Determination is a word of many meanings.
According to Merriam-Webster, determination can mean – among others:
- a judicial decision settling and ending a controversy
- the resolving of a question by argument or reasoning
- the act of deciding definitely and firmly; also : the result of such an act of decision
- firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end
- a fixing or finding of the position, magnitude, value, or character of something
As a motivator determination is your ultimate goal. You assume, you feel, you know already in advance what level of growth each one of your team members can accomplish. You see the result already. It’s right there in front of your imagination.
The challenge you face as a motivator is that your “growth victims” don’t see the same ultimate goal. They want to stay at home. Their home is called comfort zone. For them, outside it’s blurry and foggy. They don’t want to step outside. They lock the door and throw away the key.
As a motivator you pick up that key. Your determination is stronger than their desire to resist!
What helps you open that door is your experience. You can compare patterns of personal behavior. For instance, in my seminars I make them sing – always. Singing in front of the colleagues is a super booster of self-confidence.
So I’d ask a seminar participant, Do you know a song?
The standard answer is, No!
What they don’t know is that I heard the same answer over and over again. Of all those hundreds of people only one person managed to escape through the suicidal net of stubbornness.
So what I do as a motivator is, I tell myself that I know:
I KNOW they will sing.
I KNOW they will do it.
I KNOW they will grow.
I KNOW they will dance.
I KNOW they will scream.
I KNOW they will make it.
I KNOW they will get there.
I KNOW they will finish this task.
I KNOW they will accomplish this.
I KNOW they will come up with an idea.
When they finally sing and do, grow and dance, scream and make, reach and finish, accomplish and invent, ultimately, only one thing made it happen –
Your determination.
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