A Bank of Encouraging Words for Your PowerSheets

Filling out your Tending List in your PowerSheets Goal Planner® is one of the best ways to start your month off strong. By prioritizing the things that matter most to you (and writing them down!), you'll be more likely to make time for your daily, weekly, and monthly goals—and take action.

While we’re all about cheering each other on to success, it’s important to start off your Tending List by giving yourself a little pep talk. That’s why the first part of your Tending List has space for a few “Encouraging Words” to yourself. 

You might be so used to cheering on those around you that stopping to encourage yourself might feel a little weird. 

If you find yourself feeling stuck here, don’t worry! Take a moment to pause, breathe, and ask yourself, What are a few encouraging words that I need to hold onto this month?

Today, we're sharing a few suggestions to get you started.

Choose a simple phrase:

• It’s okay to grow slow
  
• Progress, not perfection 
  
• Make it happen
  
• Good things take time
• Cultivate kindness
• Grace upon grace
  
• It’s a new day
  
• Little by little
  
• Presence over projects
• Do smalls thing with great love
• Choose joy
• I am capable
• Yes, I can
• Keep it simple. 
• Freedom over fear
• Have courage and be kind
• I'm ready for this
• Spread joy like confetti
• Choose gratitude
• Live in wonder
• Go for it
• Write your own story
• Enjoy the journey
• I am doing the best I can with what I have

Choose a quote that resonates with you:

• “Give the best of who you are to what you’ve already committed to.” - Lisa TerKeurst, The Best Yes
• “Cultivating an intentional life is about serving the Lord for His purposes and growing what matters with Him.” - Lara Casey, Cultivate
• “The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default.” - Greg McKeown, Essentialism
• “Wherever you are, be all there.” - Jim Elliott
• “Invest yourself deeply in what is, instead of being so caught up in what you thought it should have been.” - Shauna Niequist, Inspired to Action Podcast, episode #74
• “I’d rather do a few things well, have my priorities in order, and enjoy life than try to do two hundred things poorly and live a stressed-out, exhausted, pointless existence.” - Crystal Paine, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode
• “Time is what we want most and what we use worst.” - William Penn
• “The decisions we make dictate the schedule we keep. The schedules we keep determine the lives we live. The lives we live determine how we spend our souls.” - Lysa Terkeurst, The Best Yes
• “Happiness is a state of being, not of having.” - Angela Horn from her TED talk “The Less You Own, the More You Have”
• “Breathe, Darling. This is just a chapter. It’s not your whole story.” S.C. Lourie
• “It is not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” - Lena Horne
• “No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.” - Frank L Baum
• “You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” - C.S. Lewis
• “The secret to living your life to its full potential is to value the important stuff above your own comfort.” - Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, The 12 Week Year
• “I have learned from experience that the greatest part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not in our circumstances.” - Martha Washington
• “Invest yourself deeply in what is, instead of being so caught up in what you thought it should have been.” - Shauna Niequist, Inspired to Action podcast #74
• "Your real life is with us, your family." - Toni Morrison
• "Home is the place where our story can unfold nourished by beauty, formed by goodness, and rooted in love." - Sally Clarkson, The Lifegiving Home
• “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” - Jim Rohn
• "For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story." - Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
• "Authenticity does not mean compromising your life to make it appear more relatable." - Erin Loechner
• "To look at everything always as though you were seeing it for either the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory." - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• “A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.” - Albert Einstein
• "Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." - Roald Dahl
• "In a world where you can be anything, be kind." - Unknown
• "The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely." - Louisa May Alcott
• "Money doesn't bring us happiness, but it has granted us the financial freedom to construct a life we love." - Meet the Frugalwoods
• "The most beautiful, well-tended, truly nurtured and nourished parts of my life are the innermost ones, not the flashy public ones. That's just as it should be." - Shauna Niequist, Present Over Perfect
• “She believed she couldn't, so God did.” - Lara Casey, Make It Happen

One last thing: remember to place your Tending List where you’ll see it every day. Tape it to your mirror, stick it in your car, or place it on your desk. 

Whatever words you choose, we hope they'll challenge, inspire, and of course, encourage you. We’re cheering you on, too!

What encouraging words did you write on your Tending List this month? We’d love for you to share in the comments below!

Emily Thomas

Emily Thomas

Emily Thomas is Cultivate What Matters' Content Strategist and Writer. With over a decade at Cultivate, Emily loves helping women uncover what matters, set good goals, and live them out with joy. Her free time is spent with her high-school-sweetheart husband and three young kiddos.