What Motivates You

You are sitting there and they ask that question. The one you wish you had given some thought to in your everyday life. The one we seem to take for granted, "what motivates you?" I'll be honest in saying I tend to take my own motivation for granted.

You may wonder why it matters, what reason is it that I should now. It matters because it tells others a lot about you. It also drives your success and failure in accomplishing most anything. In a job interview, the hiring manager can ask this question to gauge how well you may perform in a given situation. An article by Carole Martin on the Monster.com site provides an example of two different answers. Ms. Martin says, "writing out your thoughts will help you think about times when you felt energized by your work, times when you looked forward to going to work."

The question can be asked about several things in your life such as;

- What motivates you to exercise?
- What motivates you to volunteer time?
- What motivates you to attend church?
- What motivates you to raise your family?
- What motivates you to write a blog?

When you write down your visions and goals in life, you should ask yourself this question about motivation. But how do you find out what motivates your life? You can try the suggestions in an article by Rich Douglas. An important statement he makes is, "whether its at work or in your business, motivation skills are essential to reaching your optimum performance and gaining that winning edge."

Here are some of the motivitating factors from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.

· Power, people seeking authority in the workplace gain satisfaction from managing projects, influencing others, and maintaining control over difficult situations.

· Safety and Security, people who seek stability at work are motivated by a steady paycheck, good health-care coverage, and a safe work environment.

· Achievement, if you're roused by project and team successes, you most likely need to stay challenged to remain happy in your job.

· Autonomy, people seeking autonomy long for independence - freedom to set their own schedules, work pace, and work-related destiny. Yet, these desires don't necessarily make for a poor team player.

· Esteem, most likely, you are motivated by others singing your praises.

· Equity, you just want everyone to be treated in a fair and consistent manner.

· Affiliation, you are most likely energized by working closely with others.

And not every thing above will be your motivating factor in everything that you do. But many of us will find that we tend to fall under a few of these. When you find what motivates you in a particular area of your life, embrace it and see how much more successful you will be in that part of your life. "Everyone is motivated a little or a lot to do something or nothing. Motivation is the internalized drive toward the dominant thought of the moment. By definition, motivation is 'motive in action'." - Denis Waitley

Find what motivates you and harness the power of understanding that motivation. Strive to feed that motivation daily.

Being One Of Trust

Socrates said, "the first key to greatness is to be in reality what we appear to be." Is that not something that each of wants in other people? That they be as they really are. As part of human nature, we want to believe in others around us. But to do so, you must trust in what is revealed to you. All of us start out at a distance, with skepticism for what another person may be saying.

Think of your first date, of that first business meeting or even people you meet in everyday life. The tendency is to remain guarded to information given. It causes us to evaluate the words, the actions and the nuances of your meeting. Not until you have satisfied your own mind will you give your trust to another.

There are those that give trust easily and without condition. There are those that are difficult to gain trust from. There are different tones and variations of trust when it comes to people. The reasons vary from one end of the spectrum to the other. It isn't until we are able to know that person will we ever know why. So, “the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" is how Ernest Hemingway put it.

Now look at yourself, look at your own ability to open up to others. Are you difficult to know as a person, do you allow yourself to be known? In the simplest way I know how to say it, we will all get 'burned' once in a while. But you shouldn't spend life closed to everything that is out there. All of this is done with the intelligience and education that life has to offer. We do not do this blindly but with the knowledge gained by various means. There will be the good, the not so good and all that happens in life.

If you learn how to open up, life will open up to you. To close yourself to others would appear to me that you've chosen to simply wait out life. Waiting for life to end and 'please just let me get get through it without experiencing it.' I've known people who have chosen not to engage. Life slides by them like the odd flower along the road. A flower that will never have its sweet smell enjoyed by others. Never to multiply as it sits alone. Only the occassional bee to extract a bit of the flowers essence because all of us do leave an impression in life.

Open yourself to the possibilities in life by being who you really are. Just be a part of life on a continual basis and live life like a great flower among many in the rose bed.

Prepare Yourself For Opportunity

"Moments in time can have a huge lifetime effect upon you and the world around you. Prepare yourself for that moment" - Dean Sweetman

Our lives are full of these 'moments in time' in which the paths of different lives will cross. Some where in time another person has been set in motion to eventually intersect with your life. These crossings occur at different times in your life and you'll never fully know when they might occur. So you need to prepare yourself for these moments.

An old saying is that opportunity is about being in the right place at the right time. Yet you must prepare yourself to be ready for that right place and right time. It is the only way you can take advantage of that opportunity, of that crossing, when it occurs.

There are four things to do in preparation for these opportunities in life. My friend Dean has spoken of these and he states;

1. Serve where you plant yourself. Where you are in life, learn to serve others and those around you. I've spoken of this before and will again. In this you will find that your needs will be met and a serving attitude with a positive attitude will bring about good changes for you.

2. Start now. My last article brings up this point. Too many times we find excuses for not starting out. In fact we tend to spend more time and energy looking for excuses then it takes to simply begin the task.

3. While serving, develop skills. As you go about your life, do not remain stagnant in your abilities. Learn more about what it is you do, learn new skills, perfect that which you do. As we all understand, there are many others out there reading more, learning more, waiting for their chance to do your job. Developing your skills will help you to better serve.

4. When opportunity comes, take it. When an opportunity comes your way, do you ponder and question if it is the right thing to do? Opportunity is what you ask for in your daily life. It is what you have dreamed of, maybe prayed for. If so, then TAKE IT!!

Winston Churchill said, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity". You need to prepare for when opportunity comes along. If not, it will pass you by and present itself to others.

The above picture can be obtained from most any motivational posters company online. It has a saying attached to it that says, "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door". The quote comes from Milton Berle. Create opportunity by preparing yourself and opportunity will find you.

Tips To Problem Solving

What follows is information I gleaned from a book written by Phil Pringle. I thought I would share it with you this day. The items are basic guidelines in problem solving.

• Gather all of the information that you can.
• Gather all of the people involved and discuss.
• Communicate with everyone involved. The greater the problem, the greater the need for communication. Things are better solved in the light.
• Create faith that the problem can be solved. Fostering a 'can-do' attitude helps.
• Keep a cool head and disciplined tongue. Do not let emotions rule the day. Remember to have a "warm heart and a cool head." Do not get these two things turned around. Anger solves nothing.
• Listen and hear all sides of a problem before reaching any conclusions. Do not be in a rush to solve anything. Hasty decisions are generally bad ones.
• Stay humble, arrogance creates more problems.
• Gain counsel and advice from experts.

Taking heed to this advice will help you in life. You will find yourself changing in a positive way. "Transform the atmosphere of your environment" - Dean Sweetman