Motivation Starts With You

TSK. Raman

"Fear does not have any special power unless you empower it by submitting to it."

Les Brown, Author and Speaker

. . .Why are you continuing to be in your job? 
Why are you continuing to be involved in the day-to-day activities that fill your life? 
The honest answer to the question Why? is also the answer to your personal motivation. 
This is not motivation that has been imposed upon you by anyone else; it's your personal motivation. One of the early success writers suggested that we take the word motivation and make a slash between the v and the a--and if you've got just a little bit of imagination, you can see two words. The word on the left is motive, and the word on the right is action. People who are motivated have a motive: they have a reason, a purpose, or a cause. And then they take action on that reason, purpose or cause. 

I wonder if you can recall the story of Ekkalavya who wanted to learn the art of archery and he went to the universal Guru Dronacharya. Coming from very poor stocks and for want of any decent background, Ekalavya was rejected. Despite this he was so charged and motivated that he made a statue of Guru Dronacharya and practiced the art relentlessy. Eventually he mastered it to such an extent that he silenced a barking do with a flurry of arrows without spilling a drop of blood. The dog incidentally was accompanying the Pandava princes and their Guru. Amazed by such a feat they went to see who the performer was. No one reconized him, and it was Ekkalavya who reminded the Guru of his meeting and subsequent rejection. The Guru was moved beyond words. Though, Ekklavya paid a price for his mastery and his honesty, the lesson we can take from this is his self motivation.

Question: Have you given it any thought at all? 

If we want to motivate other people, we have got to find out what their reason, purpose, or cause is. People are not going to be motivated for your reasons. They are going to be motivated for their own reasons. We must understand that everyone listens to the same radio station. It's called WII-FM and the call letters stand for What's In It For Me? If you want to motivate others, this is the information you need to share. You've got to find out their motive, reason and cause, and then encourage them to take action. But before you do that check to see how motivated you are yourself.