Motivation
How to be a Master Motivator
By Joe Batten
Jun 25, 2002 - 7:09:00 AM

At the very core of all productive activity is -- you guessed it MOTIVATION.

Let's look at the meaning of the word first. Motivation means motive action, or action to achieve motive. And - motive means goals, vision, dream or objective.

The noted and venerable Peter Drucker, who is now past 90, says he has recently concluded that leadership or motivation is really self motivation, or self management. Accordingly, let's recognize that all aspiring Master Motivators must start with themselves.

The following six key elements combine to allow us to use what the acronym spells and enable us to learn how to recognize our possibilities. They are:

G - Goals, visions and dreams
R - Realistic assessment of strengths
O - Openness and emotional vulnerability
W - Wonder, a sense of
T - Tough-minded expectations
H - Hope

Dare to let your mind go forth and dare to dream. What would you optimally like to be and do? Don't settle for less than your dream of the optimum. Confront your possibilities and think through and write down - not to exceed five sentences - the overall stretching goal that will season, stretch and condition all that you think, say, do and are. Learn to love the word "goal". Display it in a visible place that is a constant reminder. Share it, talk about it and live it. That's the "G".

Realistic assessment of strengths means just that. We are all walking bundles of strengths and possibilities.


Our "weaknesses" are only missing, underdeveloped or undiscovered strengths. This knowledge alone can dramatically affect your life and everything you become. We need to build a strength-centered culture -- a true motivational climate.

Our strengths are our tools. Our strengths are who we are! Focusing on "weaknesses" can be a sure route to de-motivation, failure and emotional oblivion.

Openness and vulnerability. All of the six G.R.O.W.T.H. elements progress sequentially. As we think through and clarify our macro goals, vision and dreams, and as we launch an all-out program to discover our present and potential strengths, we then become capable of interacting with others with our emotional and mental guards down. We let others in and let ourselves out. We learn to diffuse, defuse and dissolve our defenses.

Vulnerability in this context does not mean physical vulnerability. But, when we open our minds, hearts and souls and let challenges, difficulties and triumphs in, we must constantly search for - and find -- new strengths. It's a recipe for never-ending growth and motivation.

The sense of wonder is developed through a positive outlook on life. It is a full-time, lifelong quest that persists in seeking out the wonder, the beauty-enhancing qualities of people, events and things.

A study of the greatest motivators and leaders of history --Master Motivators -- will reveal conclusively that they never ceased to look for the beauty, possibilities and strengths in all things.

Tough-Minded expectations in our own journey toward our possibilities are absolutely crucial if we are to successfully elicit and evoke the best from others. In short, motivate them!

Perhaps the finest gift you can give another person is the gift of an excellent and stretching expectation based on a never-ending search


When you study the strengths of others, you are able to see their possibilities, and the more you study their strengths, the better you are qualified to temper your expectations with reality and reason.

Please read this again and again. It is a gigantic step toward becoming a Master Motivator. If you don't expect the best, what is the alternative?

Last in this G.R.O.W.T.H. sequence is Hope. It is not only crucial, it is absolutely essential to all positive motivation. Every successful sale, every successful personal transaction, all successful teaching experience, will only occur if the recipient has sufficient hope concerning the outcome. When I gave the U. S. Army the phrase "Be All You Can Be", it was based on the firm belief and hope that the preceding six elements can yield that result.

Science has recently found that the average human brain contains over a trillion brain cells and that by the end of the average person's life they have only activated, or partially activated, 2.5% of those brain cells.

This is truly a major challenge to adult educators where the opportunities and possibilities are immense. The future is awesome in its possibilities.

Finally, when other people sense and feel that you care about them, motivation is greatly stimulated. As my long-time friend and colleague Zig Ziglar says, "You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."

You can be a Master Motivator!


Joe Batten, MS,CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame; Author of Tough-Minded Leadership,The Master Motivator, Building A Total Quality Culture and The Leadership Principles Of Jesus. 800-234-3176 Web Site: www.daretolive.com

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