Motivation is a call to action. Motivation inspires change, movement, and concentration; It’s what makes the world go round The art of motivation is a must for persuasive teachers. How do you motivate yourself in a way that prompts people to take the actions you want them to take? How can you plant the seeds to encourage motivation? As a persuader, one of the keys to success is motivating yourself and others. We’ve all had days when we didn’t feel like doing the things we knew we had to do. It is useless to persuade and get others to agree with your point of view if you cannot get them to act.
Martin Luther King said: “If a man has not discovered something for which he will die, he is not fit to live.” To successfully motivate someone, or to get them to internalize motivation, you must create a deep hunger or thirst. It has been said that you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. It’s true. But let it be known that you can give that horse salt and create such a thirst that the horse must have water. As a master motivator, you are giving your prospects salt. You go out of your way to create such a thirst in other people that they can’t wait to act.
You’ll find that people tend to get motivated in the short term, lose steam, and then slip back into the routine they were trying to break out of in the first place. As a persuader and motivator, you need to understand what drives people from action to inaction. What makes us lose emotion, vision, and energy? When you notice that your prospects are losing motivation, here are the reasons why:
- Desire to win
- The desire to avoid loss.
- To make money
- To avoid criticism
- To save time
- To avoid the loss of possessions
- To avoid the effort
- To avoid physical pain
- To achieve comfort
- To avoid loss of reputation
- Be healthy
- To avoid losing money
- Be popular
- To avoid problems
- The desire to win (cont.)
- To experience pleasure
- Be clean
- Be praised
- Be fashionable
- To gratify curiosity
- To satisfy the appetite
- Have beautiful possessions
- Be an individual
- To emulate others
- Seize opportunities
You cannot change a habit unless you replace it with another. The same goes for motivation. You cannot change the way someone is motivated unless you replace the undesirable motivation with a desirable one. You need to understand whether your prospect’s motivation is positive motivation or destructive motivation.
Once inspiration is identified, develop that inspiration until you create an intense hunger. This means that you get your prospects to take responsibility for their own lives. Have them set new goals or review their existing goals and the reasons for setting them. Another way to stoke the fire is to find someone who shares that same passion.
Since Maslow introduced the concept of needs, countless motivational theories have been brought to light. Avid McClelland proposed that we learn three things that motivate us as we go through life: achievement, affiliation, and power. John C. Mowen used the three “Rs” of motivation: reward, recognition, and reinforcement. Bob Stone suggested that people respond “to gain something they don’t have or to avoid losing something they now own.” He created this basic human wish list to explain his theory. In his book The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard identifies eight hidden needs that motivate people to act:
1. Need for emotional security: We live in uncertain times. Terrorism lurks, events on Wall Street are unstable, we are surrounded by disease and illness, and so on. We need security, comfort and stability in our lives.
2. Need to feel self-worth: Much of today’s society is cold, competitive and indifferent. We want to experience a place in the world where we know we have made a difference.
3. Need for ego gratification: We want recognition and praise. We all want to feel important.
4. Need for creativity: We feel more satisfaction and fulfillment when we can work creatively through hobbies, sports, and other forms of recreation.
5. Need for sources of love: Life is richer when we have someone to share our love with, for example, friends, children, grandchildren, a spouse or pets.
6. Need for control: We need to feel the feeling that we have some control or power over our environment, our environment or our conditions.
7. Need to belong: We want to feel that we are an integral part of the world and that we are important to the people we love, respect or admire.
8. Need for immortality: We fear dying or being forgotten. We buy life insurance because we want to leave something behind.
Motivation begins with vision. People must believe that they will be successful in what you motivate them to do. No one likes to lose. Nobody wants to lose. Nobody wants to associate with losers. So, instill in your listener or audience a vision of winning. Thinking that we can win and seeing victory in our mind awakens our internal motivation. When we help others think about past victories or instill in them the vision of victory, we can motivate them to act. Olympic coach Charles Garfield claims that the best players are driven by a sense of mission.
Learning to persuade and influence will make the difference between expecting a better income and having a better income. Beware of common mistakes presenters and persuaders make that cause them to lose the deal.
Master Persuaders present a winning package. When people feel victory or achievement, they will make sacrifices and become energized. They will find a way to succeed and win. If they feel defeated, they will make little personal effort, make many excuses, and show a lack of energy for the cause.
Motivation is a true art. When you understand the laws of persuasion, you will not only be able to motivate, but you will also have earned the right to motivate.
Conclution
Persuasion is the missing piece of the puzzle that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want it, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost due to your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think about the times you couldn’t. Has there ever been a time when you didn’t understand their point of view? Couldn’t you convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and achieve your goals? And your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, knowing what your potential customer thinks and feels, feeling more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.