“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” ~ Bruce Lee
Have you ever met someone who says they want great things, but they never seem to achieve them? Lack of achievement comes most often from lack of action. Lack of action comes from act of motivation. Good leaders can effectively persuade others to take action by using three principles.
- Explain the Whys – The Bible says “Without vision the people will perish.” Often we fail to become motivated to take action because we cannot see the end goal. It’s more than the end goal however. By understanding they why we do what we do, the real purpose behind what we want to accomplish, we become much more motivated to take action on it. If you believe in your vision, others will as well.
- Lead By Example – “What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. Only 7% of communication is verbal. The other 93% is nonverbal. In other words, people do what they see, not what they hear. It’s hard for you to motivate people to take action unless you are taking action yourself. Don’t just meet the expectations for you, exceed expectations. Like begets like. Followers will be more inspired to achievement if they’re being led by someone who is exceeding expectations as well
- Confidence… – Have you ever worked with someone who lacks self-confidence? Successful people are attracted to other successful people. As well, confidence in yourself and what you are doing will breed motivation in others to achieve success. It gives you a seeming presence of authority. When you say things like, ‘You probably know more about this than I do,’ you are sabotaging your own confidence. Know what you want to say and how you want to say it. Present yourself and your ideas with confidence and people are more likely to buy into who you are and what you want to accomplish and that will help keep them motivated to achieve for themselves.