Motivation ABC

If you have read a steady diet of modern self help books you could be forgiven for believing that all you have to do to be successful in life is to have a big enough dream, focus on it and believe you can achieve it to magically move towards it. However, without integrity, courage, determination, persistence, commitment and excellence a dream will remain nothing more than a pleasant fantasy that has within it the seeds of great disappointment. If these character traits hold the key to
making your dreams a reality, how then do we attain them?
How do we build these characteristics into our lives and become the sort of people who are destined for success? Again there is a wealth of literature about using the power of affirmations, visualization, self hypnosis and other techniques to reprogram the mind to change your beliefs about the world and what you can achieve in it. However, there is very little material focused on how to develop the character traits without which you cannot be permanently and truly successful in either business or life generally.

As James Froude writes, “You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”  This means that it is the heat of trials and the battering of circumstances that we can either crumble and be destroyed or adapt and change. The hammer and forge pathway to character is no easy journey. It can be very painful. However, the fruit of submitting yourself to the necessary introspection, personal evaluation and commitment to change is that you will over the years develop the character traits necessary to succeed in life.

Does this mean that the hammer and forge approach to character development is totally dependent on the whims of the circumstances you encounter in life? Not at all. However, if you are willing to step out into the throng and take risks you will certainly have enough natural opportunities to become your best self. Many very successful individuals have developed their own character training programs which are designed to help them face their fears and develop and strengthen character.

For example, many people who have feared public speaking have faced their fears and joined organizations such as toast masters and spoken in front of people anyway. By doing this, they became stronger and better people more able to benefit the lives of other people. Others, who perhaps have difficulty finishing tasks and achieving goals, choose to climb mountains, sky dive or participate in some other activity that they can succeed at.  Succeeding at challenging activities such as these and facing one’s fears requires persistence, courage, determination and other character strengths.

One these character traits become a part of you, you are well positioned to achieve your dream. If you are willing to undergo the pain of the hammer and the forge in order to gain the benefits of superior character, you will reap the benefits of personal success beyond your wildest dreams.

The daily life of business is downright taxing. Stress factors, life’s way of tossing out curve balls, and of course, forever battling the unforeseen. Company policy, regulations, blown deals, and a string of bad days can bring the business person to a grinding halt. Of course, business people who are in business for themselves have a higher threshold for aggravation than those who work for a company.

Business motivation is difficult to obtain regardless of the circumstances, as people work for one thing, reward. Most business people work for the monetary reward with a smaller percentage working for personal reward. “I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to things you want to see happen.” Frank Lloyd Wright. For business people, this type of motivation comes from deep within with reminders lingering about like day old smoke. Success does not come to those who only scrape by, it comes to those with drive and desire who follow it through with action.

The price of success means something different for each individual business person, and each individual business relationship. The price of success is chronically being weighed, whether by the business person or by those who surround the business person. It is not uncommon for the business person to have to validate their goals and desires and drive to a spouse, child, or parent, which can derail the motivation in exchange for other successes such as making it to a third grader’s spring play. The validation of the price of success can only be determined by the business person themselves, and only then can they determine if the price is truly worth it. For most, the balance of the price and family can be found with open communication, dedication, and drive to succeed in all areas of life. Those who are successful throughout these vital areas in life are more successful at the business table.

Proactive action in the face of business is the pathway to the next big door. Reactive behaviors only chew up time, energy, and resources. By delving into the personal goals of the average business person can the business goals become intermingled and provide the necessary power to drive one forward. The fastest downfall of the business person is moderation. Once a highly driven individual moderates their actions they become average, and average does not drive successful action.

The definition of success, the drive to succeed, and the motivation behind certain successes remain fluid in the life of a business person. Just like the tide that ebbs and flows, so does the drive to become “successful.” In the hopes that a person can dig deep within and know in their hearts their goals and their desires, the ebb of concentration and the flow of driven works can only surface in full when self awareness picks up and stimulates a lagging motivation. Success is for those who can reflect upon Frank Lloyd Wright’s words and internalize their meaning and personalize them to their own life. Success will come more naturally to those who desire their life to reflect in his words, “an unremitting devotion to things you want to see happen.”