Is Your Mindset Right For Self-Motivation?

By: Chris Pace

What is Motivation?

In the simplest sense it is what pushes or drives us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve our overall quality of life. Motivation can be internal or external and how we process it is determined by our mindset. Mindset is a major determining factor in how we react to different forms of motivation including self-motivation.  

Self-motivation is potentially the biggest factor affecting our everyday experience, both personal and professional in today’s hyper-speed world. There are an unlimited number of ways to spend our time and an even more infinite number of decisions to make about how we can be productive. And – no pressure – but the series of decisions we make each day can either advance us closer to the next stage our desired journey or relegate us to more limited opportunities. Truthfully, your life and business are seemingly just a unique entry in the old Choose Your Own Adventure stories most of us read as kids. With every precious step, an equally balanced consequence.

So where do we begin to even take hold of this beast of burden?

To put us in the right frame of mind let’s start by watching this Ted Talk video by Scott Geller from 2013 at the Virginia Tech TED Event: Beyond Boundaries:

Geller has a lot of good things to say about building a foundation for self-motivation, which ultimately helps us make wiser, more strategic, and more fruitful decisions. Let’s examine the message deeper and specifically his three Qualifying Questions.

Can you do it?

If you can answer yes to this question, you can now decide where on your priority list to put it (whatever it may be). This could be an employee training plan, a personal savings plan, or maybe just learning a new language so you know enough French to get by on your next trip to Paris Remember, we’re all busy these days, but the things we make the priority usually get the development.

Will it work?

Again, if you can answer yes to this question, then you can now decide to dedicate training and education to the pursuit and start to modify a behavior towards the desired outcome. This is the efficacy test. If there’s gold to be mined, this is the step that advances the process.

Is it worth it?

This is the key to unlocking the whole process because this is where self-motivation takes root. If the answer is YES, then it’s time to pitch the consequences against the desired outcome and start building a framework of competency.

Competency matters

Once we have decided that the juice is worth the squeeze, it’s now time to construct a path towards competency. This often involves developing a series of feedback and recognition benchmarks to constantly reassess the path, course-correct any missteps, and apply pressure to the things that are working. As seen in the video, this is the point in the ‘drum lesson’ where we establish a few base skills but need to stretch into the drum-roll or accept that there are certain limitations on our path. This is when innovation becomes a factor. When we have a basic competency established, we can now tinker with the process in order to guide it toward the goal.

The big decision

Once our competency starts to grow, new choices become much more available, but also more distracting. If we’re to challenge the status quo of ourselves and our business, this is the point where we take control of our consequences and decide which path to take: Will we choose the path of failure-avoidance or success seeking? If you choose the former, you’re likely the type of person who starts something, but when the going gets tough, you retreat towards comfort. Not always a detriment, this is the place where easy wins come easy and big wins never really appear. This structure often comes into play when external factors deal us enough good fortune that we forget to press ourselves forward because “life is good”, so why push so hard!? The problem, however, is what will you do when the tides change and you’re out of practice?

If you chose the latter, you’re likely the person who is always trying new ideas – some good, some bad. While there is much victory to be had on this path, it’s also a perilous path as failure is imminent, but not final. As the great Teddy Roosevelt said, “The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. Do not be afraid to make mistakes providing you do not make the same one twice.” The wisdom there is clear… fail forward!  Success-seeking is simply that; failing forward enough to learn from mistakes, improvise a new path forward, and never, ever stop.

This brings us to the toughest part of self-motivation and often the sticking point that drives even the best of success seekers back to the safety of their comfort zone. And that is… sustaining the effort through the toughest challenges to allow a breakthrough to occur. Here’s the secret to this whole process; you’re not alone!

Community is key

This is the moment in the journey when we get to step back from our independence and engage in inter-dependence. Whether it’s a personal goal where you gather the support of friends and family or a business pursuit engaging your cohorts and colleagues, no achievement is better recognized than one in the company of the community and company you keep. Teamwork really does make the dream work! Undoubtedly, every one of us have and will engage in some pursuit that brings us to a crossroads of distress and complexity. If we try to forge ahead alone, we often exhaust ourselves or worse… we simply give up. As stated in the video, even the heartiest of veterans can learn something new; often from an unexpected source! So be open to listening, learning, and sharing your experiences. You never know who might be fighting hard on the same path, just at a different mile marker.

Make no mistake, self-motivation is one of the most difficult things to master. At the heart of the issue, it’s a science of choice. But in practice, it’s an artful navigation of incessant obstacles and that’s a tough road to travel day after day. Ask any successful person to describe what brought about their particular success and you’ll not likely hear a pleasant journey of streamlined tasks getting accomplished, but instead a cacophony of botched ideas and blunders that only fortitude, focus, and friends could help one persevere through.

So, as you take aim at your next big objective, remember to consider the efficacy of the decision, structure the competency, take control of the consequences, and most importantly… take a few friends with you!

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