Motivation
For many of us, personal motivation is unfocused and diffused. When motivation is not tied to a specific goal, it rapidly disintegrates into inertia. But when motivation becomes focused on a single, well-defined goal ( like becoming a licensed professional engineer ) it becomes a powerful force for success and achievement.
Think of motivation as steam. If released into the open atmosphere, steam evaporates and disappears. If steam is trapped in a room, it can make you feel uncomfortably sticky and hot. But harness the steam to an engine, and it can pull a thousand-ton train.
It is the same with motivation. Motivation can escape from you. evaporating into thin air, leaving you feel unenthusiastic and lethargic. Or motivation can be trapped inside, causing you to be agitated and filled with frustration. But motivation harnessed to a goal can get you to accomplish virtually anything you set your thoughts on.
Motivation is meaningless until it is combined with action. That is why we call it motivation.
There is one word that blocks action, poisons motivation, that smothers any chance for success and happiness. That killer word is can’t.
So many individuals faced with a crisis or an opportunity react negatively. The first thing that pops into their minds and out of their months is “I can’t.”
“We need this report by Thursday,” the boss tells us.
“No way,” we reply. “It can’t be done.”
But life need not be lived that way. There is another word, one of the most powerful words in the English language – can.
The gap between what people think they can achieve and what is possible for them is actually very small.
“I can” cuts across all lines of work and all endeavors within a chosen profession, whether your ultimate goal is lifting enough weight to pass a fire-fighter’s exam, closing a sale, getting a promotion, earning a Ph.D., making a million dollars, or landing a job in the first place.
“I can” is energizing. Say it to yourself right now; I can. Did you feel a lift, a small surge of well-being? Say it over and over, again and again, a hundred times a day. You will soon find your enthusiasm spilling over into everything you do at work and at home.
There really are no good uses for the word “can’t.” But think you can, believe you can, and you will find that you can indeed!
adapted from The Joy of Working (Ballantine Books, NYC)
DENNIS WAITLEY and RENI L. WITT
