Mood

When you are in a good mood, you are motivated to do good things. For example, you have a great morning and start your work full of optimism. You are motivated to tackle major projects and make significant progress ASAP.

When you are in a bad mood, your mood can make you hurt yourself or others.

For example, Marge arrives to work while still angry at her son’s misbehavior. She wears a frown on her face, snaps at her team and tells everyone to leave her alone. She is not motivated to increase her productivity, at all! When someone asks her an important question, she tries to be friendly, but is cold and uncaring. Production for that day is mediocre.

When you understand and control your moods and emotions, you use positive emotions. You have high emotional intelligence. Your Mood Score is 8 or higher.

When you are moody, or have good days and bad days, your moods control you. Motivating yourself or others is nearly impossible. Your Mood Score is 5 or lower.

Focus

Simply being focused or “in the zone” can motivate you and others. When you are truly focused, the past and the future do not matter. Your home life does not interfere with your work life and vice versa. You zero in on tasks despite bad weather, uncomfortable furniture, noises, slow computers, bad news and so on.

For example, Kevin went through a nasty divorce five years ago. He tries to do well on his job, but cannot stop thinking about his ex-wife. “She ruined me!” Kevin rarely gets his head in the game. His Focus Score is 3.

Even though Alvin also went through a divorce last year, he has apologized to his ex-wife and forgiven her, as well. To Alvin, his divorce is merely a memory. He keeps his attention in present time. He makes steady progress at his job. He quickly masters new performance skills. He gets and stays focused on his immediate tasks, all day long. His Focus Score is 9.

When your Focus Score is high, you perform at your best. You are mentally sharp. You make fast decisions. You are excited and you thrive.

If your Focus Score is low, you are not very alert. Distractions kill your motivation. You do not perform at your peak.

Passion

Have you noticed how our best innovators, artists, athletes and leaders can generate high-volume intensity? How their passion shines through everything they do? Even though they have huge challenges, they REALLY LOVE their work.

If your Passion Score is at least 7, your passion is an important asset to your success. If you boost your Passion Score to 10, and keep it there, you own the future.

Passion not only gives you a purpose larger than yourself, it motivates. When you operate with passion, you get more done per hour. People can tell you are consumed by your purpose and they feel inspired to join you.

Without passion, you are never fully motivated. You have gaps in your energy and bounce around from one purpose to another. You go nowhere.

Organizing

If your Organizing Score is high, you are efficient. You do not waste your time or energy on dead-end efforts. You have step-by-step plans. You know where you are going.

As a leader, your group appreciates and thrives on your organizing skills. They know what to do, when to do it, how to do it and why. You make it easy for them to be A-Performers; they simply follow your clear, efficient instructions.

Being organized motivates you and others as you make constant, orderly progress.

If you are disorganized, you and others you are only motivated for brief periods. Your energy, passion, focus and mood all suffer. You are inefficient and waste time, energy and money.

Fortunately, the tools for organizing your plans and operations are easy to learn and improve. Once you master this motivation skill, you enjoy instant results. You clear away the clutter and move onward and upward.

Barrier Handling

Everyone faces three types of barriers. 1. Physical world barriers. 2. Barriers from others. 3. Barriers from within yourself.

1. Physical barriers include natural disasters, diseases, energy resources, body limitations and so on. Scientists, inventors, engineers, governments, computer innovators and almost all of us are in a constant battle against physical barriers, and we are winning.
2. The barriers you face from others come from competitors, governments, prejudiced people and people who make you into their enemy. Handling the barriers caused by other people takes skill that anyone can learn.
3. The biggest barriers you face are from yourself. Your fears, mistakes, resistance to help, lack of education, stupidity, ego and other personal barriers kill your motivation and stop you cold.

You will always be opposed by one or more of these three types of barriers. They are your GREATEST SOURCE OF STRESS. How you deal with these barriers determines your success.

If your Barrier Handling Score is high, you do not let barriers stop you for long. As an A-Performer, you correctly identify them, select the best solutions and remove them. You stay motivated and proceed forward.

If your Barrier Handling Score is low, your barriers are stopping you. You are not making much progress. You have much to learn before you can permanently motivate yourself and others.

Habits

As you know, habits are automatic actions or responses. Bad habits kill your motivation. To motivate yourself and others, you must replace bad habits that ruin your motivation.

For example, Michelle has a bad habit of lying in bed, eating junk food and watching TV until 3:30 AM. She frequently arrives late for work and feels tired all day. Because of her bad nightly habits, she is not excited to get much done.

Michelle decides these are destructive habits and learns to replace them with healthy habits. She exercises after dinner, only eats healthy snacks in bed and just reads books after 10:00 PM. As a result, she gets plenty of sleep and arrives early for work, excited to start. Her productivity climbs higher every week!

If you have good habits, you can also motivate others by helping them break their bad habits. Just setting a terrific example motivates others.

Breaking bad habits does not require personal force or effort. You do not need a lot of willpower. Instead, you succeed when you use baby steps or simple habit replacement techniques.

If your Habits Score is 8 or higher, most of your habits are good and motivational. You can easily replace any leftover habits that hurt your motivation.

If your Habits Score is low, you must break the bad habits, one at a time. You then earn surges of motivation.

Willpower

Willpower is the ability to control your behavior. Your “will” is what you decide to do or not do, and “power” is the internal strength to follow your will. You act on your decisions and push through, even when you’re tempted to do otherwise.

For example, Charlie is engaged to get married to the love of his life, but is tempted to date other women. Every time he sees a beautiful woman or pictures of women, he loses his motivation to get married. Fortunately, Charlie learns how to boost his willpower. He then carefully analyzes his options and realizes his engagement is a brilliant decision. He uses his willpower to support his decision. His motivation to get married is so strong, he never has doubts again.

Your willpower is unlimited. You do not “use up” your willpower each day and can no longer resist temptations. It’s more like a muscle you can strengthen and use for bigger and tougher challenges.

Willpower is the greatest enemy of companies that promote and sell things that are bad for you, like alcohol, junk food, gambling, credit cards and so on. Advertisers spend millions figuring out how to bait you and bypass your willpower. If you successfully resist their efforts, you win and they lose.

If your Willpower Score is high, you control your behavior quite well. Yet you can always upgrade your willpower.

If your Willpower Score is low, you are easily tempted. You know what you should do, but lack the power to do it. The fact is this: You can have MORE POWER over yourself than you realize.

After you answer the Motivation Analysis questions, you will see where you stand. You can use that knowledge to take steps toward a more-motivated career, group and life.