I heard this recently: Happiness in life doesn’t come from enjoyment. Happiness in life comes from victory.
Imposing self-discipline is a victory. We can celebrate it when we do it, and it produces other victories to celebrate, as well.
Posts Tagged ‘motivation’
Happiness
Monday, June 21st, 2010Franchise Players
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009I was talking with a friend of mine, today. While he might disavow this, he embodies EXCELLENCE. He executes well, is supremely competent, operates from impeccable integrity, is well-known and well-respected in his field, and – I say this with all sincerity - is amazingly humble.
In less than 9 months, he has had significant positive impact on the growth of his company’s bottom line – in a down economy.
He is a “franchise” player.
We love the ”franchise” player. They work longer and harder, need less attention, solve more problems, and raise the bar for everyone (who wants to play in their league).
The problem? “Franchise” players present a different leadership/management challenge. While we don’t have to discipline them, we do have to discipline ourselves.
Give them all they can handle, but not all we want them to handle.
Otherwise, we risk losing them – to our competition, or to burn out. In either case, our organization will be worse off.
Group Lessons
Thursday, August 6th, 2009After my five “introductory” lessons, I was a golfer.
I could “slap” the ball down the fairway accurately enough to shoot in the mid-90’s. Yes, it was all arms and shoulders. And, yes, by the end of the round, I was worn out.
A couple of years later, feeling the urge to improve, I signed up for group lessons with Chuck Campbell (a 70-year old American playing professionally on the senior circuit in Japan).
As Chuck began changing my swing, my scores went from the mid-90’s to a high of 127. I remember my boss’s comment one day, “You have no idea what’s going to happen when you hit that ball, do you?” And, he was right. Later that day, I accidently hit the ball directly at him. By the way, he was standing about 40 yards away, 90 degrees off my line of aim, and directly behind me – the ball went between my legs.
But, I stuck with it. (Heck, I couldn’t get much worse.)
Shortly afterwards, my scores began to change. Within a couple of weeks of my 127-stroke “high” score, my game began to change dramatically – my average dropped into the mid-80’s.
I was hitting the ball further, straighter, and with less effort.
The difference was group lessons.
When Chuck was standing next to me, watching my swing, I forced myself to do all the things I knew were right. So, what he saw was NOT what I normally did. When he walked away to work with someone else, I’d relax and do what I normally did.
Chuck watched me when he was “working” with someone else. So, he was able to correct what I was actually doing.
When you coach your people, are you coaching their “best” behavior or do you catch them unawares so you can correct what they are really doing?
Manipulation -v- Motivation
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009In our management program, Leadership Training for Managers, we delve into the difference between manipulation and motivation.
One key difference – the results produced by engaging, long-term, in one behavior or the other. Manipulation, over time, leads to resentment and compliance; motivation leads to cooperation.
The challenge is to determine which we engage in most often. It’s made more difficult because the ultimate arbiter is the other person. All we have to go on is our own perspective.
So, how do you determine if you’re manipulating? Actually, it’s pretty simple.
If you think you’re manipulating, you are.
Laughingstock no longer
Thursday, July 30th, 2009How does one ship go from a laughingstock to winning the Battle “E” in twelve months? (And then winning the next cycle.)
Imagine a car race between 14 Ford Mustangs. For eighteen months, they race around the same track. And, only one car wins.
The US Navy “race” is called the Battle Efficiency Award (the Battle “E”). For eighteen months, US Navy ships compete against other ships just like them. The ships are nearly identical; the officers and crews have similar levels of experience and expertise.
Each ship goes through a bunch of inspections (supply, gunnery, engineering, navigation, damage control, communication, etc.), in addition to assessments of operational readiness, responsiveness, administration and so on. At the end of eighteen months, a winner is selected based, in large measure, on these results.
One particular ship was the laughingstock of the waterfront. Not only had it recently failed a major engineering operational inspection, it took six separate attempts, over a two-week period, to successfully leave port for a five-day transit along the coast.
So how was it twelve months later, this ship won the Battle “E”?
Leadership – and it wasn’t the Commanding Officer. It was “TJ” – the new CHENG (CHief ENGineer).
He called the engineering department together and told us he knew how we could pass the re-inspection. He told us he’d successfully passed this inspection with six separate engineering departments. It would take hard work and long hours, and, if we did as instructed, we would pass.
He didn’t promise extra pay, extra time off, world peace, or the end of global warming. He treated us like adults – and we responded as adults.
Did we work hard? Oh, yeah.
Did we pass our next inspection? With one of the highest grades on record, at the time.
The momentum from that success carried on for the next three years.
When your organization is experiencing tough times, don’t be afraid to trust your people. Be honest with them. They’ll appreciate it, and you can expect they’ll work harder to ensure you (and they) succeed.
Constantly Warming-Up
Thursday, July 9th, 2009How many football games have we seen – high school, college, NFL – where the players didn’t “warm up”? Football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, field hockey, soccer, bowling, badminton, softball, track and field – players warm up at all of them. In fact, in my times of attending sporting events as a fan – or player – I can recall ZERO times when the players didn’t warm up before the game.
How about you?
That’s what I thought.
What makes “warming up” so important it’s done before every game? What does “warming up” do for the players?
- Warming up gets muscles loose and prevents injury.
- Warming up helps players focus on the upcoming game.
- Warming up gets players into the rhythm of the game so it’s more like stepping onto one of those moving sidewalks instead of jumping onto a speeding train.
- Warming up helps eliminate (or at least minimize) pre-game jitters.
Golfers also have a “pre-shot” routine. Most golfers focus on what NOT to do (i.e. DON’T hit in the water; DON’T hit out of bounds; DON’T hit into the sand; DON’T move my head, etc.). Good golfers focus on what TO do (i.e. keep my head still; hit it straight swing easy, hit hard). Great golfers focus on the OUTCOME (i.e. high, straight drive off the tee, two bounces and rolling to a stop ten yards left of the tree at the dogleg).
Essentially, it’s a “warm up” for every shot.
What happens? Golfers tend to get what we focus on. Most golfers hit into the water, out of bounds, into the sand. Good golfers tend to keep their heads still, hit it straight(er), swing easier and hit harder. Great golfers tend to hit the high straight drive off the tee, two bounces and rolling to a stop ten yards left of the tree at the dogleg.
It happens for almost every shot.
A couple of days ago, I was out calling on new business. I was dragging my ……errrr..… feet. Trudging to the entrance of an office building in North Texas, I was focused on how hot it was, how hard it is with the current economy, how much harder it is to find businesses willing to invest in their people. Walking toward the mirrored glass building, I saw my reflection. I didn’t like what I saw.
My posture looked dejected. If I was a business owner and saw a salesman with my look coming in, I wouldn’t want that person talking to my people. I wouldn’t have believed him or her when they were talking about changing attitudes and behaviors for the good, overcoming stress and worry, creating a more positive work environment. I would’ve thought: “You need to take your own medicine.”
So, I did.
At the risk of sounding Pollyanna”ish,” I realized my “negative” self-talk was affecting my results negatively. At least it was affecting my own attitude negatively. So, I changed my self-talk.
I noticed an immediate change in my attitude, motivation, posture, and expression.
William James said it many years ago:
“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.
The voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully. and act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. To feel brave,act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and courage will very likely replace fear. If we act as if from some better feeling, the bad feeling soon folds it tent like an Arab and silently steals away.”
Will this make the economy better? Probably not. Can it help us deal more effectively with whatever comes our way? Probably so. Can it help my results? Maybe. Will I enjoy it more. Definitely.
We all have “warm-up” or “pre-shot” routines we perform regularly. The big question is: “does your warm-up routine help you – or hurt you?”
A little bit on vision
Monday, May 25th, 2009Elaborating on Vision (done for session 12)
Well, we’ve climbed to the top of a mountain. What a great view! It’s awesome. Take some time. Enjoy it. Then after a bit of time, ask yourself the question……..
Now, what?
When we get to the top of a mountain, by all means, it’s important to take time to enjoy the view and relish our success. But after the celebration, the next step, and an important one, is deciding which mountain do I choose to climb next? And, what will the view look like from the top of that mountain? This is more than goal-setting.
For twelve weeks in the Dale Carnegie Course, we work on developing the ability to paint pictures in the minds of our listeners. Starting in an incident, we help our audience form a picture in their minds that matches the picture in ours.
This is basically the same. Imagine you are the speaker, describing an incident to you, the audience. It’s merely a moment in time – that just hasn’t happened, yet. Your job is to paint the picture of what you want for yourself.
- What are you doing?
- What are you seeing?
- What are you saying?
- What are you hearing?
- What are you smelling?
- What are you sensing?
This is not difficult despite how others have made it sound.
- What do you daydream about? (Or, what do you worry about? Then, imagine what the opposite would look like.)
- When you think about what you want your life to look like, what excites you?
- To where does your mind wander when not thinking about a specific problem? Let your imagination run wild and dream.
It’s vital to create a clear and compelling vision of our future. Without it, we’ll lose interest. When it gets hard, we’ll give up. So, how do we know it’s compelling? You’ll know what’s compelling to you when:
- You think about it automatically when you wake up in the middle of the night;
- It’s exciting enough to cause you to change;
- It’s exciting enough for you to want to get better;
- It’s exciting enough for you to to work harder and it doesn’t seem harder;
- It’s exciting enough for you to want to be more effective.
A compelling vision fuels the changes we need to make.
Maybe, the long-term goal, the long-term vision, is way off in the future. As you pursue it, what would your life look like three to six months down the road toward it?
Determining and deciding on your vision may be one of the most important things you ever do. Most people don’t decide to go anywhere in life, so they never get anywhere in life.
According to insurance statistics, of 100 individuals beginning at age 25, by age 65, 95% will be dead, or dead broke. Only the top 5% will be successful.
95% of people never write down their goals; 5% do. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
MY WAGE
I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more;
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have gladly paid.
–J.B. Rittenhouse
Decide what you want, write it down, and go for it.
Success will come. (Just remember: opportunity is often missed because it arrives dressed in work clothes.)