I have tried all the productivity hacks and tools there are, and yet I often end the day with regret of unfinished things on my 'To Do' list. More often than not, I start my days with more tasks than the time available to complete them. And my motivation to start work on my tasks, constantly waning thin, and what time available, lost to the many distractions along the way.

During these times of test, a little motivation - a swift kick  - may be all that I need to help me start the day with focus and inspiration. And when this happens, I turn to these quotes from my favourite stoics to help steer my day!

In no particular order, here are my top 6 Stoic Quotes to help inspire me to focus on the tasks at hand:

"Whatever can happen at any time, can happen today!"
- Seneca

“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?“
- Epictetus

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”
- Marcus Aurelius

"The fool, with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live.”
- Epictetus

"Let us prepare our minds as if we'd come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's books each day... The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time."

- Seneca

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’

— But it’s nicer in here…

So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

— But we have to sleep sometime …

Agreed. But nature set a limit on that — as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota.”

– Marcus Aurelius.