Top Ten Tips on...

Motivation

14 November 2022
Effective Top Tens - Podcast
Quick, practical tips on a wide range of management and personal development themes.
Six key drivers, and four key inhibitors, that will determine how successfully motivated you are...and how you can support other's motivation
1

Aim

in order to be motivated, you first need a motive - a purpose, goal or ambition.... There are two key types of motivation: destination (result) or journey (process). If you play, or have played, a sport, what matters most to you: winning (even if it's a boring game); or taking part and having fun (even if you lose)?

2

Attitude

you might have a clear aim or goal, but you are not particularly attached to it. It may have been given to you by a parent, or a teacher, or your manager. You are clear about what's required, but your attitude towards it isn't positive. In which case, you are less likely to be motivated by it: if it seems trivial, or pointless - why bother?

3

Anticipation

I'd love to play American Football professionally. That's a clear aim, and I have a positive attitude towards it. But given my age and skill set, there is no way on this Earth that I could ever make it. So I lack the anticipation I would otherwise need. So this boils down to a lack of self-belief, or self-confidence. Entirely appropriate in my case - but some people just don't achieve what they are truly capable of achieving - if only they had belief and confidence in themselves...

4

Ability

of course one of the reasons I have no motivation to play American Football is I lack the key skills - and physique. And I'm far too old....so my ability is limited - and it could be by lots of other factors too - lack of opportunity; poor health; lack of money or equipment. And one that I think is crucial but often overlooked: a lack of the right strategy...

5

Action

you'll get nowhere just sitting there. To fulfil your ambition, you have to take action....put in the effort, show enthusiasm, have loads of energy. Have determination and drive...

6

Achievement

nothing succeeds like success - so set small and achievable goals, that once achieved, incentivise you to keep going...

7

Lack of resource

the first of four classic obstacles - a lack of resource, that will significantly restrict the 'Ability' element...

8

Lack of information

either you don't know, clearly enough, what you need to do -or you don't know why - which will encourage a negative attitude...

9

Lack of skill

either you can't do it at all, or you can't do it to the appropriate level...

10

Over-motivation

sometimes the problem lies in the other direction - you can be too motivated. Negative consequences of this could include:

not being willing to stop - becoming over-tired and making mistakes

taking things too far

the opportunity cost of not doing other things you should be doing

setting standards that it is impossible for you - or others - to keep up

Effective Top Tens - Podcast
would you like to write for us?... please get in touch :-)

Related courses & resources...

Book Review:

by Morten T Hansen

This book is an excellent and highly researched follow up and companion to ‘Good to Great’ – this time focusing on employees rather than leaders.

Top Ten Tips on...

How to encourage high performance and reward it - and also how to prevent it becoming a liability rather than an asset...

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