Motivation—no label required

I've read a lot about how to motivate. I've heard a lot, too. In general, I've been told that you need to be positive and stress the upside of a person performing or behaving a certain way.

I just walked through an airport and saw a book by Bobby Knight entitled, "The Power of Negative Thinking." No, I am not going to read it. I'm confident it will be a book filled with examples of his extraordinary ego.

But, I have learned that negative motivation is powerful. In some cases, more powerful for certain people or situations than positive reinforcement. I hate the thought that it's true, but it is.

For example, many great performers strive to excel because they are afraid to lose or be looked at as being washed up. Some slackers go to a new job and all of a sudden become aggressive because they now have to perform or they will be fired. Some people see lay-offs at their company and step-up their performance big time.

It probably doesn't matter; motivation is like stress. There's good stress (we landed a new client) and bad stress (my girlfriend broke up with me) but they both result in stress. Motivation, whether from a positive or negative standpoint, if it results in a more focused, engaged performance, is motivation, period.

Barry LaBov
LaBov Marketing Communications and Training
www.labov.com

The Mighty Contrarian

Several years ago, I worked with a client who called himself a "Mighty Contrarian." He openly shared with me that his secret to success was to be the guy who disagreed in every meeting, who was more critical than anyone else and who kept everyone, including his boss, on their toes and on the defensive.

He was a brilliant person and I really enjoyed him, after he let his hair down and shared his secret. I've often wondered what would have happened if he would have just stopped playing contrarian and had just been himself. Would he have been less successful? Maybe...he would not have appeared so powerful and fearless.

But I do think he might have allowed others to perform freely and perhaps create even better ideas, which might have brought him even more success.

Barry LaBov
LaBov Marketing Communications and Training
www.labov.com

Push

Push
when you feel something can be better
when your first idea seems pretty good
when you get push-back

I think there is almost never a situation when pushing to do more, think more, create more and achieve more isn't the right thing to do. If you push too far, you can always go back.

Barry LaBov
LaBov Marketing Communications and Training
www.labov.com