I don’t think people can be motivated. However, the possibility of motivation is one of the biggest misconceptions among managers. External motivation is not in line with the nature of the human being, it will always lead to greater conflict with oneself, falling commitment, labour shortages in the market, because this model no longer works, where the manager is the motivator. People are more likely to work alone than in a team, where they are constantly “motivated”.
In very few cases, you can motivate someone from the outside to look for answers from within, but answers can never be provided by someone else, except, of course, in a simple coaching situation. But this self-motivation to seek answers also comes when the non-change is painful enough.
Motivation helps us get going, but discipline and habits get things done. The latter require regularity, routine, processes, consistent commitment.
Motivation is the answer to your inner question WHY. If there’s no answer, no one else can motivate you. Because in this case, it’s why these people do it, and it even scares you away from joint cooperation. Every once in a while, you have to ask yourself again why I am doing something, because your needs and desires change many times throughout your life.
If you do something in a very systematic and disciplined way, but you don’t have a truly heartfelt WHY behind it, you lose the energy and joy of life. However, making money is not the WHAT that will last. As time goes on, life seems more and more routine and meaningless. Everything seems to be okay, but there is something that is nagging. External motivation is not permanent, because you can always find someone who has something better (salary, car, body, home, travel, etc.). Intrinsic motivation is self-confidence. Self-confidence, however, requires self-acceptance, which in turn requires noticing and getting to know oneself, also that my WHAT-ness may have changed over time. However, self-isolation is epidemic.
It’s important not to compare yourself to others, but only to the best version of yourself. Comparing yourself to others will get you nowhere in life but mediocre. When you compare yourself to the best version of yourself, you become the best. And you can’t, you are. You are always the best in the moment you are in. It is not about accepting the status quo, but also about taking care of yourself in terms of noticing what is and constantly improving yourself against what is your inner ideal and your potential.
I’ve been told a lot that I should be more spontaneous and not so systematic and planned. Not to control life too much, because life cannot be controlled. I agree with that, but I don’t think I ever have to adapt to what others say. If spontaneity and flexibility is a value in their lives, leaving a footprint is a value for me. My footprint is not my children, my footprint is the legacy I leave behind for the world, so that I can inspire people to look within themselves, to launch their true self and not suppress it. It motivates me. I’m motivated by helping others to fulfil themselves when they ask for it. But to do this, you need to be systematic and disciplined.
Without systematicity, you will not achieve results even if you are motivated and know the answer to the WHY of your current life. I may be very motivated to write a book, but until I get my hands on it, you won’t get that book in the fall. The idea of a book had been in my head for years, until at one point I realised that I would not use my strength of system for a book.
I set myself a time to write a book every morning between 6:00-8:00 and only then did things start to move. But at some point the discipline breaks down because there is simply no motivation, the ideas run out, or everyone seems to know it all anyway. Self-sabotage begins. Then you need to revisit the reason why you’re doing something, maybe find a new motivation.
Discipline can be maintained by recognising your productive time. People are divided into evening people and morning people. But, as with any “division”, there are more exceptions than there are rule-followers. 20% are morning people, 20% are evening people and the remaining 60% are somewhere in between.
The rest, however, is largely the basis of our social disciplines and routines. The working day starts between 8-9 and ends around 17. But we are not all productive all the time. Maybe it’s about finding your own time, where you’re most productive, and then getting on with what matters most to you and requires the most focus.
In my example, the most productive time is between 6-11am +/- 1h. Which means that the most important thing for me is to get it done at this time. Beyond that, my productivity is either mediocre or I may be involved in superficial tasks. Evenings are not for me at all. Generally, from around 13:00 I feel that the day is over and that I can’t do anything useful today. For such people, time management systems have a done-by-one approach, meaning that by 13:00 you could have something more valuable done for you.
It is very important for people to recognise when inspiration and motivation flows through them and to adjust their life rhythms accordingly. Motivation is an internal trigger that has to come from within you. But it’s discipline that helps bring things through in your life. This is where other people can be a support. But the prerequisite is a very clear answer to the WHY in the current stage of life and the unaffected courage to ask yourself this again and again.
