Sometimes, no matter how
experienced we are or how much we have accomplished, we all can use a
little help to keep going, a bit of motivation if you will.
In the face of the
inevitable obstacles we are going to encounter, here are ideas that have
worked for me, my friends who run businesses and others I have talked
to.
At the end of this piece,
I am going to ask you to tell me what motivational techniques
have worked for you – just enter your comments; if I get enough good ideas
I will do a subsequent blog crediting you, of course–but first the list.
Some of these will
resonate with you.
People Are Relying On You
This is
related to the necessity argument. An extremely high number of successful
people I talked to mentioned all the people who could be potentially out of
work, if they did less than their absolute best and their company suffered.
Feeling responsible for their families’ or employees’ economic future kept them
going.
Personal Pride
It was hard to
get people to admit to this one, but although they rarely talk about it
publically, many business owners are extremely proud of what they had
accomplished and take (usually quiet) satisfaction in keep the enterprise
going no matter what problems arise.
Necessity
A lot of my
friends are incredibly literal. When asked what keeps them going, they
point to the mortgage that has to be paid or an elderly parent’s medical bills
they are responsible for. Says one, “John Wayne got it right. ‘A man’s got
to do what a man’s got to do.’ And that applies to women, too.” (I have to
admit I could relate to this response. At one point, three of my kids were
attending private schools simultaneously. During that period, I took to
saying “I can’t afford sloth.”)
Quotes
Inspirational
quotes were cited by many, but how they used them were as unique as they are. Some
literally had a wall or white board filled with quotes they had discovered
through the years, while others took to putting a particular favorite (such as
“just keep swimming,” from the kids’ movie Finding Nemo, taped to their
monitor or they used a favorite quote as a screensaver.
Create
Momentum
This gets
cited by just about everyone I talked to. Goals like: £500,000 in sales within
the first year can sound awfully daunting from a standing start, i.e. you are
beginning with no revenues. But, if you say, “let’s get £41,666.67 coming
in this month; and £41,666.67 next month,” the numbers don’t seem as big, and
you get a chance to celebrate 12 small wins, as well as the one big one, when you
hit £500,000 in sales.
Keep Score
This one is
for all the hard charging, Type As out there. If you are keeping a running
tally of the jobs completed, clients landed, sales recorded since you first
opened your doors, seeing the numbers increase – and wanting them to increase
further – can be a great motivating force. Just looking at the scoreboard, and
knowing that you need to get the numbers higher, can keep you fired up.
What is the one thing – or
things – that helps keeps your motivated? And as I said, if I get enough good
ideas, I will do another post (crediting you.)
I hope this helps you
to be outstanding.
That is all -
David
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