If you want to motivate people, individually or collectively, it is very important for you to show them their benefits that they will receive when the task you are motivating them for has been fulfilled.
If you are encouraging them to reach a particular goal, then they have to see the benefits. That gives them reason to keep chasing that particular goal that you are goading them for.
What really matters here is that throughout the way, people should feel that they are unhindered. They should feel that they can safely move on, without finding any obstacles to veer them from their path on the way. If their path is strewn with difficulties, then they are not going to feel very motivated to chase the ideals you are asking them to accomplish.
If it is your business team, you can manage things in a better way.
You have to provide them with unhindered opportunities so that they can keep progressing.
The Google company environment should be kept in mind. Google gives its employees everything they need to think out of the box and develop whatever software applications they want to. They give them
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an environment, both physically and spiritually, that can help them achieve those objectives. Most of Google’s flagship products, such as Picasa, Orkut and the various applications in Google Labs, are because of such unhindered opportunities that the company provides to its employees.
Even when you are trying to motivate a friend or a family member, you need to give them a good environment in which they can fulfill that particular task.
If you are trying to motivate a friend to give up smoking, success will only be achieved if the atmosphere is right, if the opportunities they get are good. Maybe you could give them an opportunity by taking them to an anti-smoking club, or simply be with them as they are trying to fight off their addiction.
Company employees will do well if they are given opportunities to go ahead, and the same applies to everyone that we know personally. If you want to motivate people, make sure that there are easy options for them to move ahead, as easy as possible, and do not strew their paths with unnecessary difficulties.
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Unhindered Opportunities
People sometimes might ask what motivation is. Motivation cannot simply be the urge to do something. Motivation can come from a lot of things; in fact anything. Simply liking what I am doing and being conscientious about my work can also bring motivation. If one can take the example of a bus driver who has to get up early every morning, wash and be ready for his schedule we can say that is monotonous and is not something that one can do with a lot of passion and simply said there is no motivation to do a job like that.
However if I were to ask that bus driver why he does this almost thankless job day in and day out and still be happy about it from where does he get that motivation, I might get a reply which could be a eye opener. He might simply like the early morning. He may like the fact that because he is on time everyone else catching his bus is on time where ever they have to be. He might simply reply he loves taking people to where ever they want to be on time and gets a huge amount of satisfaction doing that. The answer might surprise me!
In this context, I cannot resist myself from discussing a simple story which I read when I was in school.
The Scottish king Robert Bruce was driven out of his kingdom by the king of England Edward I. One evening the ousted king was resting in a broken down hut all by himself and contemplating surrender, after having been beaten six times by the English king, the last time being the worst of all. He noticed a spider at the corner of the hut trying to build a web.
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Each time that it tries to complete the web a strong wind would sneak through one of the cracks in the hut and destroy its attempt. Again, it would start trying from the start. The king said to the spider after six such failed attempts that now is the time to give up, very much like me after having failed six times, as I am thinking to do the same. However, the spider seemed oblivious of what the king said and kept at it. In the seventh attempt, it did manage to complete the web.
The king said to himself having realized his mistake that if there was ever a time to try one more time this is the time to do it. A few years later, he returned back to Scotland gathered an army and in a decisive battle defeated the English army and drove them out of Scotland.
It is said that the descendants of Robert Bruce until today have a special place for spiders and they look after the arachnids with a lot of kindness.
Motivation sometimes can be a result of an offer or an unhindered opportunity to excel, perform, and achieve. Human being wants to be recognized and an opportunity to perform often leads to an opportunity to be recognized. In the above example of Robert Bruce and the spider the king had an opportunity to free his country, he was unable to convince himself and look at the opportunity. The incident opened up his mind and he could see the opportunity, which could lead to his motivation and ultimately freedom for his country.
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Motivation Secret 3—
The Right Atmosphere for Progress