Over last couple months, directly or indirectly, I have tried to motivate a few people to achieve their goals.   I did that with the great people I met in Thailand – and pushed them to go after what they want.  So far, they have stayed on the path.

I have also pushed a couple guys out of EO, and more lately,  the owner of a restaurant where we an event.   In all these cases, I do the following:

1. challange people on their assumptions
2. look at their fears
3. ask them somewhat antagonistic questions to make them question themselves
4. encourage them by focusing on the fact that everything is possible.

 

I call it ‘kicking their ass’ – ie. getting people to act.

 

So, this has all been great , BUT today, I have been looking at redstores, and I have come to realize something.    No one has kicked my ass into gear.  Not really.   I have setup for myself a nice easy 5 year plan – very safe, stable, and quite risk free.  Basically, follow the plan, 5 years I will have the numbers.   No huge risks anywhere along the way.   So, some could say, hey that is pretty good!  BUT really, what I need for someone to say to me

1. “Why in the world do you need 5 years – could you not do this in 2!”
2. What are you scared off?   Are you weak?
3. What is holding you back from going faster.
4. Why are coasting (yes, with this 5 year plan I am defecto coasting)
5. Why NOT go faster – face your fear, you pussy cat!

So,  with NICE questions like that, I can force myself onto defensive, and my working through the answers to these questions, I can gain great insight as to why I’m not pushing harder and faster.

 

So, I will work through these questions, answers here, as I think this is a technique that I have used in the past to ‘self-motivate’ (but I never really documented it that well).

 

1.  Why do I want to take 5 years – not 2?

      Doing this in 2 not 5, would mean a whole different game.  Would need to raise funding, expand the business “astronomically” and then be able to deliver on the growth to satisfy the shareholders.    So, this would further mean,that I’m not keen to answer to others, and my fear is ‘what if I cannot deliver in 2 and it really is 5’.   Its because I’m 100% sure 5 years is solid, 2 years – much more risk.     BUT, what gets me excited about the years is the energy that it would take to do this.  It would be a whole different level of play – fast, exciting, engaging.   Would the risk of failure be higher –yes – no doubt.  2 years would be a challenge.   BUT, man, what a great challenge that would be.       Worst case:   cannot reach the numbers in 2years, and investors need to wait 3 more to cash out.

 

2. What am I scared off?  Am I weak?

Ha, Definitely not weak (this is my defensive side that gets a bit angry at that kind of question)! :)   But I am scared of something?  What?  Pressure to deliver, failure to deliver, accountability to others.    So, that would be my fear – failing to deliver in 2 years.  Since I know I can do it in 5, I’m aiming for five.  So, to move this timeline from 5 to 2, I would need to look at my fear (failure to deliver) and work through that.     So, working through fear could be another topic another day BUT I do know how to work my way through fear.

 

3. What is holding me back from going faster?

Well, first its fear. After that, there is a lot of things – people, money, strategy, execution – BUT all those things are 100% solvable – so that is really not my obstacle.  I can handle each of the tactical things with a breeze.  So, really, what is holding me back! :)  Me!

 

4.  Why am I coasting?

Good question, why did I gravitate towards 5 years instead of 2.   Basically, by doing 5 I switched my mode from ‘turbo’ to ‘crawl’.    I think in this case, it was horizon perspective.   I didn’t want to bring on investors, equity owners, VC’s – because those are a pain in the but.  So, given resources that I had, the 5 year thing was easy.   BUT, I really don’t like things easy.  I thrive on the challenge.  So,  part of me now things that the likelihood of failure on 5 year plan is higher than 2 year plan – because I will not be operating at peak – (because there will be no challenge).

 

5. Why NOT go faster – face your fear, you pussy cat!

Yes, the question, is also the answer.  Fear.  

 

So, my root cause of going 5 years instead of 2, is fear.   I will work through the fear part, and then I will see if I’m still interested in doing 5 years!

 

So, the above is a little example of the process that I used with myself to motivate myself and challenge my assumptions.  Its not easy to see things in yourself, but I think if you are open enough, and honest enough withyourself you can self-motivate.   In the cases you cannot, then a business coach, should be hired – and their job would be to ‘kick the CEO’s ass’!