubicles, social media posts, and self-help books. Regurgitated million times during Grammy acceptance speeches, sports pep talks, and graduation ceremonies. It’s stuff sold to you to make you feel good for a few minutes, and get you through the week without hanging yourself in the cubicle. But did you know many motivational quotes are based on cognitive bias and oversimplification of life in general? In other words, they’re full of hot air. Here are a few most commonly used quotes that are steaming with bullshit:

1. You can achieve anything you set your mind to with hard work, grit, and determination ( or something along these lines) I hate to break it to you, but this motto only applies to things that do not involve any competition. For example, weight loss? Totally achievable. You ain’t competing against other people. Graduating from college? That too, is achievable. You just need to pass all your classes. Learning how to dance? Of course. Improving your grade or work results? Why not?? Overcoming shyness? Absolutely! These are things that only require YOUR effort, with no competing forces against you. However, landing a job? If there’s only one position and multiple applicants, you'll need to beat others to get hired. Running for office? You’re gonna need to beat your opponents. Applying to Ivy League? Only the few top-notch will be accepted. Same goes for making it into the NFL . Or qualifying for Olympics. Or becoming the next American idol. Hundreds try out. Only a few (or one) make it. The point is: whenever there are other people competing for the same goal, your chances of achieving it instantly goes down. In a competitive endeavor, no amount of "hard work, grit and determination" will surpass someone who is simply better than you. Hard pill to swallow? Call it life’s survival of the fittest.

2. Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. On the surface, this motto sounds like an encouragement for people to recognize their worth and value. The problem? There are roughly 7 billion people on earth, each with their own sense of entitlement. What would happen if everyone on earth refused to settle for less than what they think deserve? Human reproduction would come to a halt, jobs would be unfilled, public toilets would remain uncleaned, and overall economic activity would come to a stall. This is precisely the perils of the whole deserve-ment attitude. What you think you deserve and what you can realistically get are two entirely different things. Case point: you may think you deserve a guy who has a PhD, who makes six figures, who’s in great shape, and has a fine taste in clothes– maybe because you have all those things. But what if those guys don’t want you? You may think you deserve a job that pays at least $100k, but what if no employer thinks you’re worth that much? You won’t settle for anything less than Harvard or Yale. But what if they keep turning you down? Are you going to hold out until you achieve that one thing you think "deserve"? If you do, the chances are, you won't achieve anything in life. Multiply that by 7 billion - our world is in deep shit. The point is, if you keep on getting rejected by those very things that you think deserve, then it’s time to recalibrate your options. At some point, you’re gonna need to give in and take whatever you can get!

3. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Really? 10:90 sounds ridiculously disproportionate! I would argue to Charles Swindoll ( the originator of this quote) that a more accurate split would be 50:50. Why? Because your circumstances and origins are a big factor in the outcome of your life. Do you think that 15 million Syrian refugees agree that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it? Even if they made all the correct attitude adjustments to their predicament, I would argue that their life would not resemble 90% similarity to mine or yours. Yea yea, we hear remarkable stories of people who came from worst of the worst circumstances, overcame insurmountable obstacles, and achieved enormous amount of success (hello Oprah!). But these cases are an exception, not the rule. Just like Oprah herself, these extreme rags-to-extreme riches stories are well… extremely rare. For 90% of the population, our capacity for perseverance, positivity, resilience, optimism, and hard work can only get us so far. The point is, vast majority of people on earth are affected much more by their circumstances rather than their decisions. We should be doing something about that rather than writing oversimplified one-liners that imply all you need is an attitude adjustment!

4. Everyone is beautiful / attractive / pretty in their own way. Um… no they are not. Any more than everyone smart in their own way. Or talented in their own way. Or pleasant in their own way. It’s feel-good stuff that builds self-esteem, makes people valued, and spreads joy over the internet, but ends up being a meaningless catch-all phrase. First off, let me state that the word ‘beautiful’ has many meaning. But by and large, the primary definition of the word refers to physical attractiveness. Bearing that in mind, it’s not logically possible for everyone to be beautiful. After all, if everyone was beautiful, then no one would be considered beautiful. Instead of perceiving beauty as a free-for-all trait, we should just be brutally honest about it; ‘few people in the world are beautiful, and majority are average (or below-average) looking’ is much more accurate. Same goes for smarts, or talent, or success, or wisdom. Only a few are among the top echelon of these categories. The vast majority are average or below. After all, human beings are a wildly diverse breed of smelly creatures – 7 billion hodgepodge of the beautiful and ugly, the smart and dumb, the interesting and boring, the rich and poor. Yin and Yang. That’s how the world works. Besides, if the notion that everyone is beautiful is valid, then it’s only logical that the opposite applies as well – “everyone is UGLY in their own way”. (Gasp!) Yep, I had the audacity to say it. It won’t be long until bloodthirsty bridge trolls grab torches to burn down my village! 😱