MMV: Top 10 Motivational Youtube Channels of 2014

1) Eric Thomas -

The reigning king of the Youtube Motivational channels. Mr. Thomas - also known as E.T. the Hip Hop Preacher - is a High school drop out who went back for his GED and then his bachelor's and then his Master's, then decided to start motivating people through youtube - every Monday. Currently he is an author, and motivational speaker and voice-over artist for many professional sports leagues including the NBA, NFL and others. His bread and butter is TGIM (Thank God It's Monday) You may notice that his voice is the narrator on many (OK maybe even most) of the home-made youtube inspirational videos across the interwebs - which leads me to the next honoree:

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2) Mateusz M -
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Some could say that all this newcomer really does is lift audio off of Eric Thomas and les Brown's videos and adds b-roll - but that would be understating his mastery. Mateusz M without a doubt has the video editing skills to pay the bills. His videos - which are typically about 10 minutes in length tell stories using the motivational greats listed above but the beauty is he adds in scenes from movies and maybe even some of his own background video to make you want to conquer the world with the 1 -2 punch of audio and visual motivation. By the way Mateusz M - if you check your google alerts - let me know when you come out with a "how to edit video" course on udemy or elsewhere - I would like to learn.

3) Marie Forleo: -
A Classy, funny Jersey girl  with that hardcore New yorker/east coast ambition that I aspire to be like daily. Ms. Forleo  a former financial professional, turned fitness, turned business guru for women (mostly)  is arguably the hardest working businesswoman on youtube. She entertains her audience with out-take jokes and then gives them real-world advice once a week during Q&A Tuesday and then comes back later in the week typically interviewing someone who is both outstanding and inspirational.

4) Tony Robbins -


The World's reigning motivational speaker (I believe Mr. Robbins prefers the term - "peak performance coach") outside the interwebs (i.e.I RL)  - has a decent youtube channel but it should be noted much of his material is all over Youtube just not necessarily on his channel. Let's face it though, when you've been the world's greatest motivational speaker (no disrespect to Les Brown, the late Zig Ziglar and others) for 20 or 30 odd years it's not hard to find out more about you if you're looking in that direction. Fun fact - Marie Forleo had the honor of being interviewed by Mr. Robbins - a great opportunity to see new school meet old school.

5) TED Talks -
If you're looking for motivation and you've NEVER heard of TEDtalks - do me a favor, cancel your plans for the weekend. Find a couple good TEDtalk playlists on youtube, and hit play. You'll be entertained, enlightened, informed and inspired not necessarily in that order. It's my dream to someday do a tedtalk here in Cbus. Before I digress, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design conference. Something started for the smart jetset in Southern California at first but has spread across the globe. TEDx Port Moresby - where are you? Anyway some of the most intelligent connected and influential people in the world clamor to tell their story to a crowd of hundreds to thousands of their peers depending on the venue and do it on a stage in under 18 minutes. Past TED presenters have been Bill Clinton, Al Gore and the aforementioned Tony Robbins.

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6) Rejection Therapy -

Speaking of TED talkers - Jia Jiang - the man behind the vlog Rejection Therapy is definitely a favorite of mine. A professor suggested that he should attempt to intentionally get rejected in order to get over some self-confidence issues. To keep himself honest and also take the experiment to the next level - he decided to record 100 days worth of rejection on a hidden video camera. Amazing results ensued, the most publicized of which would have to be the Krispy Kreme incident on 2012 - Which I've shared with you above:

7) MuscleProdigy TV -

Some of the best motivational videos for athletes hands down. Great editing and narration. I personally love these videos. See them for yourself and get inspired.

8) MindValley -

Vishen Lakhiani is the forward-facing founder of Mindvalley a company her describes as "team of 100+ individuals focused on building disruptive systems that push humanity forward." The multi-million dollar company puts together online products, services and most recently videos featuring some very inspirational speakers. One speaker featured in several of their videos for an event Mindvalley sponsors called Awesomeness fest is Lisa Nichols of The Secret fame.

9) The Good Life Project -

Jonathan Fields, a former attorney, turned yoga instructor turned Internet marketer is the main mind behind the Good Life Project. The Good Life Project is effectively a series of interviews with inspiring people - many are internet marketers but some are also just interesting people that have caught the eye of Jonathan Fields - the founder. At least one notable interviewee is the aforementioned Marie Forleo. Funny how the youtubers all seem to know each other...or at least Marie.

10) Kyle Cease -

Comedian turned inspirational comedian, Kyle Cease is all about flow. He recounts the time when there was a competition to get a special on Comedy Central and he took a ridiculous amount of massive action in order to win at the competition.He teaches how just leaning toward what makes you happy in life will bring more things that bring you joy and happiness. My only complaint about his channel is that he does not post on a regular and/or consistent basis - but one could argue he goes with the flow.


If I missed your favorite, please let me know in the comments below.

5 Most Motivational Youtube channels (2013)

 Here are a list of the most positive youtube videos I've come across so far.


1. Eric Thomas - aka ET the Hip Hop Preacher - this gentleman has really started to take off in the motivational speaking scene at least on youtube. Every Monday he hosts TGIM - Thank God It's Monday - an obvious spin on TGIF.. In every episode he gives viewers a reason to get excited about the coming week. Here's a recent episode:




2. Tony Robbins - Tony Robbins ,the reigning industry leader in the Motivational Speaker game is without a doubt a great motivator. He motivates Presidents, World-Class Athletes and Billionaires on a regular basis.
One thing I love about Tony is that although he is at the top - already -  he is constantly trying to improve his methods to coach people to bridge the gap between where they are now to where they want to be.Why is he #2 you ask? Because his official youtube channel (at least I think it is) updates on a fairly inconsistent basis:



3. Marie Forleo -Marietv I came across her channel while watching Tony Robbins as a matter of fact. She was being interviewed by him...I thought "who the hell is she?". Turns out she's a pretty good motivator in her own right. Not to mention funny. Her target market is definitely women but watching her Youtube her insights on business (she's a millionaire) definitely help if you're in the internet marketing game.





4. Jia Jiang - Rejection Therapy - Thank Goodness I came across a yahoo post on one of Jia's videos. Basically Jia's been on a mission to ask to do something impossible everyday of the week for 100 days. He started this experiement at the suggestion of his professor (I believe) as a way of getting over his fear of rejection. He's asked for everything from if he could sit on the Washington Monument's lap to random people to tell him a secret to asking for an Olympic ring shaped donut. He videotapes the whole thing of course to make sure he's not cheating. It's amazing how much his confidence has progressed from his first video to his more recent ones. Here's him asking to someone from businessweek if he can write for them:



5. TED - TEDtalksDirector - Ok this isn't just an individual but many individuals giving their best insights on just about everything. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Some of the world's greatest minds have been speakers from Bill Clinton to Stephen Hawking to Tony Robbins and even Jia. One of my favorite recent ones is a one on finding your purpose by Adam Leipzig:



How about you? Do you have any youtube or vimeo ...etc channels that you love watching on the internet because they make your day, week or month go better? Let me know in the comments below.