Is Motivation Truly Motivation

We are all born into this world with motivation. It’s embedded within us. In fact, all of us have our own unique style of motivation and are driven by it each day. However, pop-psychology along with the sales training industry has decide for us what motivation is and have done so based upon their own biased research. All of us have paid for this confusion, but managers and employees especially so, since management expects emotionally induced seminars to generate sustainable life changes within their employees. Most of the time, these seminars come at a high cost with only temporary results. What they have done is confused enthusiasm for motivation. So what is enthusiasm?

Enthusiasm is defined as emotionally explosive eagerness; rapturous intensity; intense conviction or worthiness, fervor or zeal. It is a temporary emotion. Temporary in the sense that it can only be sustained for a brief period of time until it is either replaced by another emotion or a sustained feeling. (See the article: “The Difference Between Emotions and Feelings” for more info.) Ponder how long you could really sustain the act of laughing or crying? How long can you cry? How long can one remain in a excited or thrilled state?

That is why you can go to any number of so called “motivational seminars” get really “pumped” only to have that enthusiasm and energy fade away after just a few days. What you are really experiencing at such seminars is a form of social hysteria, albeit in a positive form but nevertheless very transient.”Enthusiasm Seminars” would be the correct name for these types of events.

Employee Motivation

One of the main areas where motivation becomes a subject of contention and confusion is the workplace. It often begins the gross profit numbers. Companies usually look internally for the cause of the decrease in profits. Upper management is told to shape up and puts pressure on middle management to make changes who then leans on lower management to shape up who in turn beats up the employees to find some “Motivation!”.The solution is usually a motivational seminar, workshop, or other program to get everyone fired up and back up to peak performance.

And because of that, motivation is managed as if it were a learned skill of “doing”(See the article: “What is Motivation” for a more in depth discussion of true motivation). With such training however a process of failure begins, littered with stress, confusion and self-sabotage. As aforestated above, “Motivational (Enthusiasm) Seminars” only have temporary effects. You can only sustain your enthusiasm for just so long. Inevitability your enthusiasm wanes. When this happens you’ll typically ask yourself: “What’s wrong with me?Doubt, and lack of confidence continues and the stress builds. Does this sound familiar to you? Understand that there is nothing wrong with you and there is nothing to fix. Your behavior would been seen as standard within the community. The problem lies with our culture’s inaccurate understanding of motivation. Motivation is not a learned skill. It is naturally present. It is the expression of your state of “being”. Natural motivation is what compels you to get out of bed each morning. It is a propelling need to express individual existence to the world.

Anyone who teaches motivation as a “learned skill of doing,” exhibits their lack of knowledge on the basic functions of motivation. This is the reason why so many people are confused about motivation and why pop-psychology continues to design inherently flawed testing methods, books, seminars, and workshops which sadly point people down the wrong path. That being said, some will find value in the information but only uniquely motivating to them.

Westernized cultures (Particularly Americans), live in a capitalistic society that cannot afford to define motivation as simply a state of “being”. That’s the reason why Motivational Gurus seldom use Mother Teresa, a fine example of natural, authentic motivation, to exemplify what it means to be motivated. From their viewpoint, there is no profit in using her as an example motivation.

The Solution to Employee Motivation in the Workplace

The resolution to employee motivation in the workplace is genuine and always effective. There is no need to seek out motivation because it is already present if you enjoy what you do for work. If any professional feels the need to attend a “Motivational Seminar,” they should seriously consider another profession. Think about this scenario: You’re patiently waiting for your doctor to arrive to your pre-surgery meeting when you discover the he or she is running late is due to the fact that they were attending a motivational seminar. How might you feel? What might you choose to do? Would you still go through with the surgery with this person at the helm?

Motivation comes naturally to each of us from a deep level within. No one needs to “Go Out” and discover their motivation. Your motivation is not somewhere out there, it’s intrinsic, It’s within you. Why do you think plumbers, doctors, computer technicians, and in fact most professionals do not have a desperate need to attend motivational seminars in order to get fired up t o do their job.

The real secret to all this, is to discover the exact style of motivation you already posses. We call this “Your Life Theme“. It is as if, you were given a unique set of prescription glasses through which you see a reality all your own. It is this prescription which dictates how you should live life and what career you should pursue. Discovering it and learning how it guides you is vital in creating meaningful, sustainable change in your personal and business life.

It is through discovering who employees are at their very core that management will be able to generate natural and effective motivation in the workplace. Managers who discover their “Life Theme” as well as that of their employees, are capable of building dynamic, highly productive and profitable teams where everyone has a greater sense of fulfillment and sustained cooperation. Management will also know which projects should be delegated to which individuals in order to attain the highest level of productivity. Each person will be able to maximize their self-expression with each project, completely by-passing the typical, costly debating and negotiating process. Imagine no more ego driven episodes that cause inner office strife and hinder productivity. This is the future of business. Discover Your Life Theme.