Paul Says

“What’s important to you about your financial future?” and “what has to happen for you to be able to realise that future?” We hear so much today about increased living costs, increased energy fees, increased insurance premiums, increased mortgage rates, increased debt burdens and increased financial stress. It seems that many people are swimming against the tide in a sea of financial uncertainty.

If you’re currently experiencing the increased stress that comes with financial uncertainty, what sort of motivational force will it take for you to move beyond the stress you feel and begin living the life of your dreams? What motivational force will you use in order to get the job done?

Researcher Daryl Siedentop, discovered a massive difference between the power of internal and external motivating factors. In fact the difference was massive. Because most people rely on will power, and external motivators such as possession and status, and because will power rapidly and continually depletes, very few people ever get to live the expression of their dreams.

Extraordinary achievers, noted Siedentop, use internal frames of reference because it’s only from internal motivators such as passion and inspiration that the necessary energy to carry people through their ups and downs can be gained.

There are four broad categories of motivational forces. The first is based on fear but fear is a weak motivator in terms of getting people to move towards what they want; their goals or ideal lifestyles for example. This is because fear is generally an away from motivator which is commonly used to move people away from things they dislike, away from spiders and snakes or away from heights or flying.

The next category is based on feelings of duty and obligation. These motivators have people moving towards things but they involve a strong sense of doing for others rather than doing for oneself. Duty and obligation come with a series of attachments such a selflessness and sacrifice. While there is nothing wrong with these per se, as motivating forces, they're not strong enough to motivate someone towards the achievement of goals they set for themselves.

Love and respect is a category of motivators that have people achieving goals and they’re certainly stronger than fear, duty or obligation. However they still require doing for others rather than doing for oneself.

As mentioned earlier, the forth category involves passion and inspiration. With these two motivators on board, you can do almost anything. Passion and inspiration hardly ever deplete because they’re truly some of the strongest and most complete of human motivators. They can be used for self, for others or for entire nations. Look at the examples of Gandhi and Mandela.

Yes they may have had fear, duty, obligation, love and respect on board, and yes there may have been a sense of selflessness and sacrifice but without the necessary passion and inspiration to overcome some of the most depraved and difficult of human circumstances, I doubt whether lesser motivators could have carried them through.

So what motivating forces will you use in order to move closer towards the life of your dreams?

Paul Counsel

www.paulcoounsel.com.au