So many entrepreneurs get motivation wrong and never harness its true powers for self and business. Motivation mostly comes from within and like any good daily routine, you can mix in elements of motivation to how you handle your business each day. At best, it will become a habit. Here’s the truth – motivation will take your dream to the next level and empower the people you lead in building a high-growth business. Are you ready to dive into what motivation is and how to use it to your advantage?
First, let’s talk about what motivation is:
- Motivation is a passion and drive for achieving something; something that drives you to move forward to attain something meaningful for yourself and others
- Motivation is the fire that burns bright inside of you that you can mentally and emotionally link to accomplishing something for the greater good
- Motivation is more powerful when it comes from within and is used for yourself. But it’s also very impactful when using it as a leadership tool for your team when it’s backed by authenticity, purpose, and clarity
Here’s what motivation is not:
- Motivation is not some rah-rah pep talk you need to give to your team
- Motivation isn’t fake or forced
- Motivation is not a quick-fix solution to underlying problems
Motivation matters because we need the fuel that powers the engine, so to speak. We know we need to move our business forward, but it’s not always as easy as snapping our fingers and getting results. Motivation is the catalyst that forms a synergy of putting our plans together and accomplishing both the strategic and tactical goals.
Where To Begin
Motivation is a driving force for setting up a foundation for success. As I’ve studied the lives of successful entrepreneurs and learned mastery through my own journey, I’ve found creating a time management system is pivotal to building momentum. This begins first with the following:
- Discipline
- Planning
- Schedule management
- Task analysis and ultimately, execution
You need the discipline to get started and set aside the time to plan. Planning clarifies goals and prioritizes what to do. From there, you can master the management of your calendar or schedule and be efficient with how you budget your time. This allows you to focus your energy on a new project or to dedicate time to research and development to improve an existing product in your line.
Every entrepreneur finds at the beginning of their journey that a fiction exists around always doing the things you love. The idea that we’ll always get to do what we love each day couldn’t be further from the truth. Thinking like that is toxic and dangerous. There are so many things you need to do to drive your business forward that you won’t always love doing.
Yes, that’s a fact.
It’s best to link your intrinsic, or internal, motivation to a positive outlook for the exact results you want to achieve. This is where the clarity piece comes in. Having this long-term mindset geared toward positivity, success, and fulfillment will fuel you to power through the things you may not love to do but need to do if you want a flourishing business.
We’re talking about things like:
- Emailing clients
- Building your supply chain
- Checking in with freelancers and monitoring progress
- Tracking financial accounting
It’s a lot easier to do the little things that drive your business forward when you’re motivated to do so.
How To Integrate Motivation Into Your Mindset
We begin with identifying the two P’s here and using them to drive you forward: passion and purpose. Without these two influential factors, it’s very hard to have direction, which is what gives you clarity and a path forward. When you have this in place, motivation becomes the factor in sustaining your momentum, helping you persevere on your good and bad days. It’s why motivation isn’t fleeting. It’s proof that the rah-rah pep talks don’t really help for anything more than a quick fix. Motivation creates a spark first and then becomes a bolstering force that accompanies us on our journey.
I landed my biggest client by paying my own airfare and fee to attend an international industry conference and expo. While I was there, I sold myself to the company I now partner with. I knew I wanted to be a part of this company and I knew I could help them. My motivation was not as much money-motivated as it was a desire for being part of the action. This is a key distinction. I used motivation to my advantage for mutually beneficial growth. I now coach clients I deeply admire at a leading organization because I saw the potential of advancing my career and helping this company grow.
I aligned my motivation with a shared mission by giving things a shot. This is now a cornerstone of my revenue as an entrepreneur. The point is this: motivation puts you in the driver’s seat to go for opportunities you previously would’ve passed up out of fear, doubt, or indifference.
Motivation gives you “skin in the game” and revives your spirit, renewing your focus for what you most want to accomplish. It enables you to see your business partners and employees in a more positive light. It literally colors your view of the world around you. That’s the definition of shaping your mindset for growth.
Motivation helps to create a “growth mindset” geared toward personal development and kaizen, a Japanese term for continuous improvement. This is long-term and future seeking. This is in a way about making progress every day, but not getting overly concerned if you don’t see results right away. Think about this as it applies to your business. You can have all the passion and drive for building a successful venture, but you’ll inevitably run into the headwinds starting out of not always seeing major sales right away. So, then what?
You certainly can’t lose hope. You have to find the motivation that comes from within that encourages you to press forward and for that thing that keeps you going. Motivation is so misunderstood because people don’t see it as the “long game.” They ignore its powers as a dynamic generator of energy and courage. This is the most important message when it comes to motivation. Motivation never truly turns off when we view it over the long haul. For the long term, motivation is a force that always challenges us, gets us off the mat when we’re down, infuses our mindset with belief, hope, and energy, and sustains us in all of our planning and building of our business.
Entrepreneurs Who Have Mastered Motivation
An outstanding example of motivation is Gary Vaynerchuk. If you’ve spent even a few minutes on social media or YouTube over the past ten years, chances are you’ve crossed paths with a piece of “Gary Vee’s” content at some point. His intense, barebones style has endeared him to millions of followers. He’s an entrepreneur, first, but also a very savvy leader. He’s used motivation to build award-winning brands, becoming one of the most influential digital marketing and branding voices in the world and a premier player in media and business.
Motivation has fueled his media empire, wine business, writing and speaking career, and his desire to change the social media landscape. He’s constantly chronicling his life and experiences and using these to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. At his core, he’s focused on equipping entrepreneurs with a mindset of resilience, resolve, and optimism.
He writes about his motivation for using emotional intelligence,
“If you are a CEO or a leader or an operator, you need to be self-aware and double down on your strengths. For me, that’s EQ and I go all-in on it… Employing EQ has allowed me to set the foundations for multiple successful companies… and give back to the community in a way that a lot of other business leaders don’t or can’t or don’t want to.”
Another brilliant example of an entrepreneur who believes in the power of motivation is Sheila Lirio Marcelo. If you’re not yet familiar with one of the world’s most successful CEOs, perhaps you can still benefit from her story. She founded Care.com and along each step of her journey used passion and purpose to fuel her dream. She was a mother and entrepreneur laser-focused on helping people find care. Her site has changed the lives of millions of people and connected them to resources they now have at their fingertips.
She’s a huge proponent of finding your motivation and using that to your advantage. In her own words, she says,
“I always knew that I wanted to have an impact on people’s lives. That was my passion. And throughout my journey, I held on to that resolve and let it guide me to each new opportunity. What is your motivation? How will your company make an impact? Choose the one thing that keeps you going, and fight for this every step of the way despite the many ups and downs.”
How You Can Grow Your Business With Motivation
Remember to begin with yourself, first. If you’re not getting the results you want yet, be patient. Working harder or longer isn’t always the solution. You may need to make mindset shifts that are empowered by motivation and a linkage to achieving goals that bring you happiness and fulfillment. Using the above guidance, you’ll solidify your core for achieving this for yourself. If you find yourself leading employees, follow these three guidelines:
1. Bring others along with your vision first, then inspire them to be a part of it and remind them of the long-term benefit
When growing your business, the people you partner with need to understand your vision. Share your vision with positive energy and enthusiasm. This will help you build the relationships you need that will drive toward the results you want.
2. Use empathy to embrace people and bring out their best
Empathy and motivation often go hand-in-hand when working together to build a business. Let the people you work with know you care about them. Learn about them. Find out what motivates and drives them. Use this as inspiration to want to elevate both their performance and yours.
3. Create resilience through coming together during adverse times
To quote Positive Psychology:
Emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for resilience, and resilience can lead to greater motivation. Resilience has an underlying perseverance component that motivates endurance in the face of obstacles.
We all know how challenging it’s been to move forward in the face of adversity. As you grow your business, don’t get caught in the past. Continue to rely on the motivating forces that push you forward to new challenges.
Concluding Thoughts
Growing a business should make you fulfilled, but perhaps not satisfied. That’s not a bad thing. Like personal growth, building a business isn’t always a smooth, linear process. There are bumps along the road and we need energy, passion, and a driving force to sustain and guide us. Motivation truly helps us to see the lessons we need to learn along our journey. Nothing is impossible when you’re willing to begin and you have motivation on your side.