Motivation is a BY-PRODUCT of Action
The
universe rewards action. But most
people believe action is a by-product of
motivation – once they’re "motivated", they’ll
act. So a lot of Mary Kay beauty consultants
spend a ton of time, energy and money trying to
“motivate” themselves to make phone calls, warm
chatter, share the business, etc.
If you
operate your business under the false premise
that motivation happens before action, I can
guarantee that you’ll forever experience the
emotional roller coaster, and be running on the
perpetual treadmill as a victim of your
“motivation”.
Common belief about achievement looks like
this: Motivation
→
Actions
→
Results.
In
reality, however, there’s no time to wait for
motivation to magically appear in your heart and
mind before taking action.
When it
comes first, it’s what I call theoretical
motivation because nothing has happened yet
– you’re still working on the theory, or
the hope, that you can produce results in the
future.
Uh
oh...Rabbit
Trail!
This
explains what happens often with women after
attending Seminar or Leadership or any other
uplifting training event. They can get
super-excited, commit to achieving big goals,
but then the bubble bursts a few days or a few
weeks after returning home.
Why?
Because the type of “motivation” that you get at
events like these is not based on your own past
results – it’s based on future results
that you’re hoping to get.
Since
it’s not based on your own past experiences,
theoretical motivation is hollow and it’s
fleeting. It can be popped easily by a few no's
or negative comments.
**Important – Please understand that I’m not
saying anything bad about Seminar and
Leadership, or that you shouldn’t go to these
trainings – YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD GO, but not
necessarily to get yourself externally
“motivated” into action.
In my
opinion, you should go to get the big picture of
what the Mary Kay opportunity truly is, to hear
the inspirational stories of women just like
you, to network with other eagles from all
around the continent, and to gain clarity about
what actions you should take to
get what you want.
End
rabbit trail ;-)
There’s
a much more effective strategy for achieving
what you want, instead of playing the typical
up-and-down motivation game. Here’s a
super-simplified 3-step process that will help
you win the emotional struggle.
1) Stop
trying to get yourself “motivated”. I’d suggest
you take that word out of your language.
Anything you have to be “motivated” to do
doesn’t sound fun or easy - it sounds painful.
So,
anytime you’re in need of motivation, you’re
negatively energizing the actions you must
take. You might as well be telling yourself
that the actions are going to be uncomfortable.
Therefore, most of the time they are.
2) Take
the time to identify the actions you need to
perform that will lead to your goals. Everyone
must have a clear, personalized map to get what
they want in life. Most Consultants and
Directors don’t.
3) JUST
DO THE ACTIONS! Don’t worry about the results.
Don’t
make the actions any more difficult than they
are. This business is simple – all you need to
do is communicate with people and help them get
what they want. What makes this business hard
for a lot of women is that they overcomplicate
the process with unnecessary emotion, pretending
they control more than they do, and pretending
that other people’s responses mean anything at
all.
Now,
back to the concept of motivation and where it
really fits into your goal getting. High
achievers “A-R-M” themselves for
success. They realize that actions lead to
results. Experiencing results will provide a
positive emotional attachment to the actions.
And that emotional attachment is true
motivation.
True motivation
is powerful, long-lasting, and it leads to
more action, creating a positive cycle of
effortless success. Therefore, true motivation
is actually a by-product of real results, which
are by-products of simple actions. True
motivation comes last, not first, in the
achievement cycle. It looks like this:
As you can see, the correct order is Actions
→
Results
→
Motivation. When you do it this way, your
motivation will be experiential, as
opposed to theoretical. In other words,
it will be based on REALITY.
So,
instead of energizing the idea that warm
chattering, sharing the business, offering your
card, making phone calls, etc. are hard, just do
them. Just do them without any expectation of
an outcome. Just do the actions,
and watch what happens.
After
all, if you just do the actions on
a consistent basis, achieving your dreams is the
only possibility.
Happy
trails!
SS
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the
phone for 6
weeks.