Two ways to be motivated: Self-motivation and Self-motivation!!!

Being a motivational speaker more than anything else made me realize that no matter what I do or say, how energetic, funny, or inspirational my speeches are, the ultimate impact (to make others motivated) is merely a function of how induced each and every attendant wants to be from the inside.

I have had one-on-one consultancy sessions with people from all walks of life. A mother of a three-year-old who was contemplating divorce, a young man who just got graduated and was depressed due to unemployment, a middle-aged woman who could not find a suitable partner until the age of 40, spirited couples who were passionately in love with one another but were afraid of the challenges of immigration and its toll on their marriages, a 27 year old lady who did not like her job and felt that the reason behind her being single is that she is not good enough, a talented civil engineer at the beginning of his third decade of existence who felt that the only way to avoid the problem was by running away from the source, a youngster who claimed that his life had no purpose and that he did not know what he wants out of life, an intelligent and extremely talented transsexual who was contemplating escaping his family and country after being beaten and humiliated for the longing to be a woman, and many other cases where I was fortunate enough to contribute my ideas and thus improve the quality of thinking for the subjects.

Sometimes many of these sessions went on for a long time and had to be repeated periodically; many eventually decided to change their life, some, however, did not. On the other hand, I was once acquainted with a well-versed brain surgeon who was so happy with life that he said “I love my life, in fact, even if I lose my job as a surgeon I will certainly be able to work as a laborer and still be happy, what is the difference between me as a surgeon, and a laborer? We are all humans and we all can achieve happiness in whatever we do”.   

The previous example is a sufficient ground for what I am about to say: 

Motivation comes from the inside, not the other way around. Despite the fact that we all could benefit from listening to the magnificent speeches by motivational speakers all across the globe; while the fact that laughing at the jokes that I often throw in my own speeches may light up your heart and give you a temporary boost, the initial spark of incitement can only be ignited by ourselves rather than the others. 

Only those who gathered all their determination, focused all their attention, and made up their mind to motivate themselves for a better change left my counseling satisfied, and subsequently those who just wanted me to change their life by sweet words or hypnosis without any internal craving or the will to do what it takes were no more motivated after the sessions were long over.    

If you are sitting at your place waiting for the world to change for you, or someone to come to your rescue you might end up waiting for a long time, as a matter of fact, unbelievably a significant portion of the population on earth actually wait for their whole life, and finally at their final moments, express unbearable regrets for waiting to be motivated to do what they thought to be right.

In conclusion I would like to leave you with the following quote from Stephen R. Covey :  

On TV, the internet, and true leadership!

The other day in my class, I gave a lecture regarding the various benefits that could be attained by reducing the amount of time spent on watching TV. I have recently come to believe that subtle dependence upon television can promote passivity and lack of creativity, and due to its convenience can easily end up not only consuming a great portion of our time, but also contributing to less mental and physical activities.

It has been four years that I have not watched TV! What?!! How is that even remotely possible?!!! Now you might instantly begin to imagine an eccentric geek with no knowledge of what is happening around the world, but quite frankly, I feel more mindful of what is the occurrence around the globe than ever. How? Pretty simple, for me the internet has become the sole source of gathering all the information that I need, do you need to watch NBC’s Meet the Press? Just log on to MSNBC’s website and watch the latest episode, better yet download the audio podcast and listen to it while driving to work; you want to watch the trailer of the latest box office hit? Just head over to Youtube and watch it in HD, feeling trendy? How about checking out the latest fashions on various designated websites?          

I even went as far as providing an oath for the class:
“Hi, my name is Daniel” I said as I raised my right hand “and I hereby declare that, thanks to the internet, I have been TV-free for four years”. Suddenly one of my students cracked a joke by saying that “the guy is clean”. 

I then quoted Steve Jobs saying that “You watch television to turn your brain off, and work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on”.

Following a hot debate, I mentioned that when my own children are born "I will give them an iPad, iPhone, and an Apple computer, but would not purchase a TV for my house".  Even though my beliefs regarding TV make complete sense to me, I was quite insensible to think that everyone should be in agreement with me.  I was then told by my students that true open-mindedness allows one to let their children choose for themselves. In reality, if my children would prefer to spend their entire days in front of TV then that is their choice, but sooner or later, it is likely that such lifestyle leads to difficulties and that is when they will come to me looking for suggestion.

When the students are ready the teacher will show up. Hence, if they are to follow my footsteps they should first want it internally. What I consider to be good and intellectual often could seem no more than a gibberish coming from an up-tight wacko. Well I certainly wish not to be dubbed as a Wacko of course! 

LEAD BY EXAMPLE, NOT FORCE