Prospecting Motivation

PROSPECTING MOTIVATION

Successful prospecting relies upon motivational discipline; it's the single most important contributing factor to it.

Prospecting requires discipline, not as in punishment, but rather as a systematic approach and a desire to push forward. This internal drive is motivation.

Some people consider super-charged emotional hype seminars to be the epitome of motivation. In reality, there isn't much merit to this kind of motivation; if it worked, people could experience it one time and never have to repeat seminars.

Every person possesses motivation; it's what inspires individuals to carry out tasks. It impacts how the task is done, if at all. And, like any decision, motivation is greatly influenced by pain avoidance. An unmotivated person is avoiding pain.

For a more in-depth look at motivation and how it influences prospecting activities, Edwards Holliday, President, Creative Achievement Concepts, was interviewed.

Holliday's interesting perspective on motivation directly conflicts with the concepts of Eaglemark Consulting Group, but the viewpoint is viable, credible, and worthwhile. However different Holliday's message is, study it carefully to firmly implant the concepts and realities.

Do You Have What It Takes?

What is the common denominator of success; a trait or quality that all of the following people possess: Abraham Lincoln, Alex Haley, Helen Keller, Hank Aaron, Amelia Earhart, Florence Chadwick, Gregory Peck, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Sir Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Joe Frazier, W. Clement Stone, Lee Iacocca, and Vince Lombardi?

Why are these people, and other famous individuals, so well-known for their accomplishments? What was the driving force behind each that compelled them to achieve greatness? Simply stated, these individuals were self-motivated. From the moment of birth, individuals are exposed to others' likes, prejudices, preferences, attitudes, and behaviors through the long process of conditioning. However, while humans are products of their environment, the power of choice always exists. Individuals can't always control the environment, but they can control their thoughts.

As William James said in the book, As A Man Thinketh, 'As a being of power, intelligence and love, and Lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills.'

This is called personal responsibility for one's motivation. Self-motivation is a reason to move, a reason to take action.

Motivation should not be confused with inspiration. Inspiration is temporary, it wears off. Inspiration is like perspiration, it evaporates quickly.

A person who is truly self-motivated generates an aura of energy and enthusiasm for life; it comes from within. Relatively few individuals are truly self-motivated-that's why those who are self-motivated stand out from the crowd-that's why their qualities are so highly desirable and sought.

Self-motivated people know who they are, where they've been, where they're going, and how to get there. They know their strengths and their weaknesses, their assets and liabilities. Self-motivated people forget the past and press forward into the future. They focus on their powers and not their problems. Self-motivated people don't watch things happen or wait for things to happen, they make them happen.

If self-motivation comes from within and can be generated by anyone, at anytime, in any place, and in any environment, then why are so few individuals examples of supreme self-motivation? The answer is simple, but the solution is difficult. It's hard work! Individuals are complex. They have egos, needs, desires, emotions, problems, limitations, influences, and so on. These obstacles prevent individuals from tapping their full potential, -- their self-motivation.

Some people think that motivation is just bells and whistles, something that is obtained overnight by going to a seminar or reading a book. That may be the start of it, but it's certainly only an outline of the whole picture. The path each person walks in life is a process in learning and growth which can be changed, accelerated, and improved upon to deliver better results. For instance, an acorn is about the size of a quarter and weighs about an ounce, but it has the potential of becoming a towering oak, 100 feet high, weighing thousands of pounds, able to withstand the elements of wind, sleet, and freezing weather. The acorn does not become an oak overnight. As a seed, it will either use its resources of earth, sun, and water, and live to grow, or it will rot and die.

Use resources: talents, abilities, other people, institutions, nature, time, etc. to live and grow-or choose to remain unchanged, stagnant, and apathetic.

As the acorn grows, it becomes a sapling, the sapling becomes a mature tree, and the tree produces! The tree is always in the process of change, growing and dying, as it loses its leaves in the fall, and grows new buds in the spring. The great oak will continue to live and grow until the day that the sap refuses to travel up the trunk, starving the branches. It declines and dies.

Likewise, people are in a process of change, physically and mentally. On the outside, they are always growing new skin, hair, and nails. On the inside, people are always assimilating new information and experiences; they are continuously modifying attitudes and behaviors. The sap that fuels production is self-motivation. Without it, humans die, not physically, but emotionally, and shortly thereafter, mentally.

Some people walk around with a pulse, but without an emotional heartbeat:

Nothing stirs them inside. Nothing excites them, except the coming of the weekend and simple pleasures. They're living for two days a week, instead of seven. Why do they dread the other five? They have no purpose, no goals or ambition. It's a chore for them to rise in the morning.

Listen to many of the excuses that are verbalized: 'It's not my fault. I didn't do it. I don't have a college education. My parents didn't love me. The economy is down. No one is buying. I can't do it. I was born into a poor environment. People just price shop, what's the use?'

Self-motivation comes from a need to express oneself by means of activity, creation, and emotion. It's a burning desire in a person's gut that acts as a compelling force to take determined action again and again and again until the desired goal has been achieved. When a person begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel, when turning on instead of turning off begins, something amazing happens. The vision of the end result makes the benefits and pleasures that can be gained real. The losses or pains that you will avoid also become tangible.

These are the only two reasons any person chooses to take action on any matter: anticipation of gain or pain avoidance. The more a person focuses, the clearer this becomes. The clearer the goal, the more believable the benefits. Benefits and losses from goals motivate people.

People either create benefits and losses for themselves for their own reasons, or someone else creates them for their reasons. If people create their own results, and have a clearer understanding of what will be gained or avoided, then they will be motivated by their own attitudes. When individuals know what's in it for them, they know why they want something, what's important to them, and how they're going to feel when they have it.

Figuring out what a person wants, why it is wanted, and the feeling of getting it should all be relatively simple; but it's not. In today's society, people are surrounded with so many options, opportunities, information, and influences that it makes choosing difficult and confusing.

The challenge, as author Paul J. Meyer states is, 'If you're not making the progress you would like to make and are capable of making, it's simply because your goals are not clearly defined.'

Goal setting is the strongest human force in the process of developing self-motivation. If you take action on the ideas presented, chances are that will become a champion. You can achieve if you think you can. As coach Bear Bryant said, 'If you think you're better, you are; if you think you dare not, you won't; if you like to win, but don't think you can, it's almost a cinch that you won't.'

Just being involved in this continuing-improvement program guarantees the special opportunity to excel. What a person does with that opportunity will, in a large part, reflect the quantity and quality of self motivation. As asked in the title of this article, 'Do You Have What It Takes?'