Today is Christmas and I am sitting here thinking about all the things I have to be grateful for. It’s almost 11:00 AM and so far all I have done is eat a big breakfast, pet the cats and practiced my ukuleles (I have two, a concert size and a banjo uke). I hope the rest of the day goes as well.

But because it’s Sunday, that means I am writing a blog post today.  This morning’s activities result in today’s blog topic, two wonderful things that impact our motivation: gratitude and joy.

I know the usual holiday for blogging about gratitude is Thanksgiving, but everyone was doing it, so I wrote about something else. And today I am feeling especially grateful – grateful that I have found things I love to do.

I love to eat, I love my cats, and I love playing my ukes.

It’s easy to do things we love, things we enjoy doing, things that give us joy. I didn’t need to work on my motivation to eat a tasty breakfast. I didn’t need to work on my motivation to pet my cats, and I didn’t need to work on my motivation to play my ukes. I just did them. Because I enjoy them.

And that’s a great lesson about motivation. Find out what you love to do and do it.

There are a whole series of books about job creation, the gist of which are do what you love and the money will follow. Though there are exceptions to this, as there seem to be to most generalities, it holds true for most things.

There are two reasons this is true.

1.  Anything worthwhile is going to require a sustained effort on your part. Getting started with most endeavors is easy. It’s new and exciting. Newness and excitement are inherently motivating. But that initial excitement will wear off, and then we may have to work on our motivation to make sure we consistently do the things we need to do to make that worthwhile thing come true.  If you enjoy what you are doing you will continue to be motivated, just like I am with eating, petting the cats and playing the ukes.

2. Being grateful forces us to acknowledge what we love, which enforces it in our minds. The expression of our gratitude becomes an affirmation. The more we love something, and the more aware we are that we love it, the more motivated we will be to do it.

So find out what you love to do and go ahead and do it. In motivational terms this is called authenticity. Being authentic is powerfully motivating.

And if makes life a lot more fun.

I do not consider myself a “motivational speaker.” Instead I refer to myself as a teacher of motivation, I teach people how to motivate themselves.

In light of this, a question I am frequently asked is whether you can motivate other people.

Yes, you can motivate other people, but not the way it’s usually tried.

1) Telling people stories about a surfer who got her arm bit off by a shark who went on to become a champion surfer (the girl, not the shark), is certainly inspiring, but unless you are a one armed surfer who wants to be a champion surfer, it really doesn’t have a lot to do with how motivated you are to achieve your particular goals.

2) Having people dance and jump up and down with lots of other people at a large arena may get people pumped up for a while, but once their heart rate comes down, so will their motivation.

3) Same with showing people fancy PowerPoint presentations and having them listen to dramatic speakers; it may build their confidence for a short while, but if there is no foundation for the confidence, it will soon fade as will the motivation.

Instead, if you want to motivate someone else you need to:

1) teach them the skills they need to be confident they will achieve their goals.

2) help them get clear on exactly what they want to accomplish, and why they want to accomplish it.

3) help them create a plan (a process)as to how they will achieve their goals

4) hook them up with people who have succeeded in doing what they are trying to do.

5) teach them how to create a motivation plan so when they hit an obstacle, they can overcome it

6) make sure they have a place to do their work that helps them, rather than hinders them.

This isn’t the way it’s usually done, which may explain why so many of us aren’t motivated.

Tip 1. Don’t bother figuring out exactly what you are trying to get or what you are trying to accomplish. But if you do sort of figure it out, make sure to keep it in your head.

Tip 2.  Don’t try to figure out why you would want to make this change.

Tip 3. Don’t think about what will occur if you don’t make the change. You won’t make it anyway, so why concern yourself needlessly.

Tip 4. Nothing ventured is nothing wasted. You aren’t going to succeed so why bother.

Tip 5. Don’t ask for help. Anyone you ask for help will probably just give you a hard time when you throw in the towel, so why risk it.

Tip 6. Don’t bother getting training or acquiring new skills. You’re good enough as you are.

Tip 7. So what if your work space is such a mess you can’t stand working there. Time spent cleaning it up is wasted since you know it will just get messy again.

Tip 8.  Let someone else take responsibility for your motivation. They know all about motivation — or at least they claim to.

On the other hand, if you not only want to keep the motivation you do have and even increase it, then learn all you can about the model for self motivation and how it can help you make your dreams come true.

If you are not maximizing the motivational impact of your physical environment you are shortchanging yourself. Here’s three strategies you can use to make sure your physical environment is securely in your corner, helping you make those dreams come true.

Strategy 1.  Minimize distractions in your physical environment

Most of us have something in our physical environment that temporarily rob us of our energy and our time. It distracts us from doing all the things we need to do to make our dreams come true. Examples are shopping, playing video games, and watching television – my favorite.

The first step to minimizing the impact of distractions is to be conscious of them. It may seem like they don’t have a large impact, but the reality is, since they are always present, the impact is cumulative.

The second step is to be creative with arriving at a way to overcome them. My problem with the TV was that my wife liked to watch it and I was easily drawn in when I would overhear it, especially sitcoms.  My creative solution was to buy her a wireless headset.

Strategy 2.  Put yourself in a place where you can flourish. 

There are two ways you make your workplace a space where you can flourish:

1. You make it a place that you want to spend time in, and

2. You make it a place that makes the time you spend there more effective.

Strategy 3.   Use “vision reminders”

Our vision is the special change we want to make in our lives. It is the why of all the work we do in our physical environment, the ultimate destination, why we are working so hard, why we are expending our energy, why we are giving up other fun things.  In this third strategy we integrate our vision into our physical environment.

One way to keep our vision in the forefront, so as to increase its power to motivate, is by printing out your vision onto a piece of paper and fastening it on the wall in your work space.  Maybe print it onto parchment paper and frame it, to give it the power and prestige it deserves.

Another way we integrate our vision into our physical environment is by filling it with things that represent our vision.  My vision is to be a successful public speaker. So for me, things that represent my vision are just about anything related to Toastmasters.  Depending on your vision they can include pictures you have cut out from magazines, objects you have purchased.  In my workshops we go around the room, having each person name an object that they can use as a vision reminder in their physical environment.

One way to get into these strategies is to see yourself as a plant.  Think of all the decisions you can make to make a plant grow stronger and healthier – the soil, the type of pot, the size of pot.  Think about what you can do to make you grow, grow toward your vision.

What can you do to make your work space more motivating, more conducive to working, and make you want to work there?

Back in June of 2007 I was reading a copy of Success Magazine in which there was an article about Jennifer Openshaw. Ms. Openshaw is described on the cover of the magazine as a financial guru and entrepreneur. The article, as befits the magazine, was about how successful she is. The successes she described were very impressive, but for me what was more impressive, and the reason I remember the article, was that for every success she shared in the article, she talked about some person who helped her achieve that particular goal, the mentor. This woman had so many mentors, so many people helping her achieve her goals, it made me sick with jealousy. I am serious.

And it didn’t read like she was just being modest about her successes, or attempting to share  the spot light with these people. She was quite matter of fact about it. The one theme that ran through every story of every success was a mentor, a person who guided her and helped her to make the most of her very obvious gifts.

Many of us would argue that we don’t have any such gifts, that there is nothing amazing about us.  But how many of us have taken full advantage of the resources there are in our social environment? Maybe the heights reached by Ms. Openshaw are not the heights that we will attain, but that’s no excuse for us not to try to reach a lot higher than we have already reached. And we can use the same method Ms. Openshaw used to help maximize our potential, that is, utilizing our own social environment.

Who and what can you use in your social environment, the people and organizations that surround you, to maximize your unique potential? Is there someone you would like as a mentor? It might be a more experienced person employed at the same place as you. Maybe your prospective mentor belongs to an organization made up of people who share the same dreams as you.

If you are like me and you self describe as private, reserved or shy, you might find it hard to fully utilize your social environment. In that case, don’t worry about fully utilizing it. Set small goals at first. Instead of a full blown mentor, at least make contact with one person that you admire and ask that person a question, or for some advice. See how that feels. Act upon the advice that is given you. Later, approach the person, thank him or her and give them an update as to how the issue worked out.

You may be able to make your dreams come true all alone, but why would you want to? Maslow, the father of motivation, says that one thing that motivates people is the drive for being part of a group.  If it’s going to increase your motivation, using your social environment, as well as giving you someone else’s experience and wisdom, it sounds like a winning proposition.

If you have had experience with a mentor, why not share it with your fellow readers by leaving a comment below.

All of us have dreams, some change we can make in our lives that would make our lives so much better. But so many of us are not making our dreams come true. The reason we are unable to make them come true is that we are not motivated.

Unless we are motivated, our dreams will not come true.

Here are the three most powerful motivation robbers:

1. I am not clear on exactly what I want.

2. If I am clear on what I want, I just don’t know what I need to do to get it.

3.  If I am clear on what I want, and I do know what I need to do to get it, I just don’t  believe I am capable of doing it.

It may sound pretty hopeless, but in fact there are some simple steps we can take to overcome each of these robbers.

1. I am not clear on exactly what I want. The solution to this is pretty obvious, get clear. But sometimes it’s harder than it sounds. So how do we get clear? One way is to figure out the why, that is, why we want something. The clearer we are as to why we want something, the clearer we will be as to exactly what it is. And then write it down. Nothing gives us more clarity than forcing ourselves to write it down.

2. If I am clear on what I want, I just don’t know what I need to do to get it. The solution to this is to make a plan.  Everyone has heard the cliché, fail to plan and you plan to fail. But how does something become a cliché? By being universally true. So get out a piece of paper or your journal, or open up a Word document and get started. The time you spend up front figuring out how to achieve something you desire is time well spent. It could save you lots of time you would otherwise waste in in spinning your wheels or, even worse, going down the wrong path.

3. If I am clear on what I want, and I do know what I need to do to get it, I just don’t  believe I am capable of doing it. How confident we are in our ability to do something plays a huge role in whether we are motivated to actually try to accomplish it. Few people will put the effort into trying to do something that they don’t think they can do.

To overcome this lack of confidence, take an honest inventory of yourself. Are there skills you are lacking that create the doubt? Then find out how you can acquire the skills. Are there contacts you need to pave the way for your success? Figure out where you can make those contacts. Once you are clear on what it is that makes you lack confidence, you can figure out how to take care of those things.

It may take some work, but you can stop those motivation robbers and make your dreams come true.