LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down." *Abraham Lincoln

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

We're continuing to explore MOTIVATION this month by looking at some quotes and simply drawing some personal application.

*This quote is most often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but it's also been connected to Benjamin Franklin.

When I read this quote, I thought about motivation and realized that often I'm motivated to do things because of other peoples expectations for my life and work.

This isn't bad, and that idea of "not letting others down" is really important, but it can also lead you to do things you don't really want to or don't need to do.

My dad joined our Boy Scout Troupe back when I was 11 years old to climb Mt. Whitney in California. I don't think I had any idea what I was getting into. I thought me and a bunch of my friends were going camping, and that sounded like fun. My dad knew what climbing a 14,505 foot mountain was about because he had climbed it before. This peak is the highest point in the lower 48 states. He joined the trip to help me make it to the top.

Yes it was bad. Switchback trails straight up the front of the mountain for hours, and I've told this story before, my dad just kept telling me to take 10 more steps, then take a break. We inched our way up the mountain and eventually made it.

The motivation for me? Not letting my dad down, and reaching the summit. That motivation kept me moving and led to a moment at the top of celebration, which then turned into a rapid descent to get back to life at a reasonable altitude.

I would have never made it up that mountain had I not been carrying the expectation and the hope from my dad that I could actually do it.

That's motivation. The positive kind.

There's also another kind, the kind that comes with guilt.

I've said "YES" to so many things over the years because I didn't want to let people down, or because I thought that I was supposed to do something. Sometimes this has forced me to let down the people I care about the most in my attempt to make others happy or to meet their often unrealistic expectations.

Think about your story.

How has the idea of "letting people down" motivated you to do certain things been a positive thing or a negative thing?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." Zig Ziglar

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month I want to explore MOTIVATION a little deeper by looking at some quotes and simply drawing some personal application.

I love this description I found of the 2 kinds of motivation:

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION is simply doing something because it's inherently satisfying or interesting. It's something I really want to do.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION is simply doing something to earn a reward or to avoid punishment. It's something that I earn or avoid for the action.

The word MOTIVATION comes from the Latin movere, meaning "to move", which is really the core idea: Motivation is what moves you to act.

I remember at a young age, maybe 7 or 8 years of age, I saw an ad in a magazine I was looking at (Highlights Magazine) and it was an ad for selling seeds (flower & vegetable) door to door. The ad simply said that if I sold enough seeds, I would qualify for a prize, and they had some pictures of kids playing with some toys like a big squirt gun, a basketball, and some spring/bouncy shoes. (Yes, you heard that right: spring shoes)

I got permission from my parents to order the seed packets, and when they arrived I was so excited to sell them. Of course, this was in the early 70's, so multilevel marketing was just being perfected by the Tupperware Company, so I had to rely on my family, my neighbors, and anyone else I could convince to buy these seed packets. I hit the road (well, the 3 streets around my house).

The goal, sell enough seeds to qualify for the spring shoe prize, and I was motivated to accomplish that. I sold, I marketed, I rang doorbells, and I'm sure my mom purchased more seeds than she could ever use from her young entrepreneur son, and I hit the target! It's a little fuzzy as to how long it took, but I did it.

The day arrived, and the spring shoes were delivered and I put them on and bounced down my street only to realize that they weren't near as cool as I thought they'd be (according to my friends on the street) and they actually didn't work real well, so a few bouncy trips around the neighborhood and my seed selling business was closed.

I saw. I conquered. I bounced. The end.

Isn't it funny when you reflect back on things that have motivated you at some point in your life? Looking back it's easy to ask why that motivation worked, but when you're in the middle of it, it's all you can think about.

I'm sure I dreamed about spring shoes for weeks, hoping that it would become an olympic sport that I could compete in!

Zig Ziglar's quote above is very basic, very true, and somewhat profound, but it doesn't answer the question of MOTIVATION. What would drive us to start something? What is our WHY?

Think back on your childhood. Can you remember a "motivation story" like mine? I'd love to hear it.

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"No matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we're not solving the right problem, the project fails." Woody Williams

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

The is the last thought on the topic of PROJECT MANAGEMENT. It was interesting to explore this a little bit and hopefully something bubbled up for you around this theme over the past month. You can read the past quotes and posts from this month HERE.

In August, we're going to look at the idea of MOTIVATION. Motivation can be described as the WHY behind any action, and it often separates having a goal from actually pursuing one. More on that next week.

Have you ever put a bunch of time and energy into something to then realize that the thing you were working on wasn't the "right thing"?

Have you ever finished a project to have that sense of satisfaction fade away quickly because you realized that what you accomplished wasn't the most important thing?

I'm in the middle of a situation where I find myself questioning if I'm focused on the right thing or not. I'm not going to share the details with you, but I want to share a little bit of my process as I work to figure this out in real time.

Sometimes I come up with a "great idea" (at least in my mind it's a great idea) and I then work to implement it and put it into action. Usually I can determine fairly quickly if the idea was an "inspired idea" or if it is just a "random fleeting idea" or not, but sometimes it takes some work and energy to figure this out.

Right now, I'm deep into a project that I'm trying to determine the answer to, and it's a place I don't like to be for long because I feel STUCK: not sure if I should double down and charge forward or if I should pause to make sure I'm heading in the right direction.

When I'm faced with this kind of dilemma, I often make a quick decision without completely evaluating things. I pull the plug quickly, I pivot before I need to or I hesitate and stall out, and continue in that STUCK place.

This time, this is what I'm doing:

• I created some "space" to search my heart and determine my motivation and my fear.

• I shared the dilemma with a few people to get their counsel, advice, insight and perspective, and I'm listening to that.

• I'm waiting a few days before making a decision, asking God for clarity, confirmation and peace.

That's where I'm at.... TODAY! Right in the middle of an issue, trying to write about leadership, but instead wanted to share with you the journey I'm on.

The quote above has had me thinking and contemplating over the past 5 days, and I just couldn't let it go, so I'm paying attention to what I'm in the middle of.

I don't know what you do to ensure you're focused on the right thing, but I invite you to share your wisdom with me.... not so I can share it with others, but so I can learn from you. What else would you do if you were me?