With the right motivation we can fly
Inspired by Brendon Burchard and his Motivation Manifesto
Are you expecting your manager, your coach, your friend, your partner or whoever else to motivate you?
It is very hard to achieve anything without some sort of force that keeps us going on when we hit a wall.
We spoke about inspiration in our last article “True inspiration is always nearby”. Inspiration is a wonderful thing to have and some argue that “greatness” requires it but I doubt that everybody feels inspired doing their day-to-day job. Most people achieve a lot without inspiration as long as they are motivated.
Motivation is defined as an “eagerness and willingness to do something without needing to be told or forced to do it. It is one of the key things most companies focus on to improve their employees’ productivity. When people are motivated, they are keen to achieve something; they are ready to work really hard. We are not talking about money though. Sure, it is important to be paid adequately but that is important purely to cover our basic needs. If we took Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (see below), our salary would cover the first two steps. Many studies prove that there are more important things than money when it comes to motivating people.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
A survey involving 200,000 employees in more than 500 organisations showed that money does not play the most important role by far.
When employees feel like team members, as important parts of a company their work reflects that in a positive way. The camaraderie, feeling encouraged and recognized or having a real impact do outweigh the monetary compensation.
The report goes on to state that companies should be ruthless in rejecting the candidates who would not be the right fit for the organisation even if they appeared to be high performers. In the long run, the greatest performers become counterproductive if they are not the right fit. It clearly shows that the company culture plays a crucial role.
There are lots of available resources when it comes to a piece of advice on how to motivate others. In this article though, I would like to look at the motivation that comes from within. As only by understanding the inner motivation we can try to motivate others.
Many say that motivation comes from the outside while inspiration is an inner “job”. I no longer see it that way. What do you think?
I believe that it does not matter what you do or whether you work for yourself or someone else. It is actually you and your attitude that matters most. Unless you have your inner drive and desire to achieve your goals and do a great job, even the greatest motivating factors of the greatest company in the world will not work. Motivating tools wear off over time.
Number 1 New York Times bestselling author Brendon Burchard, entrepreneur and high-performance coach, wrote a book about this called The Motivation Manifesto – 9 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power.
He says, “Choosing our own aims and seeking to bring them to fruition creates a sense of vitality and motivation in life”.
Burchard talks in detail about key aspects that can help us to achieve whatever we want. If we say that we are waiting for something or someone to motivate us, he says that motivation is summoned only from within. He believes that we have to:
1. Be present – most of us are so distracted all the time. Life is happening to us. Burchard reminds us that “We mustn’t avoid this day’s reality or wish for a better one. We must learn to live in reverence to the moment and all we have been given by it and all we choose to give to it.”
2. Reclaim our agenda – far too often we do something just to conform, to fit in. We should express what we want in life if we want to gain the power to achieve it. Burchard says that if our answer to the “How are you?” question is “Fine.”, the passion has been already bled from our veins.
3. Defeat our demons – like delaying things, lacking self-confidence, fear of failure, doubt. Burchard presents a weapon to defeat the demons, a Sword of Courage. A sword forged from Faith, Action and Love.
4. Advance with abandon – we should not “play it safe”. We should believe that WE shape our reality and so WE have to take action and don’t fall for the advice of people who want us to be safe, to be more realistic. As Burchard says, “Great men and women don’t give a damn if anyone approves”.
5. Practise joy and gratitude – we tend to focus on the things we want to improve and forget the things we already have. Did you know that most super-successful people say that gratitude belongs to their daily routine? We also tend to forget to enjoy ourselves. “…Life is a journey, a trying and exciting adventure and its destination matters less than the passion and freedom felt along the way”.
6. Make sure we never break our integrity – we should always think before we take action and make sure that we considered our wellbeing, our relationships and social responsibilities. We should not commit to things where we feel no passion. We should keep our word and always tell the truth. We should respect others and always favour action. If we don’t, regret will creep in.
7. Amplify love – it may sound airy-fairy but Burchard explains, “We are our finest when we give and live in love, and at our worst when we hoard it, deny it, or choke it out of existence. …To stand emotionally open before the world and give of our hearts without fear of hurt, attachment, or demand of reciprocity – this is the ultimate act of human courage, this is the ultimate experience of personal freedom”.
8. Inspire greatness – as we all serve as a living example to others we should live by and require high standards like honesty, responsibility, excellence, courage or respect for others. I agree with Burchard when he says that “Without more people deciding to serve as role models and leaders, our society has become a suffering case of the silent and bland leading the silent and bland”. Do you agree?
9. Slow time – this last declaration is so needed for most of us.
The vast majority of all people are busy.
They are rushing to work in the morning barely managing a breakfast, usually on the go, working non-stop through piles of tasks, meetings, forcing a sandwich down during a conference call;
rushing to collect the kids, getting stuck in traffic furious at other drivers who do not get the concept of zipping;
making dinner while catching up on some household chores or homework or a project for work or school the next day;
falling asleep in front of the TV and waking up early in the morning totally exhausted;
facing another tough day.
It is time to re-think our current concept, to slow down, to focus on things that really really matter and work the rest around them.
If you would like to read more about motivation, J.D. Meier offers 15 Ways to Motivate Yourself and Others in his Time Magazine article. They are all very personal. They come from within.
Anti-bullying campaigner Ron Prasad gives great examples in his LinkedIn article Motivation vs Inspiration. He reminds us that motivation comes from the word “motive” and sums his writing up with a quote from Dr Wayne Dyer, "Motivation is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, and inspiration is when an idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are intended to go."
I believe that these days we desperately need leaders who inspire us and feed our inner motivation.
Wishing you great inspiration from without and lots of motivation within.
Resources:
Five things that motivate your employees more than money by Marc Burrage
New Study Answers: What Motivates Employees To 'Go The Extra Mile?' by Victor Lipman
3. THE MOTIVATION MANIFESTO, 9 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power by Brendon Burchard
15 Ways to Motivate Yourself and Others by J.D. Meier
5. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140512234002-23063390-motivation-inspiration/
The Difference Between Motivation & Inspiration by Ron Prasad
6. https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-motivation-and-inspiration.html
Difference Between Motivation and Inspiration by Surbhi S