Can a Motivational Speaker Really Motivate You?

Motivation? What motivation? Who can motivate you – and how?

I’ve seen dozens of so-called ‘motivational’ speakers over the years. I say ‘so-called’ because I suppose that was the purpose of going to see them – to get motivated.

In retrospect, I’m not sure what I was trying to get motivated TO DO.

Nothing against the line-up of great speakers I’ve seen. Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy – all of those and more have good things to teach.

photo credit: George Laoutaris

But I think ‘motivational speaker’ is a misnomer.

These people teach good things. They offer several tools to get you moving. They talk about goal-setting, organization, learning methods and more – but rarely do I hear them touch on what I feel is the missing ingredient in the mix:

Focus.

If you don’t have FOCUS on what you’re trying to find, achieve, discover, learn or accomplish, no amount of motivation will ultimately get you where you want to go.

It reminds me of the old Bill Cosby bit.. I used to listen to Bill’s 12” LPs endlessly as a kid, way before the TV shows and movies. This was back when he was a stand-up comic of the best kind: inspired, creative, theatrical and yes damn funny.

In one of his sketches he told a story about being a member of the football team. His coach would give inspired and motivational speeches before they hit the field. One time, the coach got the team pumped up, yelling and screaming and bashing and hitting the lockers and punching each other in the shoulders and getting excited and ready to run out on the field and KILL the other team and – the door was locked.
Can’t get too far with your motivation if the door is locked!

And too many of us find that even with motivation from an ‘outside’ source, the door really is locked to us.

Again, I think FOCUS is missing.

If you have focus, you don’t need much motivation. Let’s look at the pertinent definition of focus: “close or narrow attention; concentration.”

Are you concentrating on your goal? Do you give it close or narrow attention? Are you able to block out distractions? If there are a number of distractions in your life preventing you from reaching your goals, are you purposefully finding ways to remove the distractions, if even for an hour a day?

Practically speaking, sometimes it takes rearranging your schedule so you can FOCUS on your goal(s).

For instance, I work better (read focus better) when I arise an hour and half before everyone else in the house and spend that 90 minutes on my own. My focus is much sharper, my goals much more definite, my attitude much stronger, and my accomplishments much easier to define.

What will it take for you to focus?

With all the motivation in the world, you still need focus and a sharp clear picture of what you’re aiming for.

To get the right focus, do the following:

*Determine your ultimate goal
*Break it down into smaller chunks
*If necessary, break it down again
*Make a list of the necessary steps to achieve your goal
*Mark off the steps as you achieve them

After you’ve done that each step becomes manageable – and much easier to focus on.

Above all, KNOW what you want! If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Or somewhere. You may not really know if you’re arrived, or how you got there if you don’t know where you started, don’t know where you went and can’t recall exactly how you got there.

So take notes along the way so that other people can share in your lessons.

Life is for sharing. Life is for giving. Learn to focus, and you will have all you ever desire and be able to share more than you thought possible.