Everyone has one of those days now and then when they can’t seen to get motivated to do anything: work, study, or even going out. You just feel “blah”, and your productivity suffers in every way. Unfortunately, the things you need to do that day don’t just disappear, so you end up playing a frantic game of catch up once the feeling passes. Or you have to compensate for not having done something that was crucial to your life.
It might seem like a really small tool, but motivational wallpapers can actually help. No, really. They are always there on your screen, and the right one can really push you to get moving. Making your desktop motivate you is one of the best ways to optimize it. It can even help draw you out of the apathetic state that may be causing your lack of motivation in the first place. That is the power of the human mind.
Here are five places to create motivational wallpapers to help you get past your rut.
1. Turn Your Favorite Quote into an Image
There’s always a phrase that works on you. For me, that’s “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door”. What if I could turn my favorite quote into a desktop wallpaper and see it each time I feel tired?
There are a variety of tools allowing you to turn your own text into an image. Those include just plain text on solid color backgrounds, and those meshed with images. One of the newest and the best tools is QuotesCover. It has “Wallpaper maker” built in; just select your resolution:
You can use your own photo as the background (or you can buy one; here’s a good list), play with fonts and image effects until you feel it can motivate you!
2. Try Quoto‘s Picture Quotes
This is technically a quotation site, rather than a wallpaper site. But they have a whole section dedicated to pictures with quote overlaying them, and most are incredibly inspirational. Some came from anonymous users, but most are famous quotes from political and religious leaders, books, celebrities, songs and other sources that still resonate with us no matter how much time has passed.
You can search through these or the other quotes, and then just save the images and place them as desktop backgrounds. There aren’t that many available yet, but the number is growing.
3. Try These Collections
- Lifehack’s own wallpaper collection: This one contains 30 hand-picked wallpapers and you are sure to find something that gets you going.
- TekSocial Wallpaper: This is the user-created collection of desktop wallpapers but this is what makes it unique! Most are rather simple, and quite a few are really geeky. Some are even just visual, with no words but still conveying a message. If you like more minimalist styles, but still want something that makes you feel good and inspired, this is a great set of wallpapers.
- Primer Magazine {iPhone / iPad}: These are technically made for the iPhone or iPad, but they could be placed on any brand you owned. More text heavy than the ones on Lifehack, they are definitely motivational in a way that is meant to get you pumped for life. Quotes like “If you want a million bucks, you have to work like a million bucks”, and “It’s better to live one day as a lion than a thousand days as a lamb” are all over these 28 wallpapers. My favorite is a background in the form of a text message that just says “Don’t order that pizza”. A nice reminder for all of us who are trying to drop a few pounds.
- Addicted2Success. Is success your main objective? Whatever it is you are trying to succeed in, this page probably has a wallpaper for you. There are 35 memorable quotes placed on equally memorable images for your motivation. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, KRS-One and Douglas Adams are some of the people featured.
4. Google Images
Google is still going to be your best source for finding motivational wallpapers, or pretty much anything else. My favorite feature for Google Image Search is “Color search” when you can target your choice to your favorite color:
When you do a search for these backgrounds, you will get a ton of results. Luckily, you can narrow things down further by including a couple of keywords for what you are looking for. For example, “motivational wallpaper fitness” will limit your results to only those related to improving your body.
Do you have a place to find motivational desktop wallpapers you want to share? Let us know in the comments!
