Sometimes we all have difficulty keeping our eyes on the prize. We must constantly remind ourselves of what we are working towards and what we have done lately to achieve it. It sounds simple, and yet I know people that spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars for motivational seminars and inspirational books in order to grind into their heads that they must work toward a goal in order to achieve it.
Right now, my primary goal is to gain acceptance into an online MBA program that will begin in the Fall of 2007. Secondary goals include the constant battle to drop weight, improving my financial situation, maintaining a pleasant working environment and continuing to cultivate good relationships with my family members. I am meeting these goals with success rates varying from poor to very good (still having trouble with the weight 
.
I once had the utmost pleasure of sitting through a seminar with a Tony Robbins coach (otherwise known as a salesman trying to get you to pay top dollar to attend an actual Tony Robbins seminar). The salesman spent half the 90 minutes or so trying to convince us that we were losers failing to accomplish any of our major goals in life. This was done by having us write out our goals and the reasons we haven’t achieved them. Then he singled each of us out and tried to get us to admit that the reason that we aren’t accomplishing our goals is that we aren’t really working on them. He convinced us that all of our reasons for not being successful hinged on very pitiful excuses. Oh, and he also tried to tell us that aside from not doing anything productive with our lives, we also weren’t very happy people in general. He dwelled on this subject until all the confidence and sense of self worth was sucked out of everyone in the room.
The next 45 minutes was occupied with odd exercises. When I say exercises, I mean he actually had us jumping up and down, clapping, chanting, etc. After our team calisthenics, he then attempted to convince us that we felt much better and ready to start tackling those elusive goals. But before letting us take our newfound energy to the tasks at hand, he warned us that our new attitudes would not last long because we would soon go back to our old frame of mind. In order to achieve this happy joy joy state permanently, we must spend $500 for the Tony Robbins seminar. (Although preferably you should spend $800 and get the executive package)
Now, most people that know me understand that I look on any kind of motivational one liner garbage talk with the amusement of a hard core skeptic. I don’t care how expensive that Tony Robbins seminar is, unless it involves the surreptitious use of mood altering chemicals, it’s not going to do much good for most people. In fact, from the people that I’ve seen who have benefited from such a seminar, the only people it affects (beneficially, anyway) are those looking for a magic fixit in their lives. These are the kind of people who just aren’t quite ready to turn to a mythological figure (i.e. Jesus, Zeus, the Goddess, etc.) to receive their motivation.
So what about the workplace? If bosses can’t pay a guy like Tony to motivate their workforce, what’s a poor manager to do? Well, if the article I read recently in Business Week is at all accurate, successful managers are moving away from the bullying tactics of old. Good supervisors, CEO’s, vice presidents and business people in general are working more on building strong, efficient teams. These teams consist of everyday people that have strengths and weaknesses, but these people are capable of supporting each other through exploiting individual strengths and downplaying weaknesses through teamwork. Take for instance a team consisting of 4 people, one strong in the technical side of business, one with a great intuition for innovative solutions, another with an incredible attention to detail and a fourth member who is a good people person. These personalities are going to be very different from each other, and may clash on occasion. But if the team is led properly, they will become effective in a way that a team led by a highly controlling manager could never equal.
What does this have to do with motivation? Because as a team, the motivation should come from within ourselves and each other. For example, if we are led by a control freak, we feel like our talents are being ignored and our attitude changes accordingly. But if we are led by someone who understands team building, then we don’t need one liner inspirational bumper stickers in order to feel good about our work.
Now all that’s left is to teach all the control freak wannabe bosses out there how to build a team (learning how to do it takes an open mind, experience in working with all kinds of personalities and a decent helping of natural talent). Good luck!
For an amusing slant on inspirational posters visit www.despair.com.