REMEMBER TO STAY ReallyMotivated: REMEMBER THE 1970s

Though it’s hard even for me to believe, I entered my teenage years in the 1970s.  It was a heady time to be a teen:  disco was all the rage and even for us teenagers there were “teen discotheques” mimicking the adult places like Studio 54! 

Although I was a chubby kid (see my transformation by clicking here), my mom was great enough to outfit me in the coolest clothing of the times:  a black leisure suit, a Qiana © shirt in a “starburst” pattern (fake silk in light blue, dark blue, and orange) unbuttoned 4 down revealing a newly fuzzy chest, platform shoes raising me to a towering 6’3” at fourteen years old, and a silver chain – a choker my grandma gave me for Christmas.  There was only one thing missing to complete my very stylish and timely look:  cologne. 

Don’t forget, it was the ‘70s:  your cologne was key!  At this time, MUSK was the popular fragrance – some brands advertised that theirs contained “pheromones” designed to motivate others to flock around you.  Even then, I laughed at a modern day notion of a love potion motivating others to fall at your knees.

Upon later inspection though, I realized there is something to MUSK that we could all benefit from; however, it’s neither the scent nor the “motivation producing” chemicals they contain.  Rather, it’s remembering 3 important components of motivation contained in the word MUSK

Let me share them with you now!

M=U+S+K 

Motivation = Urgency + Support + Knowledge

Think about it:  MUSK can help us to remember actions we can take to stay motivated and to create the kind of environment that facilitates others’ personal motivation.   By the way – there’s no time to worry whether or not YOU can motivate anyone else – let the psychologists deal with that.  MUSK solves the “motivation problem” for the rest of us by enabling us to create a MOTIVATIONAL ENVIRONMENT that gets others to take action as well.

URGENCY
Think about what a deadline does for you in getting things done!  Whether you’re a student working on a project or a mom signing your kids up for soccer – the deadline, the time factor, creates URGENCY.  That urgent feeling – created by a deadline – creates motivation to do whatever it is that you need to do.  If there’s no deadline, no time or date involved – then you have forever – and that NEVER increases motivation!

Other actions you can take to create urgency, i.e. motivation are healthy competition, setting high expectations for yourself or your group, creating short term wins that lead to achieving larger goals.

SUPPORT
Think about this – have you ever wanted to drop a class, drop a project, quit a community group – but someone intervenes and says:  “DON’T, I’ll help you! “ And all of sudden you feel the urge to stay at it – motivated to persevere once again.  If you know this experience, then you understand how SUPPORT relates to motivation.  When you know you have others behind you, you are likely more MOTIVATED to continue.  How do you use support to create that motivational environment?  IDENTIFY those who can support you, CULTIVATE relationships with those supportive people who get behind you, USE the support folks offer to keep doing what you need or want to do. ASK those you know for support!

What if there’s really no one else? Don’t despair! There are two things you can do:  first support yourself – tap into your own strengths and self-awareness that might “keep you keeping at it.”  Supporting yourself sometimes is the best support.  Remember this:  YOU have been successful before – use your successful experiences to support YOURSELF.

Second, join a group – community-based, campus-based, wherever.  Make sure that it’s centered on a purpose in which you are interested and where people can share their views.  In this way, you can find others likely to support you AND perhaps, find those you too might support!

KNOWLEDGE
Think about this – if you’re good at math – you’re probably motivated to solve math problems – even the difficult ones.  You’re not scared by the challenge; rather, a more difficult one might keep you more motivated to solve it.  Why?  Because you have KNOWLEDGE – you may not know exactly how to solve the problem – but you KNOW where to start or you KNOW how to approach the problem and you might even KNOW principles that relate.  That’s the point.  KNOWLEDGE – even when it’s incomplete or imperfect – MOTIVATES us to keep doing, to stick with it!  The same goes for you English types out there – while the thought of writing a 30 page paper or a 30 page report for your boss might seem daunting – you KNOW you can do it, you just may need to spend time gathering research and spending time writing.  KNOWING that you can do it motivates!!

Ways to increase KNOWLEDGE – well you’re doing that RIGHT NOW by being on ReallyMotivated.com! Other ways include:  attending training sessions, reading books, and surrounding yourself with others who KNOW how do the things you’d like to do and learning from them by watching and asking questions.

In the future we’ll explore these topics again – they are key to staying ReallyMotivated!