Summary: Synopsis In the long term, motivation has to come from within. In the short term, motivation from others--sometimes known as KITA or "kick in the anatomy" motivation--may work, but eventually we all rebel against those external forces. So how do you maximize your internal motivation? Here's what's works for Dr. Misner. Minimize contact with negative people. Some people complain as though it were an Olympic event. Keep clear of them. Maximize the time you have with positive people. Hang out with people who make you want to do better. Read, listen to, and watch positive things. Eliminate the negative and destructive. Prioritize the things you want to do and the things you must do. Make a list so you can get a handle on it. Remember, you eat the elephant one bite at a time. Tackle at least one thing every single day. Small wins can be very motivating, so find a short-term goal to help drive you forward. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 361 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan, how are you and where are you? Ivan: I am in France still this week, doing a big tour of Europe for BNI and spending a little time in France. But I always have time to do these podcasts and today we are going to do a topic of called “motivate me”. This comes about because I had a message from a BNI member not long ago. He reads my columns and listens to my podcasts and he said, “What do you do when you don't feel motivated? How do you motivate yourself? What do you do to regain that motivation needed to move on with your plans and pursue your endeavors?” I thought it was a great question, so I spent a little time putting together some thoughts on this. First of all, I have to say that motivation absolutely comes from within, not from outside. No one can motivate you but yourself. At least, I am talking about long term motivation. Many years ago, I read an article by Frederick Herzsberg on motivation. It was in the Harvard Business Review. He said that others can motivate you but only in the short term. He called it “KITA”. You can do KITA motivation on the short term. It stands for – now remember, this is in the Harvard Business Review. Kick in the anatomy. He called it “Kick in the atatomy”. He was probably pretty accurate. You can motivate somebody by doing something aggressive or assertive, but the problem with that is that the first chance they have, they will undermine you. So you can't really motivate others. They have to motivate themselves. The same applies to you. You have to motivate yourself. So what do you do to motivate yourself? I think long term motivate definitely comes from within. Here are some of the things that have helped me. Some of these things may help BNI members. I hope they do. You have to find the things that work for you. Here are the things that work for me: First, minimize contact with negative people. I think that is a really important one. This isn't always completely possible but do it as much as you can, at least for a short while. I really believe that some people complain as though it were an Olympic event. Keep clear of them while you are trying to get your mojo back. I think that is really important. Stay away from negative people. Two, maximize the time that you have with positive people to refuel your energy. I really believe that they become the five or six people that you hang out the most with. Hang out with people who make you want to do better, who make you want to be better. Set meetings with them. Go to business events together, anything that puts you around positive people.
