Motivation….aint no such thing

Published by Wayne Goldsmith on

By Wayne Goldsmith

Coaches are always talking about motivation and some make lots of money doing motivation talks, motivation lectures, giving motivational speeches, writing motivational books, selling motivational videos, running motivational courses and generally being motivational!

Here’s the funny thing: motivation – there’s no such thing.

No one can motivate anyone to do anything.

Motivation must come from within: from the inside.

What is all this motivation stuff about? In one word – commitment. Everyone has a dream. To be happier. To be thinner. To be a better parent. To be a great leader. To be healthy. To win an Olympic Gold Medal.

What most of us lack is the commitment to make our dreams become reality. The dream is the key….And the dream is the motivation: it is our desire- our fire.

People enlist the services of a motivator to inspire them with new ideas and to give them some direction in life, their careers or their sport.

And many motivational speakers are great at presenting, telling stories of people who succeeded against the odds, people “just like you” who believed anything was possible and became successful, wealthy, a world record holder etc etc etc.

So typically, you walk away from a motivation speech or motivation workshop feeling great………..for about two days.

That’s because – you never needed to go to a motivation lecture or workshop in the first place!

Your dreams are your motivation– and you have plenty of them inside you. YOU know what YOU WANT – you know yourself better than anyone.

The only motivator you need to be listening to is yourself!

A coach’s role is to provide the guidance, the systems, the structures, the technical know how, the knowledge, the skills and the support to help clients, athletes and others to find the discipline and commitment to turn dreams into reality.

Trying to motivate someone else is like teaching a pig to sing: it will frustrate you and annoy the pig.

So, an important lesson to all coaches – do not motivate.

Encourgage people to dream then coach commitment.

Wayne Goldsmith

Categories: Hot TopicsPerformance PsychologySports Coaching
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Wayne Goldsmith

Wayne Goldsmith is a performance focused coaching professional with more than 25 years experience working with some of the world's leading athletes, coaches and teams. Wayne offers a wide range of coaching services for professional coaches, corporate executives and organizational leaders which are based on his experience delivering winning performances in high pressure sporting environments across the globe.

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