This is the second and last article on
the components of motivation and concerns the final and most
important concept regarding motivation..... “intensity”
As I mentioned in my last post, you
will certainly never become successful in your chosen goal (whether
that might be financial, sporting or relational) if you firstly don’t
initiate a behaviour to achieve it (talk to that girl or enrol in
that business management MBA). Secondly, when those initial feelings
of motivation in achieving a goal dilute and become stale/boring, a
person will the majority of the time give up or quit. However,
separating the majority from the minority are those who can be
persistent. These are the people that continue to go to the gym 4
days a week next month, the month after that, throughout the year and
next year. They get results and usually achieve their goal.
However, if you want to be a highly
successful person, and to further distance yourself from those who
initiate a behaviour to achieve their goal; but more importantly
reach a higher level than those who are persistent, you must have
“intensity”. Another word for this final component of motivation
is “productivity”.
A lot of people in the world search
endlessly for some complex magical formula for why some people are
successful and others are not. They look at themselves and think that
their purposeful actions must be beneficial and they get frustrated
when they don't see the results they want- and that successful people
are getting. They always go to work, they work long hours and are
persistent in achieving their goal when things get tough or boring.
However a lot of the time they miss the most important ingredient of
motivation- “intensity/productivity”. Here the idea is that, if
you can consistently apply the most amount of effort to the best of
your ability in the allocated time you have, your almost certain to
be highly successful.
I guarantee that all of the most
successful people in the world will tell you that time is the most
precious and valuable commodity that exists. Time is a resource. But
it is a resource like no other. You can't buy it, sell it, rent it or
multiply it. All you can do is spend it.
And unlike other resources e.g. money,
we all have the exact same amount of time. It's the only aspect of
our lives where we are all truly equal. Each human being has exactly
the same number of hours and minutes in a day. And, the highly successful people of our world realize that they have an allotted time to perform a given task. Simply, they give it their absolute all in doing that task, no matter how small or large it is. They understand that going through the motions is the most disadvantageous thing, that you can do. It's not what you do, It's how you do it!
This is something that made sense to me during my Psychology MSc. Around half way into the year I was around 10th out of 60 in my class regards academic achievement. But I couldn't understand how the students ahead of me were achieving higher marks than me in essays and exams. I was studying every hour god gave me. The students top of the class, while they put a solid amount of hours, were not making the same sacrifices I was making..... So one time whilst in the library, I spent 1 hour observing the guy who was top of the class. I quickly realised why he was top of the class. He was a fucking “machine”. He never took his eyes of his books. The concentration in his face was so intense it looked like he was in pain. He did everything so quickly yet effectively. He was so focused, that when a guy tripped over and fell flat about 10 meters away from him and the whole library burst into laughter, he never budged. I reckon he didn't even register it. He never checked Facebook, nor his phone, nor his email.... Within myself I then and there gracefully accepted his position in the class and internally thanked him for the lesson (he didn't know I was observing him).
“Intensity” is a highly difficult skill to acquire. I kept up the other two components of motivation (activation and persistence) throughout the year but “intensity” is something I couldn't and am still far from mastering. While I may have beat some really intelligent people in my MSc class thanks to the “machines” lesson and came 3rd out of 60; The “machine” stayed top of the cohort. And I say well deserved.
Eric Thomas touched on this idea of
“intensity”/productivity. He suggests that in order to master it,
you need to make it a way of life. Intensity is something that highly
successful people breath. They transfer it to all facets of life. So
when your with your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend, make it
special, don't just go through the motions! When relaxing or watching
T.V. enjoy it, make it the best two hours of T.V. you have ever seen.
Finally, just remember, that personally
mastering all three components of motivation isn't easy.....If it
was easy, everyone would do it.
This powerful and popular youtube video
might help to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
