Motivation Matters

Instead of GIGO Garbage in Garbage Out – GIGO Good in Good Out                             We are susceptible to suggestion if we weren’t would advertising spend so much in the subliminal approaches they use to change our behavior?! Guard what you receive make it pass through a mental filter of reason, don’t just accept what you hear, see, or read. Expose yourself to the things that will grow yourself. Development is deliberate, plan your growth and when the journey gets wearisome have effective motivational nudges to keep you going. You don’t win by not finishing.

Work harder, have the courage to leave it all on the line
You can build momentum on your achievement and that generated motivation results in more achievement or sustainability. The Great One Wayne Gretzky talks about seeing his opponents immediately after losing to them, beat up physically it was obvious how much of themselves they committed to win. He discovered the missing ingredient to winning the Stanley Cup – the courage to give all. We have to overcome our fear of failure by giving up the excuses, that is the only way to achieve free ourselves by determined hard work and a commitment to the courage to try.

Ignite your inner Lion
Many believe emotions play the role in sustained motivation, emotions are triggered by our reason have a rational mind and at anytime you can recall something that drives you to action. I have symbols I have adopted that ignite me when I get weary from slow progress – The Lion, I am the Lion,  I visualize myself as I want to be wise, strong, noble -a guardian. I use mantras to start my day, it isn’t vanity but I use one from my own writing because it is so individual to me – You can stay idle hoping or active Achieving. To inspire myself to ignite my desire to act I also like to read books and watch movies that motivate me. Then of course given my past experiences I know the value of surrounding and selecting people of like minds who encourage me and who accept my encouragement to be better.

Have a Mission
We need a reason to be. Do not under estimate the value of a life dedicated to a virtuous mission. A mission isn’t selfish but as a an entrepreneur it also isn’t detrimental to your aspirations. You don’t have to destroy someone else’s dreams to achieve your own. The unethical eleven if they reach their selfish desires won’t feel as good or as secure. Build your future on pillars worthy of the load they will bear. Make your mission selfless but in a way that you can be a successful ethical person. My mission is the development and advancement of others.

Renew your commitment to your goals daily.                                                                    To renew you have to at sometime established your goals. Think back to goals you set for yourself they may not have worked out because of timing, if that is the case dust them off renew your commitment and get motivated to act. However, if the goals set and not accomplished are the goals of your past self let them go and start anew. Begin by reflection and reason to determine what your goals are going to be then take steps toward them, if they are goals of merit they will require a plan to sustain your motivation to the commitment of pursuing and accomplishing them.

My hope is that along the way you find happiness in achievement and the motivation to sustain it util you arrive. I hope my book Success Through Logical Thinking helps you to that end/beginning.

Dr. Frank Layman #STLT

What are a company’s greatest assets?

The assets a company has are its identity and upon it depends all future growth.

A company’s assets: It’s products and services; technology; brand; preparation for market shift; Leadership/management; team; and culture.

Product and services need to be well developed and development needs to be constantly refined to ensure relevance in a changing market place.

Technology needs to be complex enough to be protective but user friendly enough to promote not discourage productivity.

Branding requires thoughtfulness and effort to differentiate and embody the essence of the company and its products/services. Those products/services have to have the quality to cultivate return business.

Preparation of market shift allows agility on the most dangerous field of play – the market place. A company needs to be ready and anticipate the impact of changing demand, regulations and advancements by competitors or they will be antiquated. Regular strategic planning utilizing readily available tools like SWOT analysis is a starting point.

Leadership/management two essential components to predict success and future growth for a company. Leaders should be protective of their people willing and virtuous enough to develop them and need to set the mission and vision of the company. Managers need to be in the trenches understanding the demands of those doing the work so they can be facilitators of success and contribute themselves while communicating and collaborating with both Leaders and team members.

Teams are the driving force of every organization. They actuate potential, they carry out the vision and mission of Leadership. They play the most significant role in setting the culture of an organization. That is why pre-employment hiring criteria is so important. A company must hire for the valued characteristics they seek and never solely really on staff development. Staff development is essential once hiring for the company’s culture and is not only the way to improve the quality of the teams but also a way to reward them. Rewarding teams is a part of thoughtful staff retention. Retention is an effort has to be made to decrease turnover. Turnover is one of the most significant causes of declining productivity and sagging morale in an organization. We must motivate, inspire and develop our teams while avoiding negative influencing factors, such as unfair practices, poor working conditions, isolation, toxic work environments. This truly is a test of strong management to ensure because it requires objectivity and accountability. It also requires pushing the bottom (either up or out) and rewarding the top. Once a team is established think about influencing them, providing them tools to develop, allowing them to grow and allowing innovated ways to keep valued teams.

Growing one’s self is a microcosm of development of a Healthy well adjusted team. There is little difference be that team a small unit or a large corporation as application of reason will improve your approach and that increases the probability of the desired successful outcome.

My book Success Through Logical Thinking was written to provide an approach to develop, inspire, and motivate rational over emotional thinking for the purpose facilitating Achievement. My hope is that be it applied to an individual’s quest for self improvement or an organization’s it will be a practical application with significant benefits.

Dr. Frank Layman
#STLT