Motivation From Within

Motivation from Within
By Denis Waitley

Motivation is a contraction of motive and action. An inner
force that compels behavior, it comes from within, not from
any external circumstance.

You know where you’re going because you have a compelling
image inside, not a travel poster on the wall, a financial
statement with a big bonus, or a slogan in the hall.

The performance of many externally motivated individuals
begins declining as soon as they win contests of one sort or
another. I've personally witnessed this among Super Bowl
champions and World Cup teams that lost the incentive to
maintain their excellence after winning the cup, the honors,
and the cash.

If you’re really committed to peak performance and
leadership, you must motivate yourself from within. Studies
of achievers show that inner drives for excellence and
independence are far more powerful than desire for wealth,
status or recognition.

The Inner Drive
Behavioral scientists have found that independent desire for
excellence is the most telling predictor of significant
achievement.

In other words, the success of our efforts depends less on
the efforts themselves than on our motives. The most
successful companies, like the most successful men and women
in almost all fields, have achieved their greatness out of a
desire to express what they felt had to be expressed.

Often it was a desire to use their skills to their utmost in
order to solve a problem. This is not to say that many of
them did not also earn a great deal of money and prestige.
Rich DeVos,William Shakespeare, Thomas Edison, Estee Lauder, Walt
Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton and Bill Gates all became
wealthy.

But far more than thoughts of profit, the key to their
success was inspiration and inner drive by creating or
providing excellence in a product or a service. All were
motivated by the desire to produce the very best that was in
them.

Go for the Inner Applause
The late Ray Kroc, a former neighbor of mine who founded
McDonald's Corporation when he was in his 50s, stressed the
importance of people working for the inner satisfaction, not
just for the money. Ray said most people find it difficult
to associate applause with their work when they can't hear
literal applause -- but the important applause should come
from within. It is the faster heartbeat, the pride and
satisfaction of accomplishment.

Kroc told the University of Southern California's Business
School that the first thing a business executive needs is
love of an idea.

If you don't love your concept, drop it. If you prostitute
yourself at an early age by taking a job where the money is,
you'll be working for money all your life. Loving their work
is particularly important for younger people. If they lose
that love early, they may never grow to anywhere near their
potential for self-actualization.

Hire People Who Have Empowered Themselves

An inner drive for excellence motivates you always to be the
best you possibly can in whatever you do. Leaders and
managers should take special note here. They must be careful
in their use of external motivators -- money, perks,
prestigious offices and titles -- in trying to inspire their
team members and employees. Enduring motivation must always
come ultimately from within the individual.

That's why empowerment and vision are so crucial to team
performance and quality. Their power and their vision, not
those of the leader, must compel team members.

Interviewing potential members, you should look for
internally motivated individuals who hold their work
important for its own sake, who love their field or their
industry, who seek the exhilaration of testing their limits
and contributing to the world. Be wary if they show more
interest in your compensation package than in their
contribution package.

Commit to achieving peak performance and leadership, by
motivating yourself from within!
Your Coach,
Bill