What’s Your Motivation?

“OK, Lord, I think I finally get the picture about being motivated and being a motivator!”  It’s funny how God plants an illustration right in front of us to learn from when we so very need it, whether we think we do or not.  Yes, I do believe God has quite the sense of humor.  I don’t always feel that way during the trial, but usually the lesson often brings a smile ….. eventually 🙂

Pictured above, is one of our horses, Vince, who at the time was getting a lesson in motivation as well as was I.   Vince is the youngest of our furry friends and is going through his terrible two’s.  Just this past week, he once again got into mischief, trying to get those last few morsels of hay in the middle of the hay feeder.  That last morsel was positioned so that in order to get his lips on it, he had to carefully step over the front of the feeder with his two front legs.  Little did he know, until later,  the dilemma he had placed himself in.  As I observed him for some time after he got himself in there, I noticed he wasn’t particularly upset about the whole thing.  The other horses had wandered away from the feeder and were just hanging out after snacking on what was left, probably grabbing a few afternoon zzzz’s.  I was not particularly happy with this young big fella at this point, because I had been down this trail before and it wasn’t full of joy and happiness.  Knowing that we had places to be later that day, I decided I best get at busting him out of there.  I tried a number of coaxing attempts, trying not to do anything too drastic that would scare him and possibly get him hurt.  He wasn’t budging.  He just wasn’t motivated enough to get himself out – it just wasn’t that uncomfortable – yet.   I tried leading him out, shooing him out, many various failed attempts.  Grain didn’t even work which I know he is infatuated with!  Noticing how late it was getting – I decided to at least get the rest of the chores done and put the other horses in their stalls, giving them their nightly grain.  The picture suddenly changed!  Now, apparently, in Vince’s eyes, this was a whole new situation and he was verbally letting me know as you can see by his picture.   His peers were getting their grain.  He wasn’t!  Suddenly, this external motivation lit up Vince’s internal motivation, and he decided he was coming out and getting his grain.  What was apparently comfortable earlier, was now unbearable, because he could see the results the others were getting.  Putting trust in his mentor, which was myself, I was now able to help him maneuver his back legs in between the bars and lead him through the panels I had unbolted.  He came flying out of the feeder unharmed and couldn’t get to his stall fast enough for his reward.

I couldn’t help but relate this incident to George Guzzardo’s recent post, Motivation of a Leader.  I absolutely love George’s post because it really made me think about the trickle down effect of motivation.  We often hear that motivation is an inside job, and that it’s not some else’s job to motivate you.  It is – and it’s not some one else’s job.  However, it is so difficult to watch people that we work with who want different results, but just can’t seem to get motivated enough to capture them.  We try to encourage them the best we can, lead them to what I feel is the best self directed education out there with the LIFE materials, promote dream building, and even take time to PDCA (plan, do check, and adjust) with them just like I tried to motivate Vince out of the feeder.  Without that driving desire to achieve something different, mediocrity traps us without us even realizing it.

But what about US!?!  Is our own motivation or lack there of if we are comfortable where we are at, keeping others from stretching out of their comfort zone?   Do yourself a favor and PDCA your own motivation by reading George Guzzardo’s Motivation of a Leader.  I love the results the LIFE founders have such as George and Jill Guzzardo.  So what is MY motivation to get those results?  Am I leading by example?  I now have my homework.  How about you?  As George so heartfully wrote, “A leader accepts responsibility for determining their motivation in the present. Motivating yourself can inspire many others to be motivated as well. By mastering the principles of motivation from your past you won’t have any problem being motivated when you live in your future”.

Thanks to George and Jill, Orrin and Laurie Woodward, and the rest of the Policy Council for always leading from the front, motivating us all to become better people!

God’s Blessings,

Tina Raz