Inner Motivation

The Commonwealth Games have come and gone leaving us with some wonderful memories of the skill, bravery, endurance and sheer determination of those involved.

Athletes of the calibre of those competing in the Games are all highly motivated individuals, spurred on as they are by the lure of medals, world records, adoring crowds and the desire to shine for their countries, fellow team mates or coaches.

There is no lack of inspiring support for athletes who have reached such a pinnacle and lets take absolutely nothing away from them as they had to start somewhere.

However, the truth is that regular people, with desires to achieve something beyond the ordinary, often have to swim against the current when it comes to garnering the support of others.

[box type=\”shadow\”]“I pay no attention whatever to anybody\’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.”

― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart[/box]

Inner Motivation (continued)

A disproportionate amount of my time is taken up helping people – who have been disillusioned by the advice and criticism of those supposedly close to them – to rediscover their inner motivation.

Sally (not her real name) is now one of the leading lights in life coaching but a few years ago she was very nearly dissuaded from pursuing her dream by family and friends who told her she was crazy to think about giving up her lucrative job in the retail industry.

Sally called me for advice, verbalising the many concerns that her supposedly well meaning friends had filled her mind with. Would she be good enough? How would she get enough clients? Could she make enough money? and so on and so on.

I told her quite frankly that although there were no guarantees in life about anything, she had been given the capacity to ‘make her own luck’.

A simple formula

In other words, success comes from having a passion for what you want to do, holding a clear vision of what you want to achieve, taking the actions you need to do to propel you along the way and maintaining belief in your own ability.

It’s a simple formula and it works.

All too often the spoke in the wheels comes in the form of doubt injected into the head by others who have neither the same passion for – nor the same understanding of – exactly what you have in mind.

Inner motivation is the key.

Here’s a rather quaint fable I came across, that demonstrates what I mean rather well.

The Frogs and the Tower

There was once a bunch of little frogs who looked up in awe at a very high tower that seemed to reach up to the clouds.

The frogs all sat around speculating about whether they could climb that high and what it might be like to sit at the very top of the tower.

Their excitement mounted to the point where they agreed to stage a competition. The goal was to see who, if anyone, could reach the top first.

A big crowd gathered at the bottom of the tower to watch the race and cheer on the contestants.

No-one in the crowd really believed that any of the little frogs had the ability to make it to the top of the tower.

As the frogs prepared for the start, the chattering crowd made it quite clear how they felt:

\”Oh, it’s WAY too difficult!!\”

\”They’ll NEVER make it to the top.”

\”Not a chance they will succeed. The tower is FAR too high!\”

“The frogs are to small and not NEARLY strong enough!”

Soon the race began.

The little frogs all started well but, before long, many began collapsing, as the early effort took its toll.

Some frogs did better, surprising the crowd by how high they climbed.

But those on the ground continued to yell their disbelief …

\”It’s just TOO DIFFICULT!! No one will make it!\”

All but one of the little frogs became exhausted and gave up.

But the last contestant continued on, higher and higher and higher. The little frog just wouldn\’t give up!

To the complete amazement of everyone the frog finally reached the very top of the tower and sat down to take in the view and wave at the stunned crowd below.

The mother of the winning frog, who had stood apart from the crowd, to watch her son, was beaming with pride.

Members of the crowd approached her.

“How on earth did he find the strength to climb that high,\” they asked.

The mother smiled as she explained …

“He’s deaf!’

 

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