Friday, August 23, 2013

How to thrive with drive: The secrets of the highly motivated motivators: You need a spark, not a push.

How to thrive with drive: The secrets of the highly motivated motivators:  You need a spark, not a push. 

There is a huge misunderstanding that motivation has to do with the carrot or the stick. Bonuses and threats are not motivators. They are external forces that can at most MOVE you but not really MOTIVATE you. There was a farmer in the Western Cape who once said: ”I have a five point plan for motivating people – and it works like this …” – and he showed his fist and open hand as if he wanted to slap you in the face.  The people moved when he was near – but the problem was – when he was not there his farmworkers didn’t work.  When he sent his son to university, the son failed miserably because dad, the source of fear that forced him to study was many miles away.  The problem is: Fear and bonus can move you, but not permanently motivate you. When the source of fear is gone, or the bonus gained, then the ‘motivation’ is gone.


Leaders and parents must realize: Motivation is not about pushing or pulling a wheelbarrow – it is about turning wheelbarrows into self-driven vehicles.


A former CEO of Sasol in Secunda, mr Bram de Klerk told me once: “I don’t want my people in my plant to be cogs in a well- oiled machine. I want them all to be little engines – engines the can drive themselves and the company to new heights.” He knew the secret of lasting motivation namely that his people and his company will thrive with drive – the internal drive of igniting their internal combustion engines. It was a great insight from the man who once manufactured most of the petrol used by motor vehicles in South Africa. (Through the Sasol Coal-to-Liquid [CTL] process in Secunda).

He also knew that the task of a leader, a CEO or even a motivational speaker, is not to push or pull people, to threaten (rule by fear) or only to incentivise people, but rather to serve as an engine starter and a spark plug. Leaders and motivational speakers must ignite the inner engine:  your passion, purpose and your spirit. It is not about kicking butt. Bob Wilson said: "You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within." 

Let’s recap: External temporary motivation such as:
(i)            Fear:  I want to avoid …(e.g. poverty, etc.)…
(ii)          Bonus: I want to achieve/get/have  .....(e.g. a nice house/car, etc.)....
can move you.
Bonus and fear motivation combined with a bit of passion (the inner drive of emotion) may turn you into a go-getter and even take you to some heights  - even the peak of success or the top of the Maslow triangle of self-actualization (overcoming the fear of hunger, insecurity, loneliness, anonymity and the fear of not using all your potential). But that is as far as it can take you.

Inspiration motivation, on the other hand, will take you beyond the summit of success, to significance. It will turn you from a go-getter into a go-giver: 
                           

To ignite your inner engine of passion, purpose and spirit you need to activate your permanent internal (even eternal) motivation: Leaders and inspirational speakers must facilitate processes to ignite the following: :
(i)            The Motive (the WHY?) of your existence:  Why do you get up in the morning? What do you live for? What will you sacrifice for? What are the important relations you are living for? What will you give your time and your life for willingly?
(ii)          The Purpose: Why on earth am I on earth? You find your purpose in your design. You have talents that must be connected to a specific need in the world. There-in lies you purpose.  You are demotivated when you live against your grain, but you are in ‘flow’ and motivation comes easy when you are doing what you are designed (even destined) to do.
(iii)         Dan Pink said the profit motive must never be divorced from the purpose motive. But he added two more things to purpose: Autonomy & Mastery: What is it that thing, if I have autonomy, I would like to master? E.g.: playing the guitar. Doing my own thing which I instinctively feel is true to myself! Dan Pink even pointed out that bonus motivation demotivates people if used for complex tasks!
(iv)         E-motion: Can I manage my emotions well and get the inner energy of emotions to work for me? Emotion is energy that, if managed correctly can drive you to great heights. It doesn’t matter if it is intense emotions of joy or sadness – the energy can be harvested and channelled to achieve/create great things. One person said: To be a great poet, you must be miserable or in love.  The ability needed to harvest any emotion for your own gain, is the ability to focus on the opportunity in all situations and not on the threat.  
(v)          En-thusiasm & In-spiration:  All of us admire and enjoy inspired and enthusiastic people. How is it possible that they are always motivated? Did you know that the word ‘inspiration” comes from the two Latin words: “in” + “spiritus” = ‘the spirit inside’. And did you know that the word ‘enthusiasm’ comes from the two Greek words:  ‘ev” + “theos” . [ev = in and theos = god.] Enthusiasm has to do with “God inside”. Enthusiastic and inspired people discovered the secret of being connected to the source!  Do you expect an electric light to shine that is not plugged in? Now why do you expect your people to shine without being connected to the source – the source of life?  I like to give recognition to the fact that I got life as a gift – a gift from God – the creator and source of life.  I can do my work as a motivational and inspirational speaker because I am connected to the source – the source of life and love. My belief, my chosen truth, is that God is love.  Because I am inspired by his Spirit I don’t have to do it out of my own energy. Therefore I am always motivated – yes, sometimes physically tired, but always motivated.   It is to be a channel, a pipeline, a fountain of energy. I am not the source of energy – merely the channel – but because of that you can never be depleted. .  
It is almost like St Francis of Assisi of old who said“ .. make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; …; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand, to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, …”.    
When speakers/leaders/helpers/psychologists think they are the source –   that is when and why they burn out – because they try to do it in their own strength – and they are depleted before they even realize.


The need for “Motive cleansing”:  But there is one more thing. The world is not just a great place full of good things. No, there are also many negative forces at work, stemming from the worst inner drives you can imagine.  That is why all of us must also do “Motive cleansing”:
The strongest motivation comes from inner drive. But be careful:  There are two kinds of inner drive: The positive drive of love, and the negative or neorotic drive of hatred and deficiency.  Hatred for the enemy can drive a suicide bomber to give his life and take as many people with him – in the hope of gaining some sort of bonus at the expense of others. Love, on the other hand, can drive you to give your life to save others.

The neorotic drive to compensate for a deficiency can consume people, get them to work themselves to death, and turn them into obsessive compulsive seekers. They have an emptiness inside that can never be filled:  that re-actively want to fill a gap, instead of pro-actively living from the core of their being and talents. They are the VDP’s: The Very Draining People. Time for them to do 'motive cleansing' otherwise they will always be stuck in losers motivation. 

Losers motivation is about hatred and gaining at the expense of others. It is a neorotic drive to gain fame and possessions and throw it in the bottomless pit of deficiency. The only conclusion there is Mick Jagger’s: “I can’t get no satisfaction”!  

Winners motivation is fountain motivation. It is about giving love (loving your neighbour and the enemy) because you are connected to the source of love. It is the only motivation that can take you beyond yourself and your own needs, beyond the summit of success, to significance. They are the VIP’s. Not the very Important people but the Very Inspirational People. They are the true motivators that help you to ignite this spirit in you.

Bad motivational speakers create a surge of emotion for people to clap hands and cheer. I call them them the cheerleaders, the feel-good speakers.
Great motivational speakers on the other hand ignite the fire. Adlai Stevenson related once that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, 'How well he spoke,' but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said, 'Let us march.' "


The elusive secret of lasting life-long motivation is after all not that big a secret. It is just to ignite the inner engine:  your passion, purpose and your spirit. It is to thrive with drive. 



Dr Gustav Gous  is an International Motivational Speaker and 
Executive Life Coach with experience on 5 continents. In the past he 
was the in-house counselor for the petro-chemical company Sasol 
for 9 years. He facilitated in numerous Trauma counselling sessions
after industrial accidents. He is known for his Transformational leadership 
programmes on Robben Island, titled the “Short Walk to Freedom”. 
He is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and past President 
of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa and a 
member of the APSS (Asia Professional Speakers Singapore).  
Currently he is heading up the Diversity Intelligence Institute, 
specializing in rolling out Diversity Intelligence interventions for 
international companies.   www.gustavgous.co.za , www.diviin.com ,
www.diversityconference.co.za    gustav@gustavgous.co.za    drgous@iafrica.com
Follow him on Twitter: @GustavGous  or on Facebook and LinkedIn .






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