Author: Mark Brown

5 Key Paths of Motivation

My friend and business partner, John Maxwell, once told me, “If you want motivated employees, hire motivated people.” His point? I can’t motivate people, I can only inspire them. Motivation originates and is nourished from within.

So I decided to spend some time thinking about how we become motivated. Is it something we can create through intentional action, or is it an emotional response?

Some believe that you can become motivated by being inspired. But I don’t believe that inspiration alone will create much motivation. To be significantly motivated, we need to link inspiration with one of the following motivation paths.

1. Desperation – We are filled with motivation when we are faced with desperation. We have no other choice. We are frantic for something to change. Our fears increase to a level that requires action.

2. Clear Desire – Clarity of purpose will provide us with motivation. If we are able to see the future we want to create in exact detail,  we will be motivated to achieve. When our purpose or vision is fuzzy, or only a dream, our motivation is also subdued.

3. Momentum – We are motivated by winning. Small wins lead to bigger wins. If we begin to achieve success, we are motivated to attain more.

4. Breakthrough – A significant discovery or advancement can fuel our motivation. If we suddenly see new opportunities, we become energized to continue. We want to discover the next breakthrough.

5. Methodical Persistence – Some of us are driven towards a goal, step by step, steadily. We never consider giving up. We never consider failure as an option. We are driven by the process of improvement. This feels different than desire or breakthrough because it is less emotionally charged. We are attached to the practice and less towards the outcome.

There are times when I have felt a lack of motivation, but now I have the ability to develop it intentionally. I can select a source of inspiration. I can decide which motivational path will be most effective. (I hope I can always act before I get to the desperation stage!) Then I can allow my motivation to grow through the actions associated with that path.

Motivation truly does come from within. So where do you need more motivation to increase your success?

Productivity Is Not the Only Measure

The measure of your effectiveness is not productivity alone. Getting more done in a short period of time is important, but it should not be your primary measure of effectiveness. With my background in manufacturing, this was an idea that took me some time to put into perspective.

Excellence is more important than productivity. People pay for excellence. People admire excellence. Excellence has longevity. Productivity is based on what you accomplish only during a specific moment in time.

So here is the question to ponder this week. In your business, or your life, where is excellence more important than productivity? We cannot be excellent in everything. So for you, what matters? Where do you need to be excellent, and where do you need productivity?

I have learned that in most cases when you focus primarily on productivity, you risk short changing the result. You risk compromising excellence for time. In many parts of our life, this may be acceptable. But there are key areas of your life and your work where you should never compromise excellence for time.

Where is it more important to be right than fast? Where is it more important to be fast… to be first? Where can you adjust and improve as you go? Where are mistakes more costly?

There are areas of your life where you need to be prepared to always give your best. Do you know your area of excellence?

Make Time to Think

Highly successful people are skilled at turning ideas into actions. They are not burdened with dreams that they fail to pursue. It is not just the actions that make them successful. Success comes from their thoughts and ideas.

During your busy day, how much time do you set aside for thinking? I would suggest that for most of us, it is not enough. We are too busy with the actions. We are too busy working to get things done.

And when we do get a new idea, we seldom take the time to explore it deeply. We either add it to our to-do list, or we discard it without any further thought.

How can we increase the value of our ideas? We need time to think. Daily.

There are times when I find myself overwhelmed with possibilities. Frustrated because I cannot find time to implement all the ideas I have captured. When that happens, I recognize that I have not given myself enough time to think. Ideas need to be considered, evaluated, challenged, tested, and explored. If you give an idea the proper time to marinate, implementation becomes infinitely easier, quicker, and more effective.

The proper amount of time can be difficult to measure. But with practice, you become more skilled in this area. If you sit too long on an idea, it can become stale. You lose the passion and the energy that first arrived with the idea. Learning how to think about an idea is a skill.

If you are not taking time to think about your ideas daily, I suggest you set aside some time to think. Schedule it. Try it for 30 days. I believe you will find it will increase your effectiveness, and success.

 

The Top 3 Reasons People Invest in Themselves

I have often wondered why some people are continuously investing in themselves, and others invest nothing. There are three main reasons I have discovered that lead to a person being comfortable investing in themselves. They are:

1) Humility – They have an attitude of humility. They never believe they know it all. They are willing to listen and be open to new information.

2) Expectations – They have an expectation of a positive result. They have experienced the link between learning and success, and they are wanting to achieve a goal that requires learning something new.

3) Enjoyment – Some people are good learners. They have practiced a lifetime of learning. They are very successful learners. Some of their positive self esteem is based on their ability to learn.

There are other reasons also, but they don’t seem to have the longevity factor that these three have. Some people invest in themselves based on trying to achieve other people’s expectations. Seldom is that situation highly effective.

Are you a learner? What drives you to invest the time, energy, and money required to learn more?