Motivation Works | #MyFridayStory No. 121

Being positive and motivated all the time is difficult.

Being positive and motivated is also a choice.

We have no control over the parents we are born to, where we are born, our upbringing, the people or the environment in which we grow up. All these have an enormous influence on our eventual character and personality. We reflect whether that influence was mostly positive or negative in the adults we become.

We all get positive and negative signals. Very few are spared the burden of loss, failure or misfortune. We have all experienced injustice, prejudice, hatred, rudeness and selfish or narcissistic behaviour. We're exposed to people who are unkind and hurtful, and love to gossip and complain. There are people simply unhappy with life that take it out on the world at every opportunity. These experiences influence how motivated we feel.

Remaining upbeat and joyful can be a challenge.

I’ve been blessed with many positive role models throughout my life. As much of my formative years were not my choice but rather the environment I found myself in, the privilege I was born into cannot be overemphasized. The leg-up such an upbringing gives you in every area of your life is immeasurable. Growing up in a loving home with access to a community geared to your success, is more than 80% of the battle won.

Being positive and motivated should be mandatory.

I always considered myself to be a positive and motivated person. But, in the early 1990s, as I embarked on a new career in Life Insurance, I discovered the real power of motivation.

My manager was a master at motivating our team. I saw as he gamified every tedious or difficult task, making it fun and exciting. He built a healthy competitive environment within the branch whilst keeping us unified as a tribe. There was an ‘us against them’ vibe that made us stand out. It was known that being under his guidance was an agent’s best chance of success. Without exception, every agent tried their utmost to never let him down.

Motivation at work.

He introduced us to weekly motivational videos and motivational speakers. I started attending talks, and reading books, and watching videos. The more I watched, listened and read motivational content, the more motivated and inspired I felt.

There was no doubt that I was thinking and acting more purposefully.

At about the same time, Mike Lipkin (Some South Africans might remember him as The Yes! Man) burst onto the motivational speaker’s scene. He had written a series of bestselling books. Such as Revelling in the Wild – Business, Lessons out of Africa (1993) which was co-authored with Reg Lascaris and Abracadabra – How to Sell Anything to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere (1997). His talks were exciting, inspiring and invigorating. I remember feeling charged for weeks after attending his talks.

Motivation at work.

Over a decade ago, the My Daily Insights (MDI) emails I received gave me a boost and helped make my day better. On Friday’s they would publish a short story called My Friday Story. The team at As a Man Thinketh used to run the publication but they stopped back in 2008. I missed my regular daily motivational quote. Fridays were a little less fun without My Friday Story.

So, I decided to send out a daily motivational quote (or two) and a short story on Friday's.

I hope you enjoy reading them as much I enjoy posting them.

Have an awesome weekend! ??

Thanks for reading, I appreciate it tremendously ??

* To join the #MyFridayStory group, please go here