True Motivation
What you will get: Reflections on your true motivation
“I am going to jump in the sea”
At least that’s what she said she wanted to do.
You see…
I live at the side of a harbour.
And at high tide, lots of kids like to come and jump in the water from the harbour wall.
And that’s just great….
But yesterday, one girl didn’t jump.
She said she wanted to, but she didn’t.
But in the process of telling lots of people very loudly that she was going to jump over the period of about 30 minutes, she got lots of attention.
At one point, I think there were 10 boys around her, all offering advice and help.
Yet still she didn’t jump…
She kept talking about it.
But she didn’t do it.
Which leads me onto the topic of true motivation.
Often you may not be motivated by what you think or say motivates you.
So I suspect that this teenage girl was not motivated by jumping off the harbour wall. But she was motivated by the attention she got – and once that was achieved she no longer needed to jump.
So the key lesson from this is to make sure, when you are setting yourself goals, that they are supported by the right motivation.
If you say you are going to learn Spanish, is it really the Spanish learning that motivates you or the fact that you will meet new people at the Spanish class?
If you say you are going to write a book, is it the writing that motivates you or the positive attention you get from telling people you will write a book?
If you say you want a better work life balance, is it the change in lifestyle that motivates you or the respect you will get from your friends for saying you are not going to work as hard?
This is just one of the reasons….
That people set themselves goals and fail to complete them or are not happy when they do complete them.
So why not ask yourself…
What is this really about?
What are at the roots of my motivation tree?
What are all the different motivators for me in this task?
And chances are…
There are several motivators attached to the same goal.
Is it recognition?
How about financial reward?
How about freedom?
Could it be attention?
How about feeling part of a community?
Is it really about status?
Is it the act of achievement?
Or is it the task itself that motivates you?
And when you match the right motivation to the right task – notice how focused and successful you really can be.
I’m off to make sure my goals for the day have the right motivational foundations.
How about you?
To your success.
Steve Neale
“Europe’s Leading Expert on Personal and Professional Growth”
Psychologist, Executive Coach, EI Practitioner, Award Winning Trainer, International Author, Psychodynamic Therapist, Hypnotherapist, Mindfulness Instructor, International Speaker, Creator of the LPS, Creator of the Accredited Masters in High Performance Leadership
