They say you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Well for that matter, you can’t make it eat, stand, rollover, or walk a plank. Maybe the horse was not thirsty, or maybe the horse had a bad experience the last time it was led to water. Who knows, but in the business world motivation is everything. This is a key part of what a procrastinator lives. Motivation. They want to do everything, they want to have people feel the joy of success with them, they want to feel the sweet, sweet joy of standing in front of the world and saying, “I MADE IT.” But alas, this is more than likely not happening or may never happen. Why? Because they had forgotten to motivate not only the people around them but also themselves.

When it comes to motivation, a true procrastinator will lay in bed at night and think of the success they will achieve by putting into action certain plans, strategies, and procedures. They will think about opportunities and ideas that are sure to be the key to everything and while still with their head on the pillow begin to calculate the money that will roll in. This is the life of a serial procrastinator. See, the following morning they will go back to doing the same thing they always do, and then that night they will go through the same routine of thoughts again. They are motivated in their own mind, but in reality, they are as lackluster as any person waiting for a bus in the rain. Uncomfortable stressed, and not quite sure why they just didn’t take the train.

Knowing how to motivate is a big deal. I mean really motivate, inspire, and empower But do we do it? The simple answer is no. You, like me, have been or still are the quintessential pillow motivator. Giving yourself all the confidence and motivation in the world only to fall asleep and relive Groundhog Day again.

Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them. They hire already motivated people and inspire them.

Again, an overused statement is “where there is no will, there is no way”. This also is rubbish. There is always a way. It’s just that most people are not looking at the situation in the right way. They need to look at the problem or situation that helps them find the drive they need to make the necessary steps to change the situation. Once you or the people you work for find the drive and master the motivation they need, then there is nothing that can hold them back.

I have learned and taught the simple rule of Why and How.

The Why represents all the reasons I need to do something or the reason I want someone else to do something. It is the persona of the proposition your mind needs to justify the actions you will take to make the situation become a reality in the manner you need it to. Even you need to understand that.

More often than not, we do things in business for the wrong reasons. Ask yourself this: do you complete a task because it has to be done or are you trying to complete it so you can learn something new? You may even be doing it because you don’t know any other way to get it done. If this is the case, then there is a problem with your Why. You should always know exactly why you do something and what benefit it will have on the overall success or outcome you are aiming for. If you can’t say the Why to an action, then stop doing it and do something productive.

This leads into the How. A good example of the How is when you need to get something done quickly because you failed to get it done sooner. University students have amazing Hows when they need to. They know they have an assignment due on XYZ date yet leave it until the last possible minute to get it done, and still manage to hand in an assignment. Their Why never changes, they do it because it’s part of their course, but their How changes dramatically.

This Why and How method can work on motivating people including yourself. Why do you want to do what you want to do, and how are you going to do it? The motivation part comes at the end when you see what you are aiming for. The results are the actual Why. The How becomes the vehicle in which you drive to achieve it.

Motivating people to succeed and achieve desired results requires you to understand their Why and How. You have some leverage on these, but a good boss gives guidance and direction in what needs to be done and then allows the staff to determine the Why and How. With most business relationships with staff, money is a major motivator.

A good manager or owner will work with their staff to achieve their goals. They will encourage creativity and expression instead of stifling it. They will show empathy when things do not go right, or a failure is the result of something. They will be motivated through actions and allow staff to follow those actions in return. You become the boss who helps their staff to understand that they are choosing to do this or that for you because they have seen the motivation you are willing to give them and they like it.

If you can get your staff or even your own self to choose to do something rather than having to do something, then you stand a far better chance of success.

Some ways that you can create the motivation of choosing to do something or wanting to succeed are simple and not at all hard. If your motivation is purely for money’s sake, then you will most likely never succeed to the level you are hoping. Sure, you will make some money but your real Why will continue to go unachieved and you will fall into the procrastinator’s world of great dreams and great ideas but no substance.

There is no particular set of rules that one should follow in motivating employees. We each have our own driving force when it comes to doing an excellent job at work. The aim of any employer is to find what motivates and then cultivate the heck out of it.  Motivated staff leads to greater productivity so aim to motivate and inspire them.

Ok, you can go now.

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