Maximum Motivation
article excerpted from the book "Anatomy of Success" by Ronald Kaufman

Enduring Motivation

Dealing with unmotivated Employees

Motivating Yourself
Maximum Motivation

Success From Scratch

Lessons For Success

Success Secrets

Successful Life Choices
10 Keys to Success

Building A Better Boss

Skills of  an Effective Manager

Fortune Cookie Management

Managing Fairness
Management & Training

Unifying Leadership

4 Lesseons for Leaders

Take Action

Leadership Behind the Walls
Leadership Pitfalls

Commit To A Goal

Work Smart

Choosing a Profession

A Determined Will
Be A Goal Getter....
One Race at a Time

     Have you ever put off doing something important, and instead done something unimportant?  A major report needs to be completed, and a piece of junk mail captures your undivided attention.  You should be going to a critical meeting, and you get involved in reorganized a drawer.  Whether it's finishing up paper-work, cleaning out a closet, or starting on an exercise program, there seems to be a tendency toward procrastination.
     Growing up, I heard that if you attached enough pain to not having something, and  enough pleasure to having it, you'd be motivated.  This appeared to make sense until I started doing workshops with groups of unemployed people.  They knew what the pain of being unemployed was, and knew what the pleasure of having a job would be, and yet they were still unmotivated and did very little to change their situation.  After a while, I began to realize that it's not that simple.
     I finally discovered that "Maximum Motivation" contains seven components, and can be a very complex issue.  If one of the seven elements is missing or is underdeveloped, different levels of procrastination are sure to follow, Leaving out just one ingredient could be the difference between success and failure.
1.  Clarity of purpose.  Know clearly and specifically what you want.  Since the brain thinks in terms of pictures, your objective must be so detailed that it creates a vision, something anyone can easily see.
   Saying "I want to be healthier" is a start, but ineffective.  An example of a health goal could be something such as: "I always want to be completely healthy, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, feel great, be strong, have boundless energy, blood pressure 120/80, resting pulse 50, and weight 1___ toned and fit pounds."
2.   Find evidence that you've achieved a goal.  Ask yourself what the proof and evidence is that you've achieved a goal.  What would you see, hear, and feel (physically and emotionally), and possibly taste and smell, that confirms you have your desired result?  With a health goal, you might see a certain number of pounds on a scale, or you might carry something heavy, have flexibility, dance all night. How will you know you've fulfilled your objective in concrete, measurable terms?
3.   Know your beliefs.  It's important to know your values, beliefs, self-concept and skills/abilities, and that they are in alignment and harmony with a particular goal.  If one of your highest values is honesty and you want to pursue a career where you will need to bend the truth, your motivation will suffer.  If you believe that gaining weight is an inevitable part of growing older, why bother exercising and eating, right?
4.  Neutralize negative or limiting beliefs.   When we procrastinate, it's often because of limiting beliefs.  They could be "terribly too's" such as "too" young/old, tall/short, thin/heavy, serious/silly, etc.
   Beliefs are what we accept as true, not necessarily what is true.

    However, as long as we accept something as true, it is true for us, and we will take actions that are consistent with what we believe.
Beliefs are created through experience, and to get rid of a limiting one, we need to have enough of a new experience to replace the old belief.  Individuals who maximize their motivation install within themselves four core empowering beliefs: that they can achieve something, that it worth achieving, and they will achieve it, and that they deserve to have it.  A computer may have a lot of capacity, but it requires the right software and programming to be able to use the capacity.  Our beliefs are basically the software and programming for our brains, and are what enable us to use our capacity to reach our potential.
5.  Determine the benefits of accomplishing a goal.  What will it allow you to do, have, an be in all aspects of your life? Since the only reason a human being ultimately ever does anything to have a feeling, what are feelings that are most important to you, such as security, love, belongings, being free, helpful, respected, productive, spiritual, and so on?  Unfortunately, some people are programmed so negatively that they will unconsciously do or not do things so that they undergo negative feelings.  Look at how many people achieve great success and then sabotage it through being late, being unprepared, arguing, or being overly critical.
6.  Recognize the negative consequences or not attaining an outcome.  Ask yourself, "What are the negative consequences I will suffer if I don't achieve this goal?  What will I be prevented from doing, having, and being?"  Since so often it's pain that pushes a person into taking action, if there aren't enough negative consequences, motivation could be affected.  Also, are there many negative feelings that are so distasteful to you, that you will take massive action to avoid them?  Often, identifying the negative consequences of not doing something can provide the breakthrough for action.
7.  Put together an action plan.  As Will Rogers once said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."  Set up an action plan for yourself by listing all the steps you'll need to accomplish a task.  Estimate how long each step will take, decide when each step needs to be completed, and prioritize your steps for each project and for each day.  Make your steps as small as possible.  With many small steps, each one is easy to do.  You get a sense of accomplishment, and the motivation to take more steps is developed.
     Concentrate specifically on what you want, how you want it, when you want it, why you want it, where you want it, and possibly, with whom who want it.  Who knows what you will create! v

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