Is Motivation Truly Motivation
We are all born into this world with motivation. It is an intrinsic part of who we are. What’s more, we all possess our own unique style of motivation and are driven by it each day. However, pop-psychology along with the sales training industry has decide for us what motivation is and have done so based upon their own biased research. All of us have paid for this confusion, but managers and employees especially so, since management expects emotionally induced seminars to generate sustainable life changes within their employees. These seminars are expensive and generate temporary results. What they have done is confused enthusiasm for motivation. What is enthusiasm?
Enthusiasm is defined as emotionally explosive eagerness; rapturous intensity; intense conviction or worthiness, fervor or zeal. It is a temporary emotion. Temporary in the sense that it can only be sustained for a brief period of time until it is either replaced by another emotion or a sustained feeling. (See the article: “The Difference Between Emotions and Feelings” for more info.) Ponder how long you could really sustain the act of laughing or crying? For how long can you cry? How long can you sustain being excited or thrilled?
That is why you can go to any number of so called “motivational seminars” get really “pumped” only to have that enthusiasm and energy fade away after just a few days. What you truly experience at such seminars is a form of social hysteria, albeit in a positive form but nevertheless very transient.These events should be called “Enthusiasm Seminars.”.
Employee Motivation
Motivation in the work place can become a matter of struggle and turmoil. It begins with the gross profit numbers. When profits are down, the company usually looks for an internal cause. Upper management gets leaned on and squeezes middle management who then pressures lower management who in turn accuse employees of not having enough motivation.The solution is usually a motivational seminar, workshop, or other program to get everyone fired up and back up to peak performance.
Thus, motivation gets treated as if it were a skill one can learn(See the article: “What is Motivation” for a more in depth discussion of true motivation). However, with such training, a downward spiral soon begins that is fraught with confusion, distress, and self sabotage. As aforestated above, “Motivational (Enthusiasm) Seminars” only have temporary effects. You can only sustain your enthusiasm for just so long. Inevitability your enthusiasm wanes. When this occurs you’ll generally ask yourself: “What’s wrong with me?” Doubt, and a lack of confidence follows and the stress builds. Does this sound familiar to you? Understand that there is nothing wrong with you and there is nothing to fix. You are actually behaving within normal expectations. The problem lies with our culture’s inaccurate understanding of motivation. Motivation can’t be a learned skill. It is naturally present. It is the expression of your state of “being”. Natural motivation is the energy that compels you to leave your bed each morning. It is a propelling need to express individual existence to the world.
People who teach motivation as a “learned skill of doing” de3omonstrates a misunderstanding of the basic function of motivation. This is the reason why so many people are confused about motivation and why pop-psychology continues to design inherently flawed testing methods, books, seminars, and workshops which sadly point people down the wrong path. That being said, some will find value in the information but only uniquely motivating to them.
Westernized cultures (Particularly Americans), live in a capitalistic society that cannot afford to define motivation as simply a state of “being”. That is why Motivational Gurus, do not use Mother Teresa as an example of what it means to be motivated even though she is a fine example of natural, authentic motivation. From their perspective, there is simply no profit to be had in using her as an example of what it truly means to be motivated.
The Ultimate Answer to Employee Motivation in the Workplace
The answer to employee motivation in the workplace is natural and always effective. If you like what your work, it is beside the point to seek out motivation because it is already present. If any professional feels the need to attend a “Motivational Seminar,” they should seriously consider another profession. Imagine for a moment that your surgeon is running late to your pre-surgery consultation because he or she has yet to return from a “motivational seminar”. How may you feel? For that matter, what might you do? Would you still take a chance?
Motivation comes naturally to each of us from a deep level within. No one should have to go out and find their motivation. Your motivation is not somewhere out there, it’s intrinsic, It’s within you. Why do carpenters, plumbers, electricians, computer technicians, doctors, and in fact most professionals do not have a hopeless need to go to motivational seminars in order to get fired up to do their job.
The real secret to all this, is to discover the exact style of motivation you already posses. We call this “Your Life Theme“. It is as though you view the world through a unique set of prescription glasses. It is this prescription which dictates how you should live life and what career you should pursue. Discovering it and learning how it guides you is vital in creating meaningful, sustainable change in your personal and business life.
It is through discovering who employees are at their very core that management will be able to generate natural and effective motivation in the workplace. Managers who discover their “Life Theme” as well as that of their employees, are capable of building dynamic, highly productive and profitable teams where everyone has a greater sense of fulfillment and sustained cooperation. Management will also know which projects should be delegated to which individuals in order to attain the highest level of productivity. Each person will be able to maximize their self-expression with each project, completely by-passing the typical, costly debating and negotiating process. Imagine no more ego driven episodes that cause inner office strife and hinder productivity. This is the future of business. Discover Your Life Theme.
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