The Power of Motivation and Aspiration
David Langiulli
10+ years Coaching 100+ Executives at Harvard, UNICEF, Yale, USO, Princeton, & More | Jiu-Jitsu World Champion | 6x Published Author
Compassion, courage, wisdom, and moderation are necessary (but not sufficient) qualities to being a successful leader. But to cultivate these qualities and put them into practice, you need both motivation and aspiration. Motivation is like a mirror—it reflects your present intention. Aspiration is like a doorway to the future—it ushers you to the results you wish to achieve. Without motivation, you cannot even start on the path of leadership; without aspiration, it would be difficult to stay on the path. Here's why these two components are so important.?
The Role of Motivation
Motivation is needed to begin any task or journey. It drives us and gives us the energy to do things we otherwise may not feel capable of doing. Motivation can be internal (such as feeling inspired by someone else's story) or external (like getting praise from others). It can also come from within ourselves—a desire for self-improvement, for example. Without motivation, we wouldn't have the drive to take action or progress toward our goals.
The Importance of Aspiration?
Once you have been motivated enough to take action, aspiration plays an equally important role in helping you stay on course. It guides us on our journey and keeps us focused on long-term goals instead of getting discouraged by short-term setbacks or difficulties. Aspiration helps us stay motivated when things get hard or discouraging because it reminds us of why we are taking this path in the first place—the impact we want to achieve! It also provides an opportunity for reflection and growth as we continue our journey.?
Motivation and aspiration go hand in hand when cultivating qualities such as compassion, courage, wisdom, and moderation. For us to become trustworthy leaders and agents of change in this world, we must find ways to stay motivated while aspiring toward something greater than ourselves. We can recognize when our motivation starts waning so that we can pause and reflect upon our current aspirations before moving forward with renewed energy and enthusiasm.?
By mastering motivation and aspiration together, we can create a more meaningful life (and world) filled with compassion, courage, wisdom, and moderation!
Experienced Career Coach and NLP Master Practitioner I Career Transition I Life Coaching l Executive Career Coach l Edinburgh l Scotland
1 年Great distinctions, David. Simon Sinek, of course, comes from "Start with Why?" The '7 levels deep ' line of questions is also used in NLP - "And what will that do for you?" repeated till the client reaches bedrock and their real truth.
Co-founder of ndc - a consultancy specialising in executive coaching, leadership development and culture consultancy.
1 年Very true David Langiulli! I love the timing of your post - discussing motivation to Northern Hemispherians during January - spot on! Its hard enough to get out of bed most mornings - particularly in the UK with the 'lashing rain'. We run a motivation workshop and I am always amazed that when people map out their motivations, how they don't consider the balance of their activities. For example, their engagement in sport at the weekend. gives them enough motivation on the whole to face work. It was fascinating to see how the pandemic impacted their wellbeing, when sport and social activity was taken away, and how significantly it negatively impacted their motivation at work.
Strategic Advisor & Speaker | Top Leadership Voice | Amazon #1 Author | 50+ Awards - Innovation Leader, Asia Woman Leader | Ex-C-Suite IBM MTV Asia | Top Executive Coaching Company with Training & ICF Coach Certification
1 年Aspiration is the pull and motivation is the push David Langiulli
CEO and Creative Director at CB Media - We empower your brand with engaging videos, online reputation management and social media marketing.
1 年Another great post, David! I agree that compassion, courage, wisdom, moderation, motivation and aspiration are important for effective leadership. They give direction and drive to reach goals and make a positive impact.