In my last blog posting I shared with you the benefits of doing a regular evaluation. In today’s posting I want to share with you when to do an evaluation.

An evaluation should be done on a regularly scheduled basis and also on an as-needed basis.

1.  On a regularly scheduled basis

You need to decide how often you will do the regularly scheduled evaluation.  Will you do it weekly, or maybe monthly?  Will you perform a mini-evaluation every night and then a major evaluation every week, or perhaps you would prefer a mini-evaluation every week and a major evaluation every month?  At the regularly scheduled evaluations you review your work over the previous period to see what you have accomplished, and take time to appreciate your accomplishments.

I do a mini-evaluation every night.  Each night, as I lay in bed, before I drift off to sleep, I review my day.  This review is very short.  There are three aspects of my life that I address:  physical, intellectual and spiritual.  I review what I did that day to further my growth in each of these three aspects of my life.  Generally I have meditated, so I meet the spiritual aspect, or, if it’s Sunday I have either gone to church or done some spiritual reading. If I have worked out in the gym, or gone for a bike ride, I meet the physical aspect.  If I have worked on my book or my workshop, or gone to Toastmasters, I meet the intellectual aspect.

Usually I have done at least two aspects, which I consider to be a positive evaluation. I am always gentle with myself.  Even if I only do one thing that day, I just promise myself that the next day, I will do better.  Even God rested on the Seventh day. Then I decide what I am going to do the next day for each aspect.

The reason you want to have a regularly scheduled evaluation is that you won’t always recognize a dead end.  That’s why we need to be intentional, that is, systematic with our evaluation

You don’t always recognize when you are engaged in mindless motion. Sometimes you will not want to admit you are not getting any closer to your destination.  You need to overcome that reluctance.

“No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.” Turkish Proverb

2.  On an as needed basis:

Some times you will need to do an evaluation outside of the scheduled evaluations.  Here are the three times I recommended you do an evaluation outside of the regularly scheduled evaluation:

a)  When something positive happens:  When ever you have gotten some favorable results, or after you have taken a big step, for example, something you were apprehensive about doing, but you did anyway, you should do an evaluation.  Do it immediately after the positive thing happens.  Give yourself praise for your bravery, for taking a risk, for the results from hard work.  This is a time for celebration, so there should only be positive comments.

Giving positive feedback immediately after a positive result is called motivating feedback, positive reinforcement following a desired response; it signals to your subconscious that repetition of the same behavior is desirable.

b)  When you are stumped. Do a formative evaluation when you hit a dead end, when you see you aren’t moving forward, or when you find your self floating and not making any headway.  Figure out what is going on and what you need to do to get moving again.

c)  When you find yourself dumping on yourself (berating yourself) when you are down on yourself, when you think you may have screwed up big time, when you feel you have failed, when any self doubts arise, instead of automatically dumping on your self, you need to move with intent to do an evaluation. Find out exactly what the situation is, and what you need to do to make it better.

Evaluations may seem like a pain, but they are truly powerful tools for making sure your dreams come true.

Coming up: How to do a motivating evaluation.

“Feed back, that is, how you are doing, is an essential part of motivation.”  Fran Tarkenton

In order to increase our successability, the second factor in the model for self motivation, we want to strive for continuing improvement as we are making our dreams come true.  The way we do that is by doing evaluations.  And, like all other self motivational strategies, evaluation must be done with intent.

How does an evaluation positively impact our motivation?

An evaluation has five benefits:

1. It lets us know when we are doing something right so we can continue to do it.
2. It lets us know when we are doing something wrong so we can stop doing it.
3. It assures we learn from our mistakes.
4. It makes sure we are going down the right path, and, if not, it redirects us.
5. It lets us know when we have achieved a goal, and that it is time to tackle the next goal.

What’s so great about evaluations is that they help us whether the outcome is positive or negative.

Whenever I talk about evaluation in my workshops, I always think about the Kenny Rogers song, “Know when to hold them, know when to fold them;  know when to walk away.”

When things aren’t going well, you need to be open to the possibility that you have made a wrong turn. Don’t keep moving forward just to prove that you didn’t make a mistake.

But hopefully your evaluations will be positive more often than negative. Because positive evaluations are just as important as negative ones. Positive evaluations give us satisfaction. Satisfaction is the fourth element in the ARCS theory of motivation created by Dr. John Keller.

According to Dr. Keller, when the evaluation shows us the work we are doing is having the desired effect, the satisfaction that results will have its own motivational force.

In future blog postings I will provide more information about the proper way to do evaluations, evaluations that will increase your motivation and help you make your dreams come true.

A while back I read an article by Eknath Easwaran in the Blue Mountain Journal (for information, go to www.easwaran.org). The article, Will and Desire, made me think about the first element in the model for self motivation, the vision. Easwaran writes that a person’s desire can be compared to a river. If the person has many desires, it is like the trickling of many little creeks, flowing all over the place with no direction. He contrasts this with a person with one all consuming desire who can be compared to a mighty river like the Colorado. Like the Colorado River which carved the Grand Canyon out of solid rock, so too can a person with a focused desire do miraculous things.

In order for a person to be motivated, he or she needs a worthwhile pursuit. In the model for self motivation that worthwhile pursuit becomes the vision. As originally envisioned by me, the vision was our authentic self, the manifestation of our potential, our gifts. The vision, in other words, was originally an existential matter.

I came to realize, however, that the model for self motivation could be used for less existential desires, simple desires like losing weight, or getting a new job. It is important for us to keep in mind, however, that even if the desire is a simple one, it still must be valuable to us. The more valuable it is, the more motivated we will be to do the work that is necessary for us to make that desire come true.

And it is just as important for us to focus our energy, as Easwaran advises us, whether our desire is grand or simple. Sometimes it is difficult for us to stay focused on one path. Life is full of interesting distractions. But by following those distractions, we stay a bunch of little creeks, wandering all over the land, feeling frustrated because nothing ever gets accomplished.

By focusing our energy on one important desire, and by ignoring those distractions, instead of being a bunch of little trickling creeks, we become instead a roaring river. A roaring river that can carve the Grand Canyon, and can make our dreams come true.

The key to self motivation is being in control of the three factors in the model for self motivation. They are the vision, successability and environment. We do this by exercising our intent, by acting intentionally, rather than acting automatically.

Animals other than humans act on instinct. There is a stimulus, which automatically triggers an action. Instinct works very well in the animal kingdom. If a zebra smells a lion (the stimulus), he immediately runs (the action). Were the zebra to reflect on the proper course of action, hmmm, maybe the lion will eat my fat friend next to me, he would likely be eaten himself.

Humans frequently act this way as well. For example, someone says something negative about our ability to make our dream come true (the stimulus) and we stop pursuing our dream (the action).

However, humans have the capacity to act otherwise, to act with reflection. Reflection occurs in the space between stimulus and action. Rather than two steps, stimulus and action, there are three steps. In step one, there is a stimulus. In step two the person reflects on what action to take. In step three the person takes the action.

A person who acts without reflection, without that center step, I refer to as automatic man. Automatic man has no control over his motivation, because it is in that middle step that we can impact our motivation.

As self motivators, people in charge of our own motivation, we want to avoid being automatic men. Being automatic men means we are being controlled by things and people outside ourselves.  Instead we need to stay in touch with that middle step, and stay aware that we have the power to choose the action we take.

Being in control of our actions has two positive impacts on our motivation. One, it lets us takes steps to increase the positive impact of each of the three factors of self motivation, vision, successability, and environment. Two, exercising control or autonomy in our lives automatically increases our motivation.

Increasing our motivation is the key to making our dreams come true.

In an earlier blog I wrote about how it is very important for us to take risks if we want to accomplish anything important. In today’s blog I am going to write about the proper level of risk we need to take.

Experts tell us that the proper level of risk for the actions we take is a moderate amount of risk, not too risky, but risky enough for the action to be a challenge.

One way the researchers determined this is though an experiment I call the ball in the box game. I sometimes use this game in my workshops which teach people how to motivate themselves.

I place a box on the floor and give the player six balls. She is told that the goal of the game is to get the last three balls into the box; only the last three balls count.  The player is further instructed that the first three balls don’t count. They are used by the player to decide where she will stand (how far away from the box) when she throws the last three balls, the three balls that count. She throws the first ball, decides whether to move closer or further away from the box, and throws the second ball, and the third ball, and is free to throw each from a different place, finding out her ideal distance. Once she throws the first three practice balls, she needs to commit to just one place to throw the three balls that count.

The researchers were able to divide the subjects who played the game for them into three groups:

1.  Those who stand very close to the box and pretty much drop each ball into the box. These folks do get the balls into the box, but they haven’t accomplished anything they can be proud of, that they can consider to be a success. It is success we want, for each time you are successful, you feel more competent in your abilities. And, as the model for self motivation teaches us, the more competent we feel, the more motivated we will be.

2.  Those that stand as far from the box as they they can, sometimes even closing their eyes as they throw the balls. These people at first blush appear to be taking great risks. But the reality is, they are as risk avoidant as the people who stand right over the box. They don’t risk anything because they have set up the situation so that it is impossible for them to succeed. So when they don’t succeed, they have not failed, because they haven’t really seriously tried.

3. Those who pick an intermediate position, not too close, and not too far away. (Sounds a little bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.)  By not being too close, they introduce enough risk to make it a challenge, and so success – getting the ball into the box – gives them pleasure, a sense of accomplishment. At the same time they stand close enough that getting the ball into the box is a possibility, so they can achieve success, which makes them feel good about their abilities, and their confidence in their competence, which motivates them.

Psychological assessments done by the psychologists in conjunction with the ball in the box testing reveal that the subjects who were most successful in their lives were the ones who stood in the intermediate position, who stood neither too close nor too far away.

We can use these findings in our lives by setting our risk levels at the appropriate level, neither too much risk, nor too little risk. Setting the right level of your risk, a moderate level of risk, will have a positive impact on your motivation, in the following ways:

1. It will guarantee that you will have successes, and

2.  Your successes will be meaningful.

Meaningful successes will increase your feelings of competence, and will supercharge your motivation.

How can you apply this important research into your life? Why not take a risk today, and share your thoughts with your fellow readers about a situation in your past in which your level of risk impacted how you responded to that situation and your results.

The second of the three factors in the model for self motivation is successability.

Successability is your confidence in your competence, that is, how certain you are that you have the ability to achieve your vision, that important change you want to make in your life.  Your vision can be as simple (though not necessarily easy) as losing 20 pounds, or as complex as starting a new business.

The more confident you are in your ability to make that important change, the more motivated you will be to go after it. The less competent you feel, the less likely you will be to pursue it.

One thing that strongly impacts how confident you are is clarity, how clearly you have stated your vision. The more definite you are as to exactly what you want to achieve, the more motivated you will be. Your vision needs to be clearly stated.

When I say stated, I mean written down. Your mind might be a good place for you to think about your vision, but until you write those thoughts down, they are not definite; they are subject to your memory, your perceptions, and your biases.

So that is the first strategy for achieving clarity in your pursuits, writing everything down. Some people like to do this in a journal, a book they keep solely for their work on self motivation. Others like to do their work on a computer.

As I am writing this, I am realizing that clarity doesn’t just apply to my vision, but also to the work I need to do to make my vision come true. My vision is me as a professional speaker, a teacher, leading workshops, making presentations, and writing books … helping other people achieve their dreams.

One of the goals I needed to complete in order for me to achieve my dream was to write a book on self motivation. The book has been written and now I need to be marketing it. But I am a bit confused as to how to market it. Consequently, I see myself stumbling, being hesitant in my marketing. I know I need to get clarity. I need to write out a detailed marketing plan. Once that plan is written I know that my motivation batteries will once again be charged and will move forward toward my dreams.

Why not spend some time today in figuring out exactly what your dreams are?  Clarity is the first step to making them come true.

Regardless of where you get your news, whether newspapers, television, or the internet, one thing you have undoubtedly heard is that we Americans are not getting enough exercise.

You have also heard many of the reasons people give for why they aren’t exercising enough. One reason they give is a lack of time. Another is they just don’t like exercising. One I hear frequently is that they are unable to exercise, due to a physical reason, generally because they are grossly obese. I have even read that the reason people don’t exercise is because they have psychological resistance. (Is this a polite way of saying they are lazy?)

Whatever the claimed reason, the bottom line, in my opinion, is that these people aren’t motivated to exercise. And if you aren’t motivated, you need to get motivated. How do you get motivated? You use the model for self motivation.

Here’s the model:

MOTIVATION = ƒ (VISION, SUCCESSABILITY, ENVIRONMENT).

The model tells us that your motivation, which is on the left of the equals sign, corresponds to the motivational force of the three factors on the right of the equals sign:

• your vision (the change you want to make in your life),
• your successability (your confidence in your competence, that is, your perception of your ability to make the change)
• your environment, both your physical environment (where you will do the work necessary to make the change) and your social environment (the people and organizations available to you).

The model for self motivation tells us that any positive steps you take to impact your vision, successability or environment will automatically positively impact your motivation.

Let’s see how we can use the model for self motivation to increase our motivation to exercise.

Factor One: Vision. How you view any change you want to make in your life will directly impact your motivation to make it. First off, if you aren’t clear on exactly what the change you want to make is, you will not be motivated to make it.  A lack of clarity will actually rob you of your motivation. Second, if you view the change as something that is not particularly valuable to you, you will not be motivated to make it.

The first task therefore is to get clear on what you mean by exercise. Do you want to exercise an hour every day, or will you be happy with half an hour every other day? Take some time to get clear.

The second task is to figure out why it is important. Think about the healthy impact it will have on your health if you get adequate exercise. Think about the unhealthy impact not exercising will have on your health. Exercise will lower blood pressure, fight depression, cure insomnia, build strong bones. When I think about healthy impacts of exercise, one of the most important to me is that it will lessen the likelihood of me getting a stroke. I’ve got several friends who have had them, and it’s not something I want in my future.

A great way to make exercise important to you is to find an exercise you enjoy.  For me it’s road biking. I enjoyed off-road biking, but found it wasn’t able to give me the cardiac intensity I enjoy (I love those endorphins) because I couldn’t ride hard enough, due to all the trees.

Factor Two: Successability Finding an exercise you enjoy is also important for your confidence in your ability to do the exercise. The more you enjoy an exercise, the more you will do it. The more you do something, the better you will get at it. Try different exercises. If one seems like it might be fun, consider taking a clinic. Most cities offer low cost clinics where you will learn, along with like minded people, how to get better at your sport. The better you get, the more confident you will be, and the more motivated you will be to do it.

Factor Three: Environment You can positively impact your physical environment in many ways. Just this past weekend I positively impacted my physical environment by building a chin up bar in my car port. I knew if I had to go to the gym to do chin ups, I wouldn’t do them. I had bought one of the chin up bars that goes on the upper door jam, but found I didn’t like it.  I know people who love them; they jump out of bed and do some pull ups. They don’t have to slip on a pair of pants like I do.

You can impact your social environment to increase your motivation to exercise by joining a gym, or your local YMCA. Group classes are a great way to find exercise that you find enjoyable.

Exercise does not need be a chore.  I believe that finding an exercise that is valuable to you, meaning fun, is well worth the effort. Having fun is something we seldom lack the motivation to do. It’s just human nature.

My fiancé and I had decided to get married in the gazebo at our church. Partly as a gift to the church, and partly because I wanted the wedding to be beautiful, I decided to lay sod all around the gazebo. We got married in August, so in Tallahassee it was a particularly hot time of the year. It’s also a buggy time of the year. So I am working in the mid August heat, sweat dripping off me, mosquitoes flying about me.

After swatting one mosquito, and watching him lie squashed on my calf, I realized that the only times I had ever killed a mosquito was when I had slapped it as it was biting me.  I realized that it was very difficult to kill a mosquito that was flying, and who would want to waste their energy anyway.  So long as the mosquito was flying, he was safe.  It was when he landed that he became vulnerable.  Once he landed he was at risk of being killed.  The problem he faces, however, is that it is only when he lands that he is able to bite me and feed.  As long as he is flying around, relatively safely, he will not eat.  So he is in a conundrum, fly and be safe yet hungry, or land and be vulnerable, yet eat.

It’s risky for him to land.  But if he doesn’t take that risk, he doesn’t eat.  The cost of not taking the risk is great, because if he doesn’t eat, he dies.  So he risks death, so he can live.  He has to commit.  He lands.  He feeds, and maybe he dies.

As I was having these wise thoughts, and smacking the risk taking mosquitoes, I started to think about the risks I face in my life.  The risks we humans take are generally not quite as risky as those a mosquito takes.  We don’t risk our lives every time we want to eat.  We want to eat, we go to the grocery store.  Maybe there is some little risk involved, that we will end up in a fatal auto accident, but how much of a risk is that really?

So don’t be afraid to take risks.  If we don’t take risks, we will stagnate; if we don’t take risks, our dreams will never come to fruition.

Risk taking for us is just as important as it is for the mosquito. Just not quite as life threatening.