January 27th, 2012

The work environment has changed. Change has becomethe norm. Also the truth level of employees has decreased.This can lead to increased dissatisfaction and decreasedproductivity.

Here are ten techniques for motivating your employees tosucceed during chaos:

1. Take Care of the Little Things

Doing the little things well will show that your respect youremployees. Making sure you are on time for meetings,saying “good morning” and “thank-you,” and returningphone calls and e-mails in a timely manner goes a long wayto showing your employees that you care during chaotictimes.

2. Be an Active Listener

Recent research stated that the average supervisor ormanager only invests two hours per year applying “purelistening” skills. Pure listening is when you are listening toyour employee you are not:

* Multitasking

* Ordering your lunch

* Watching people walk by your office.

* Answering telephone calls

* Setting up appointments

To be a pure listener you must be an active listener. Goodmanagers do more than pay attention. They genuinely careabout people and never talk down to them. They ask theiremployees about their goals and dreams, their pastachievement, their concerns and challenges during thischaotic time. They listen with their hearts and minds. Theyrespect the employee’s thoughts and opinions. They realizethat the employees sometimes have the best answer forachieving more through chaos.

3. Walk your Talk

If you expect your employees to arrive early, then you arriveearly. If you expect your employees to keep their promises,you keep your promises. If you want your employees tokeep to high standards, you keep to high standards.Your employees are watching you even when you don’tthink they are watching you. So set the tone. Once youwalk through the doors of your organization make sure youare positive and upbeat if you expect your employees to bepositive and upbeat.

4. Let People Know They Make a Difference

At the top of many lists of what motivates employees, morethan money, is knowing that they make a difference at work.One of the most powerful methods of letting your employeesknow they make is difference is…praise (Go to articleAppreciate to Motivate to learn how). The praise shouldrelate to how the employee helps achieve the overall missionof the organization.

5. Communicate Clearly

Communicate so that others understand what you want toachieve. Adapt your communication to the audience you arespeaking. Constantly communicate your vision and goals sothat there are no misunderstandings. The clearer

the vision,the clearer the communication, the clearer the opportunity forsuccess.

6. Help Employees Succeed

People go to work to succeed, not fail. It is your job tounderstand your employee’s strengths and weaknesses sothat you can put them in the best position to succeed. If, forexample, you find out that an employee is lacking in a certainskill set to succeed during a change then provide thecoaching and training to make them and your organizationsuccessful. The best managers minimize or eliminate theiremployees weaknesses and while building on theirstrengths. Remove any and all barriers to success.

7. Focus Your Team on the Goal.

Focus your employees on the end result, the overall teamgoal. Once you successful communicate this your team willband together to defeat any obstacles that get in the way.

8. Create High Standards

High-performance organizations set high standards for theirpeople. Employees want to know what is expected of them,how their performance is measured, and what rewards theycan expect when they exceed the standard. Make sure thestandards are consistently applied to each employee. Makesure each employee understands how the standards aremeasured so that they know how to reach it. As eachplateau is reached, set new goals.

9. Help Your Employees Compete and Win

Develop goals that help all your employees excel. Makeyour goals inclusive not exclusive. This means thateverybody is working together and wins together. Have youremployees complete against the goal, not each other.

10. Reward Outstanding Achievement

Find ways to recognize your achievers in a public way. Themore you reward employees for excellent achievement, themore you receive more of the same behavior. Make sure youare consistent with the way you contribute rewards to youremployees. Very important, make use you communicateexactly why the employee is being rewarded. And last,reward as soon as possible to the action.

Some of the ways you can show recognition are:

* Idea board

* Initiative Board

* Star Spotlight

* Certificates

* Gift cards

* Say thank-you

* Lunch

Apply these techniques and you will achieve your goalsduring the most challenging of times.

Ed Sykes is a professional speaker, author, and successcoach in the areas of leadership, motivation, stressmanagement, customer service, and team building. You cane-mail him at mailto:esykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call him at(757) 427-7032. Go to his web site,http://www.thesykesgrp.com, and signup for the newsletter,OnPoint, and receive the free ebook, “Empowerment andStress Secrets for the Busy Professional.”

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January 27th, 2012

How do we turn our dreams into reality? How do we step outside the circle of influence that constantly directs us? Our minds are so strongly influenced by our environment that it is easy to lose touch with our own passion.

The word “dreamer” and “visionary” are often used in a derogative way to describe people who are not in touch with the way things are.

Everyone is under a subtle pressure to conform to a limited consensual reality. For most people, it is easy to follow the path of least resistance and just work on surviving and dealing with the demands placed on you.

However, our passion, and our dreams, and our vision, is who we are, and when we refuse to give them the space to expand in our minds and hearts, something dies inside us.

The most important thing you can do is to keep your dream alive.

Here are some simple steps to take:

One, fully expand on your dream. Write it out in detail. You can make a list of what you want. You can write out your ideal scene. Or you can collect pictures and paste them up on a board.

Two, review your graphic representation of your dream every morning as soon as you wake up and every night just before you go to bed. This simple ritual makes a strong impression upon your subconscious mind, and activates it to start looking for ways to make your dream real.

Three, spend at least 15 minutes running a mental movie in your mind of what it would be like to actually be experiencing your dream.

Four, write up a simple plan. Even if you have no idea how to achieve your dream, begin with a simple step. If, for example, you wish to be a millionaire, but work in a dull job and have absolutely no idea how to make

more money…begin by reading a biography of a millionaire.

The importance of your first step is that you are telling your subconscious mind that you are serious. It will then give you a suggestion as to the next step to take after that one. Insights will come once you take a step. Begin the journey with your first step.

Five, create a daily ritual, in which you are taking a step forward. It might be reading inspiring material. It might be writing in your journal. It might be learning a new skill.

Again, you are reinforcing the power of your dream upon your own mind. You are saying, “This is what I want!”

Finally, refuse to partake in things that drain you…things that limit your dream, that make it seem unimportant. Set aside those habits that get in the way of your dream…whether the bad habits simple lower your self-esteem or fatigue or distract you, they must go.

Once you seize the courage to dream, the next step is to keep your dream alive. These five suggestions will then make your dream more vivid in your mind. Once this happens, you will start to have new insights and develop more and more ways to make your dream more and more possible.

In the beginning, most dreams appear to be impossible dreams, but once you engage the imagination, the will, and move forward with simple plans, you begin the journey towards actualizing your power in ways that you cannot presently even envision. The impossible slowly becomes possible. It does take courage and effort…but what could be more rewarding than moving in the direction of your fondest aspiration?

Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you would like to find out more ways to make your dreams come true, you can access his F.R.E.E. book here: http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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January 27th, 2012

I believe that all of us want to express something: an idea, a theory, an opinion or a statement. I also believe that the majority of human beings would love to be creative in the expression of these ideas, theories and statements. Creativity permeates in everything our mind does and is challenged to do. I am certain that if given the chance, most or all of us would love a career in the creative and entertainment industry because it is there where we can express ourselves in the most creative of ways.

Thus, there are many of us who are into art, acting, music, photography, modeling, writing, designing or crafts. We enjoy doing these for many unique combinations of reasons and it would be ideal if we could do it for a living for the rest of our lives. Why do we need to go to work every day, doing something we do not really like as opposed to something that we do enjoy?

So if one has something: a talent, an innate skill, or even simply years of knowledge and experience in one of the arts of expression, it would seem to be a waste if all of a sudden, that person decides to stop dreaming and hoping altogether.

At any point in time, an individual in the creative and entertainment industry can be categorized into one of the three groups described below:

1) Those who have given up on the idea: This group may have already conceded that being say, a rock star was just their teenage dream and that their hours of singing and songwriting had its purpose. However, for it to be a career now would already be too late: now that they are married or now that they have children, etc… etc. If we are not careful, we may stay in this phase for the rest of our lives and always wonder what might have been and perhaps even become bitter because of it without even knowing why.

2) Those who are still hopeful but are not doing anything about their goals presently but would like to get back to them later on: They are doing something else now, like selling, working in a call center, or maybe even managing a manufacturing plant, however they are not setting aside time, money and effort to their goal of being able to create music or take photographs for a living. They can always go back to it later, I suppose, ‘when there’s a bit more time’. Perhaps after they get married, after the first child, after the second child, after they get promoted or after they pay their debts, whatever their unique circumstances may be.

3) Those who are willing and able to allocate time, effort and money to progress their art and talents: The people in this group are doing something with their art and talents. They still believe in the idea that they can become who they want to be — that

life can be the way they once saw it, not withstanding all the years of ‘reality checks’ that ensued. They may have actually finished a painting, or have just sold one. They maybe strutting on a catwalk or maybe they are designing a client’s logo this very minute. Or perhaps, it could be something preparatory like preparing the first exhibit in their portfolio or reading a book to learn how to protect their copyright. Regardless of what the effort is, big or small, as long as they are taking active steps, a person will belong to this group.

In the first phase, we experience a very frustrating and demoralizing event in our ‘careers’. We cannot help but feel defeated when our work does not get the reaction we have hoped for or expected and perhaps we begin to believe that we are only fooling ourselves and that we should give up our foolish hopes and dreams.

However, doesn’t it turn out that eventually, you start taking action again (in the 3rd stage) after you have been brooding, perhaps even making tons of excuses for a while (in the 2nd stage)? You come to realize, time and time again, that no matter what, ‘it’ is still what you want to do regardless of what has happened in the past and what may happen or not happen in the future.

After years of experiencing this cycle, I have decided years ago that regardless of what I was doing, and regardless of whatever ‘career’ decisions I may have to make, it must be to advance or support my creative endeavors. It makes more sense because every time I have tried to suppress it, tried to ignore it and tried to pretend that the urge is not there, all I ended up doing was wasting my time. I have learnt to embrace my urge to express myself in creative ways and have accepted that it is part of me and the less time I spend defeated, the sooner I could get to work towards what really matters. Perhaps you can use something from my experience and if what you are experiencing is the same, hopefully you would not spend too much of your life thinking that your ‘passion’ is not really what you want to do. Because honestly, what would be better than doing things to make your life happen the way you dream it?

Marquez Comelab is the author of the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader. It is a guide for working men and women interested in trading currencies in the forex market. It explains everything you need to know to create your own trading methodology; touching on the basics and preparation before expanding onto the topics of market analysis, tools, trading systems, risk management strategies, discipline and psychology. See: http://marquezcomelab.com His other articles can also be found at http://thefreedomtochoose.com; along with other helpful trading, business, investing and self-improvement articles.

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January 26th, 2012

I have a small plaque on my desk that has three words in tall bold black letters: NEVER TOLERATE EXCUSES. It’s an angry looking sign, and it should be – because once you allow yourself to get in the habit of tolerating excuses, it’s all over.

I’m not talking about the excuses other people give us. You can’t control their behavior, so don’t even worry about it. I’m talking about you and me, and the excuses we give ourselves for why we aren’t taking the actions we know we should be. We even have a special name for these excuses, so we’ll feel better about making them: we call them “reasons.”

Let me give you a few examples of common “reasons” we use when faced with challenging situations:

“I don’t have the time for that …”

“I don’t have the money for that …”

“I don’t have the skills for that …”

“I don’t have enough willpower for that …”

We use reasons like these all the time to explain why we’re not making the changes in our lives that we need to. They sound valid enough – we’re all pressed for time and money, and there’s only so much talent to go around, right?

Wrong. These reasons have one major thing in common – they are all conspicuously missing the statement that puts the responsibility on us. Our excuses avoid dealing with the fact that we have the power to change things (and neatly absolves us of any guilty feelings for not stepping up and demanding more from ourselves).

Let’s see what these “reasons” would look like if we really told the whole truth:

“I don’t have the time for that because I haven’t been willing to make a priority of making better use of my time.”

“I don’t have the money for that because I haven’t been willing to make a priority of making better use of my money.”

“I don’t have the skills for that because I haven’t been willing to make a

priority of working hard to increase my skills.”

“I don’t have enough willpower for that because I haven’t been willing to make a priority of developing real discipline.”

Ouch! When you put it that way, it stings, doesn’t it? It sure does when I have to talk that way to myself! The truth is that we use excuses to get ourselves out of the hard work of self-discipline or of thinking hard enough to find an answer to our problem.

If you want to get all you can out of your life, you have to decide to NEVER TOLERATE EXCUSES from yourself. You have to decide to develop the discipline. You have to decide to think hard enough to find the answer. And unless you’re willing to do this, you’re going to live out the rest of your days bellyaching about how tough you have it and how much the deck is stacked against you.

Only you can take control of your life. And only you can stop tolerating the excuses that you’ve been letting hold you back from the life you dream of.

Do This Now!

1. Get a pen and paper and write down three things you really want to do but you feel like you don’t have the time/money/talent/whatever to pull it off.
2. Identify Your Excuse – What are you doing (or not doing) that is allowing this problem to exist in the first place?
3. Plan and Strike – What are you going to do to blow these excuses out of the water? Figure it out and get to it – NOW!

Dave Navarro is the Rapid Results Coach who can help you get unstuck from the problems that put limits on your business wealth. Check out the Results Right Now newsletter at http://tips.resultsrightnow.net to get a free 30 minute coaching session and a Crash Course in Creating Instant Momentum! Do it now, before this month’s free coaching slots are used up

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January 25th, 2012

If you have been searching high and low for quality self defense training, you may want to visit Self Defense Clique. This amazing site is a one-of-a-kind invention: a social networking mega site dedicated to the fine art of self defense. Learn about self defense techniques, weapons, and so much more. Create your free profile after you create your free account and show the world why they shouldn’t mess with you. You can even shop for the latest and greatest self defense weapons and have them shipped directly to your door without even having to leave your home.

Finding good self defense training in your home town is easier than you think. The ever-growing community of self defense fans at Self Defense Clique can help you weed out the contenders from the pretenders. Chances are, even if you live in a small city, there is at least one other person from your area registered. Post a note in our fast paced forum and state which area you live in and what aspect of self defense training you want to learn more about, then simply sit back and watch the results pour in. If you live in a big city, like New York or L.A., expect

to get dozens or even hundreds of responses. It is up to you to weed through them all and find out which self defense expert is for you.

You can actually learn a lot about self defense from the good people at Self Defense Clique. Through the use of videos, pictures, detailed blog posts, and picture albums, not to mention the news section, you can figure out the pluses and minuses of the world’s most popular self defense techniques, then you can seek out professional training to complete your quest. Self Defense Clique hopes to become the premiere self defense destination for students, teachers and anyone else with even a passing interest in the world of self defense.

Finding good self defense training is an important part of becoming more self confident in tense situations. No amount of reading, browsing, watching, or chatting can truly prepare you for a situation where you may need to defend yourself. Self Defense Clique hopes to connect average people who are tired of being scared with the best professional trainers in their town, county, state, or region. Self Defense Clique is here to help you become a better person. Create your free account today and see for yourself.

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January 24th, 2012

If motivation is what fuels your actions then inspirational thoughts is what fuels your motivation. Consider what it takes to get motivated in the first place, an inspiration. When inspired you’re stimulated or motivated to take action. When your inspiration weakens you then experience a lack of motivation.

Gaining the initial motivation to take a course of action is a relatively easy feat. Learning how to stay motivated is a more difficult task and is the topic of our discussion here today.

Let’s look at 3 simple yet effective techniques you can use to stay motivated while in pursuit of any goals you have set.

Stay Focused on Your Goals

Do not forget what it is you are trying to achieve. It is sometimes easy to get so caught up in the chase itself that we tend to forget what it is we are chasing. When this occurs the drudgery of the chase wears you down sapping your energy, enthusiasm and motivation. The end result is that you quit!

Remember it is the end result we are striving to attain so it’s important to continually remind ourselves of the benefit we’re going to experience. Remember Your Why! This will help to keep you motivated during your pursuit.

Chart Your Progress

A form of daily inspiration, charting your progress is more of a visual that displays to you the progress you are making. This type of encouragement will help fuel your energy and enthusiasm so that you can

maintain the efforts needed to reach your goal.

Surround Yourself with Like Minded People

By associating with people who have the same goals keeps you reminded to stay focused. Sharing thoughts and ideas will not only keep you motivated but also lend a different yet beneficial perspective to your own approach.

Associating with those who already have accomplished the goals you’re pursuing is an affirmation that these goals can be reached. It is also a chance to gain insight from somebody who has ‘been there and done that.’ It is much easier to follow a path that has already been made than to blaze a brand new trail.

As you can see by maintaining inspirational thoughts you are greatly enhancing your ability to remain driven toward the goals you’ve set for yourself. When you first get motivated to pursue any objective your enthusiasm is sky high but over time it tends to weaken. This results in a lack of motivation. With the help of different forms of daily inspiration you will be able to maintain that inner drive you’ll need to reach your desired objectives. Learning how to stay motivated in this way will make you more successful in both the personal and professional aspects of your life.

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.

For additional Online Success Tips

and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit:http://affiliatequickstart.com/

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January 22nd, 2012

It is not what you do every once in a while that determines your destiny but your consistent actions that determines your ultimate destination in life. To move in the direction you ultimately desire for your life, your destiny, it is absolutely critical to stay motivated. There is nothing like good motivational audio books to assist you and keep you on track in pursuing your goals.

There is a science to motivational audio books. Those individuals with the power to motivate us are indeed very special for the power of their words and actions inspire us to become more, bigger and better. As our knowledge of the workings of the human mind expand, the more we gain to understand what makes us do or not do what we do. There are numerous motivational audio books on the market by rare individuals that have mastered the principles of the human mind and who can pave a direct route to what motivates you. (read more on what motivation really is…)

Good motivational audio books will always assist you in defining goals for your life. Exciting goals will get you up early and keep you up late. They inspire you to marshal all your recourses and use everything you can possibly find within the sphere of your influence to bring them to fruition. Know that the human mind is always pursuing something. It is your task to direct your focus in what your mind pursues. Motivational audio books tap into the power of your mental focus. Whatever we focus on consistently we move towards. In his timeless classic, As a man Thinketh, James Allen states that by the power of our own thoughts we have made or unmade ourselves. If we don’t consciously direct our thoughts into the direction we want our lives to go, then worry and anxiety will take over by default. There is more than enough negative influences around us all the time to grow a wonderful garden of weeds in our minds.

Listening to motivational audio books as part of your daily routine will help to keep your mind positive. Having a positive mental attitude is absolutely critical if we want to lead a happy and fulfilled life. It is even more important

in achieving success as noting good can ever spring from a mind that is constantly focussed on negative and destructive thoughts. Tony Robbins once said something that changes my life. He said that “what is wrong is always available, BUT so is what is right. It all comes down to what you choose to focus on.”

Motivational audio books have the power to motivate us. That is it calls us to action and helps us install powerful motives for acting on our goals and aspirations. If you are motivated you have a motive or reason for doing something. The magic of motivational speakers is that they help you find reasons within yourself to do whatever is necessary to achieve your goals. When you are motivated everything just seems to “flow” and tasks that previously you thought of as too hard or impossible becomes doable and pleasurable. Motivation is the perfect antidote to procrastination.

Motivational audio books allow us to use and utilize NET TIME (no extra time) – time when you are not actively doing something constructive. Whether you are commuting, running on the treadmill, relaxing and even while you are sleeping. What? Listen to motivational audio books while I’m sleeping? Yes! Remember that your subconscious mind never sleeps. It’s always “awake” and always absorbing whatever it is “fed” by the environment, our conscious minds and thoughts.

Let’s face it we all have bad days, days when we feel like we are fighting a losing battle and that our lives have no real meaning. We all have days where we feel depressed and days where we procrastinate. It’s exactly then when you need to have your favourite motivational audio books at hand. No matter what you do make sure you stay motivated and break through the wall of procrastination.

“Motivation is like food for the brain. You cannot get enough of it in one sitting. It needs continual and regular refills.” – Peter Davies

This article is published with the permission of The Self Improvement Gym, a network of website dedicated to helping ordinary people create extraordinary lives and turning their dreams into reality. For more information please visit http://www.TonyRobbinsAudiobooks.com for free e-books, e-zines and other recourses.

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January 21st, 2012

Where have you come from this past year? What have you accomplished? Don’tlike the answers? Wish you had better ones, more fulfilling ones? You can -just one year from now!

You have within yourself the power to decide that when someone asks you justone year from now, “What did you accomplish in the last year?” you willrespond, “Let me tell you – I was on fire!”

You aren’t getting any younger, and neither am I. If nothing changes, nextyear you will be one year older and still stuck in the rut wondering whenyou will achieve your dreams. But you can change!

Here are some thoughts to apply so that you can take control of your worldand ignite your life!

Decide what you want this year. What is it – exactly? You will never pursueit, nor get it, if you do not know what “it” is. Crystallize it in yourmind. See it. Know it.

Put some sort of physical reminder where you will see it every day. Maybeyou want to lose weight. Put a picture of someone who looks the way you wantto, or perhaps a picture of yourself from when you weighed what you want toweigh again. This will keep it in your mind each and every day.

Increase your positive self-talk. Stop telling yourself negative things, andI include thoughts, not just verbal talk. Instead, start telling yourselfpositive things. “But Chris, those thoughts just run around in my head. Idon’t put them there!” Well, catch them. Take them captive and throw themout! When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, stop and askyourself what the exact opposite would be. Then begin to think it. Let thepositive thought expand and

take over the terrain of your mind the same waythe negative thought would have before you ran it out of town!

Act. Yes, act. I don’t mean join a theater group. I mean get some actiongoing in your life. Want to get out of debt? Ask the boss for 5 hours ofovertime a week. Over a year that would be 250 hours (I give you two weeksfor vacation. Aren’t I nice?). If you normally make $15 an hour, you willmake $30 (or something like that – go with me here). $30 multiplied by 250is $7500. Your action will move you toward your goal. Worrying about moneywon’t. If you want to lose weight, go to the gym on a set schedule. Whateveryou do – act! Just make the action something that will propel you towardyour goal.

If you do the above – if you decide what you want, put a physical reminderof it where you will see it, increase your positive self-talk and takeactions that will propel you toward your goals, you will ignite your life!And next year when someone asks how you have been your eyes will light upand you will boldly say, “Man, I have been on fire! Let me tell you allabout it…”

About The Author:

Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of Made for Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams.

To see Chris “live” at the upcoming Jim Rohn Weekend Event as he speaks on the subject of Secrets of Influence go to http://Chris-Widener.InspiresYOU.com/ or call 800-929-0434.

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January 20th, 2012

Persistence will carve you as a leader in your industry. Persistence is where you get mental strength. It seperates you from ordinary people. You must learn to cultivate a habit of persisting, since all things are possible if you persist.

The persistent man or woman doesn’t accept defeat, he just keeps climbing on. David Schwarz in his book ‘The magic of thinking big’ says “Salvage something from every set back”. Persistence has incredible power. To reach the roughest of ambitions, we could, if we took one step at a time and continue to take steady steps and not stop. People of greatness have climbed the ladder to success, while encountering all the obstacles that are hurled their way, which usually deter common people. Persistence is a vital step on the ladder, to attain your dream. Man in order to live to his fullest potential must have a dream. To reach that dream you must build a ladder. The first step is determination. The second step is dedication, the third is discipline, the fourth is attitude and the final step is the most important being persistent.

A person with persistence will succeed over the person with more talent, more education or more money. Nothing can replace persistence not talent nor genius, neither education. Lack of persistence is a weakness which filters

through a majority of the races. Persistence can turn adversity into greatness. Read Biographies and Autobiographies of great personalities. Follow some of the principles they had employed to succeed. Make a right choice today. Focus on the kind of Sales result you want to produce. Set the target of your sales volume for this year. Set tools to work with, to achieve this target. Discipline your life, fall in love with your dream. Presently you probably are selling only 25% of sales of a 100% target. With persistence you can master your stride to sell the rest of the 75% as well. Remember all great people started as ordinary human beings but had a dream, persisted, endured, determined, disciplined, dedicated and with a positive mental attitude achieved their goals. If they can persist, you can, so begin to persist.

Winston Saga is one of the world’s leading sales legends. He is also the CEO of Sales and Motivation International. Winston has been acknowledged as a unique and distinctive authority in the field of sales and personal development. Last year International Biography Centre selected him ”International Man of the Year” for his outstanding contribution to sales and Service. He has written 100′s of articles to magazine, journals and websites. Visit http://www.telesalestips.com to know more about the Author.

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January 18th, 2012

Motivation in creativity and innovation is more important than personality traits. This is like possessing high intelligence – one must be motivated to improve and apply it.

It is compelling that motivation and creative output are positively correlated. The more motivated an individual, the more likely he or she is to engage in the task at various cognitive levels until an outcome is achieved.

Contrary to many assertions, factors that make up motivation can be isolated, monitored and measured using standard quantitative techniques.

This allows a leader, consultant or manager to measure and improve motivation with a corresponding rise in creative output.

There are broad and specific categories of motivation.

Broad categories (Amabile, 1983):

a) Intrinsic motivation – that where fulfillment is reached by attaining the solution to the problem itself, the activity is engaged in for its own sake. Characteristics of intrinsically motivated people include commitment to work, passionate involvement, total absorption and devotion to their work, interest and satisfaction in their work, challenged by their work.

b) Extrinsic motivation – that where the achievement of the task results in the fulfilment of an ulterior end, rather than the task itself. It is the motivation to engage in an activity primarily in order to meet some goal external to the work itself, such as attaining an expected reward, winning a competition or meeting some requirement.

Extrinsic motivation is itself split into two categories: synergistic and non-synergistic. Synergistic extrinsic motivators provide information or enable the person to better complete the task and act in accordance with intrinsic motives. Non-synergistic reward leads a person to feel controlled and

is incompatible with intrinsic motivation.

A number of specific categories exist, including:

a) The gap between the person’s ideal and real self. If an individual perceives that he is not what he wishes to be, he is more likely to be motivated to engage in activities that bring him closer to his ideal self.

b) The perceived enjoyability of the task. Terms such as “fun,” “amusing,” “fascinating” and “inspiring” are common.

c) The degree of challenge. The more a task is perceived as challenging and competency expanding, the more the intrinsic motivation.

d) Feasibility. If a task is perceived to be unreachable, intrinsic motivation decreases.

e) Control of ones destiny. If an individual perceives that a task is not under his control, then intrinsic motivation decreases.

f) Recognition is noted by many to be a powerful driver of task engagement.

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These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a DIY Audit, Powerpoint Presentation and Good Idea Generator Software) from http://www.managing-creativity.com.

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Kal Bishop MBA is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com

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