1. ©Copyright material Motivational Leadership Ltd
Motivation – the missing link to success
Most people in work today recognise the importance of setting goals and keeping their skills
up to date. If you look at the most successful people you know, chances are they didn’t get
there by accident, but rather they set themselves goals. And research has shown that
people who set goals are much more successful than those who do not. The reason? Goals
provide a focus. They enable us to navigate our way through the wealth of information and
opportunities which come our way every day. By articulating our goals we start to tell our
brains what opportunities we need to look out for, and what we can ignore. Our goals
represent what we want and need to achieve. They give us a sense of direction. They give
us the answer to ‘What direction am I going in?’
Having identified our goals, the next area of focus is to look at our skill set. Skills include
technical skills (knowing how to produce a Profit and Loss Statement, diagnose illnesses,
teach children etc.), as well as the softer (but equally important) skills of effective
communication, leadership, collaboration and so on. Our behaviours and level of emotional
intelligence should also be considered under this heading. Skills provide us with the answer
to ‘How am I going to achieve my goals?’
Successful people regularly audit what skills they have, what skills they use in their current
role and, most importantly, what skills they need to develop or use more in order to move
closer to achieving their goals.
The final and often overlooked
ingredient in creating success, is
motivation. Here we are focusing on
what energy, desire or motive there is
present within a person to go in the
chosen direction or to develop or use
the skills and behaviours identified. In
other words it answers the question,
‘Why should I bother?’
To use an analogy, if goals are the journey we want our lives and careers to take, and skills
are the type of car we use to get there, then motivation is the fuel. Without it, we’ll simply
have dreams about far off lands and a shiny unused car on our driveway!