The Operating System of Motivation – Remix

Posted on July 9, 2010 by pdncoach

My client this morning – an incredibly successful sales professional and a great guy, too – seems to have fallen off the motivation wagon again.  He does this from time to time. I guess that’s why he has a coach and I’m honored that is me.

While his organization provides various incentives for sales, my client has long since outgrown them.  Of course, for creative work extrinsic rewards have been proven to be nearly useless anyway.  I’ve covered this before in a blog post titled The Operating System for Motivating People.

The problem is this week he didn’t sell anything to any new customers. But what’s the cause?

Going back to a source cited in the earlier blog, Daniel Pink would say that his profit motive has become unmoored from his purpose motive.  In his own words my client says:

“I let the day take me where it will instead of planning and sticking to my planned activities that are On-Purpose and will take me closer to achieving my goals.”

My client has the necessary mastery in sales. He is self-directed enough and has taken autonomous actions to have succeeded all these years. In this regard, he seems to be On-Purpose.

But what about purpose? Ah, there’s the rub. My client wants to become a “Million Dollar Salesperson”. This goal is within reach, as long as he does what he says he is going to do.  He wants to retire a significant debt, toward which he has been making significant progress because of his profitable business; in fact, at one point he was ahead of schedule on becoming debt-free.  He wanted to become a sales coach and trainer, and he’s done so within his company with as many as 48 internal coaching clients at a time. He also wants to write a book.  It’s going to be an incredible book in the field of sales, I know. But at this point the book is not producing revenue and it takes time away from revenue-producing activity. 

While his sales remain steady, they are not increasing any more toward the million dollar mark. This slows his progress on paying off the debt. He gets distracted with the book project.

The solution? How can he tether his Profit Motive (through sales) to this new Purpose Motive (the retired debt; the book, while he’s writing it)?  He’s a very bright guy so our coaching session, although only 30 minutes long, was productive.  He has found some possible solutions he’ll be testing in coming weeks and months.  His biggest takeaway? He remembered the importance of having a plan and sticking to it, and that in order to achieve his three-year plan, he has to stick to daily and weekly plans.

Having connected his Profit Motive with his new Purpose Motive, I fully expect him to get back on track with his weekly sales activity without risking progress as an author.

I fully expect my client to find his way back to The Intersection of Purpose and Now.

Now how about you? Have you ever experienced seemingly competing motives? What will you do?

[“Sales Wise and Street Smart” is protected by both copyright and trademark laws.]

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in Daniel Pink, motivation, Purpose, sales | Leave a comment

It’s a new day and my possibilities are endless!"

Posted on July 8, 2010 by pdncoach

“It’s a new day and the possibilities are endless!”

This is one of my favorite personal recurring tweets and an affirmation I certainly want to live by.
If you’re anything like me, your life is full of good intentions that sometimes get lost in the “clutter” that gathers on any given day. That’s why affirmations are so important. Affirmations provide a better lens – or a better mirror – through which to see our circumstances. “Jessica’s Daily Affirmation” illustrates this well:

Jessica – I love this girl! She gets it. She understands that much of what she will experience each day begins with her attitude toward the day, toward her family, toward herself, and even toward her house!  My guess is that Jessica will seldom allow her circumstances to define her outlook; her outlook will define her circumstances. Even in this short video, she not only affirms her own well-being, she affirms mine, too.

What impact do your thoughts and actions have on you and on others?  (Remember, leadership starts with authentic expression that adds value through relationships.)

Affirmations are positive statements that shape our thoughts, guide our actions and, ultimately, determine the results of our day. I used to think they were just silly – until I started using them. I soon found that they could be as powerful as goals. Generally, they make “positive thinking” tangible. (Have you ever met someone who describes himself as a “positive person”, yet has the attitude of the most cynical of critics?) I use them in combination with my goals, and sometimes in place of particularly intangible goals. Here are a couple of examples…

  • I have the courage to take action today on the things that are most important to me.
  • I am a father whose children are comfortable coming to me about anything – their hopes and dreams as well as their fears and questions.
  • I love how I feel when I have served the needs of others beyond their expectations.
  • I am a person who recognizes that today is filled with possibilities.
  • A kite rises against the wind, not with it. (example of a borrowed affirmation)

…and, of course…

  • I like my house.
  • I can do anything better!

When you look in the mirror, are you affirming your place at The Intersection of Purpose and Now?
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=msturgell&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0446199737&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in affirmation, leadership, possibility | Leave a comment

What do you Want?

Posted on July 7, 2010 by pdncoach

“Vision is not enough. It must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.”
     —Vaclav Havel

What do you want? I mean really, really want.

We don’t want to hear about your iPad envy or covetous Amazon.com wish list; nothing so material here that it would merely satisfy a passing desire, no matter how passionately that desire currently pulses through you.

What do you want to happen? What do you want that lasts? What do you want that serves? What do you want that others can build on? What do you want that might transform more than you and your own interests? What are you doing about it?

“We just knew what we wanted to do,” says Lois Bauman, a mother of six who knows what she wants. Bauman, her family and others are sacrificing their own comforts to “offer hope and give children dreams.” She’s known this for a while and built it and is rebuilding it (with your help). As a result, an abandoned building was filled with activity, many lives have been transformed, the hope of a community has been lifted, stars have been born, all because Bauman’s Stairway of the Stars was created.

Baumann just didn’t want a dance studio, she wanted to lift up a community and lift her students to the height of their potential.


Dance Teacher Guides Young Stars
http://player.hulu.com/embed/myspace_viral_player.swf?pid=DowrY9KZEeHfDYr6rGC0hkTK7iacF94G&embed=true&videoID=105698557
NBC TODAY Show | MySpace Video

What do you want? To produce what you want, you must do the most productive thing at every given moment. It only happens at The Intersection of Purpose and Now.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in dreams, Purpose, Stairway of the Stars, vision | Leave a comment