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The Secret to Maximum Motivation

Guest post by: Marshall W. Northcott

Article Overview: Motivation is the fuel that powers your engine and provides you with the drive and determination necessary to accomplish your goals and make life dreams become reality. For the secrets to maximum motivation, read on...

The Secret to Maximum Motivation

When you ask people what motivates them, you are likely to hear some fairly common responses like, money, recognition, the feeling of a job well done etc. It's been my experience that having the right understanding of motivation and then leveraging that understanding can take you to a whole different playing field in your career and life successes.

Here's a psychological twist for you. Many of the motivators that people will mention, including money and positive emotional outcomes, are by-products of one's actions.

Those of us who are representative of the upper ranks of our peer group do what we do and gain motivation from being able to reach for what Maslow referred to as self-actualization in his hierarchy of needs. In others words living up to the expectation that you have of yourself and reaching for a higher calling beyond physical limitations.

I used to think that I was motivated by money until someone explained to me that money is only paper or coin. It is a medium of exchange and ultimately it isn't the money that motivates, it is what you can do with it that motivates. Having money, means having the power to make better quality choices and provide a better lifestyle for yourself and your loved ones. However, a reasonable, moral and ethical individual has limits on what they are prepared to do for money.

In a time of economic uncertainty when there is a shortage of money (or cash flow in society) and there is added pressure and stress in our world that results in a shortage of the positive emotional outcomes (good feelings from a job well done) if this is all that keeps us going and getting out of bed in the morning (motivating us) then many will just pull the covers over and go back to sleep. Please wake me when it's over!

For those with an internal driving force that goes beyond the norm and an uneasiness that creates a positive tension of perpetual unrest, motivation is something that cannot be described in mere words. It is only something that can be witnessed through action and enjoyed through the execution of activities that produce results!

In one of my workshops I do an exercise where I ask people to list up to ten things that motivate them. In ten years I have only had two people fill in ten answers in a reasonable time frame. I explain that they must be clear about the answers that they write down. "Success" is not good enough because it is too fuzzy and open to interpretation so they must describe what their definition of success is.

I provide a few personal examples for the participants such as:

Accomplishment - setting out to complete an objective or task and seeing it through to completion.

Helping other people - providing someone else with the tools, skills, resources and confidence necessary to achieve their goals.

Setting an example that's worthy of being followed for my family - showing them through my actions and attitudes that anything is possible if you can conquer your fears and you're willing to put in the sweat equity to get the job done!

I encourage others to invest the time to go through a similar exercise so that they truly know what motivates them. It is empowering and will take them beyond an average existence!

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Article Tags: cash flow, driving force, economic uncertainty, expectation, good feelings, hierarchy of needs, life successes, medium of exchange, motivation, motivators, norm, peer group, physical limitations, quality choices, self actualization, sleep, stress, tension, unrest, upper ranks



Related Forum Posts
Re: How To Stay Motivated In Your Business - Motivation spurs people into actions every time. When there is no motivation the reason to move forward seems lost. Thanks so much for this post Evan
Victoria's Secret - Too Sexy? - This will be upsetting for some men. I just heard a report about Victoria's Secret and it was interesting. Their sales were down drastically in the 4th quarter of 2007 and the report was about how they are thinking the company has gotten too far away from the heritage that made it the blockbuster company it is. They are thinking the ads etc have become too sexy and the plan (at the moment) is to make the ads more sophisticated. That would be like the Super Bowl commercial which was very tasteful, but very different from any Victoria's Secret I've seen lately. Who do you all think the current sexy ads are targeting? I think its the men that they hope will buy these items for their female significant others. I hate to give Omarosa any kudos - but most women aren't "sold" on an item by an ad of a near naked sexy woman. Shri
Re: Books for Business Owners - Hi DougSchadle, Thanks for sharing your favorite business book with us! A good book I'm reading now is "Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed" by Brian Tracy as it was a birthday gift from a friend. Tracy's book is helpful in identifying what's important in your life and then setting an action plan to achieve it.
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
The Secret - Hi Binary Guy - The Secret certainly has been getting a lot of attention and promotion by the likes of Oprah. What have your experiences been with the program?


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