Tag Motivators

Believe in your shelf

Michael 6 Comments

What is the motivated librarian’s morning mantra?

“I believe in my shelf.”

I have to admit that just tickles me! I’m working on adding a new piece to my collection of positive presentations. Clearly that’s the opening line for a self-motivation module. Actually, that’s the only line so far and I fear for its inclusion in the final product because I do like it so. Or should that be I do so like it? I so do like it? Now wait a minute. I don’t fear for its inclusion because I like it. I like it and therefore I fear that it might not be included. Oh, this is all too complicated. Hmm. How about – I hope it’s still around when I’m down to the final draft because I like it. That’s better.  Now if I can come up with another 5,000 words to tack on the back end of it, I might have something.

Words have always fascinated me. So has motivation. Motivating words though…sometimes they can come off either preachy or disingenuous. I like the ones that have a bit of humor about them. Even somewhat punny like believing in your shelf. Find that hook that will make people laugh, smile, or even groan and roll their eyes, and from there you can’t seem to be anything but genuine! I think I’ve found a good balance in finding a way to ease into a motivational speech without it sounding like a motivational speech. At least that’s my goal. Why? This might sound like justifying myself, I think all motivation is self-motivation. I don’t believe I, or anybody else, can motivate anybody else. I can encourage you. I can try to help you create a positive atmosphere. I can show you some positive examples of what I’ve done. From those you will find the reason you want to do or not to do, and you, I believe, are the source of all of your motivation.

In you recall form the post Motivating the Motivators from earlier this year, I wrote, “We’re not psychologists, behaviorists, sociologists or any kind of -ist, just a couple people who’ve been through and seen a lot and want to share our experiences with others,” when I was speaking of how my ROAMcare partner and I go about prepping our Moments of Motivation. I’m still just a person who’s been there and done some of that. And some of that has been to read and listen to some of the seemingly most motivating of motivational speakers (based on reviews and numbers of times they’ve been cited in other’s motivational writings and speeches). And to be honest, I don’t always get it. I don’t even often get it. I know I am not in a position to be critical of that which I hadn’t formally studied but aren’t those (as in we, which includes me) to whom these guys are directing their words?

Personally, I think I’d get a lot more out of a talk on motivating myself if the speaker or author (or, let’s face it, never either, always both), began with a cheesy librarian pun and then spoke across the table to me rather than standing on stage, flailing their arms as they exhort me to remember that it’s never too late to be what I might have become. All due respect to Mr. Eliot, or rather Ms. Evans and those who quote her, often not citing her, yes it can be. And if it isn’t, then pray how or how not?

I on the other hand, might lean toward a different Eliot/Evans quote. “What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?” Now that is an idea I can get into, helping others, being there for them, easing burdens. Listening for the opportunities to help others. There is the potential to be a source of comfort, and by extension motivation, for the giver as well as the receiver. As a non-ist, that’s what I want to hear.

And so, I’ve started my file and have happily typed out, “What is the motivated librarian’s morning mantra? ‘I believe in my shelf,’” and just as happily have stared at that screen for a few days waiting for more to fall out of my brain. It will happen. Why? Because I believe in my shelf too!

It is your choice how you act toward others, but it is not how they react to you. Their responses are as much out of your control as the weather. Or are they? Read what we think about that in the latest Uplift!, To everything a season.

F4740F96-BA91-4BDF-89F2-88DE0076EF4C

Motivating the motivators

Michael 7 Comments

Readers who read my posts all the way through know at the end of each I have to link to some other blog (Uplift!) at some other place (ROAMcare.org). If you never read all the way through, now you know too.  While this blog is (usually) fun and (almost) always lighthearted (last week’s post notwithstanding), it generally reflects how I’m feeling at the moment. ROAMcare is a different animal. In partnership with my dear friend and once upon a time work colleague Diem, we created a space where you can go to “Refresh your enthusiasm for life by dealing with challenges, confirming your choices, or just finding that extra motivation you need to push through the day!” I know. It says so right on the home page. Something to Uplift! our visitors. We’re not psychologists, behaviorists, sociologists or any kind of -ist, just a couple people who’ve been through and seen a lot and want to share our experiences with others. And in fact, those blogs are born of Diem’s and my experiences, most often only one or the other, although occasionally we might be doing the same or a similar something.

Anyway…now you know there’s another blog out there and it’s always been more of a motivational tool than this one here. Something else we have on that site is what we call our Moments of Motivation (and the real reason for this particular post). These Moments of Motivation are quick, hopefully catchy and easy to remember nuggets of positivity that we post every Monday to all our social media sites and to the website. Over the last couple years we posted 90 of these little guys. Here is last week’s, which is probably the least motivating moment we’ve posted.

IMG_0463

The point to all this is that over the last couple years of doing what we can to motivate others, I found myself being the most motivated I’ve been in years. Many years! There was a time when I thought that eventually we would run out of motivation. “Who is going to motivate the motivators?” I would ask. Even Norman Vincent Peale must have had a couple negative thoughts. Didn’t Steven Covey have any bad habits? Are we sure there wasn’t at least one guy who could tick off Will Rogers? Surely they all had their down times, as these were people with credentials who knew what they were doing. How could we hope to refresh anybody’s enthusiasm or give them that extra motivational push to make it through the day. Ah, but thought was fleeting. So fleeting I barely remember having it, because before you knew it, we were back brainstorming motivational moments.

Our process was simple. Every so often we get on the phone, or online, or or a video call and talk. What lifted our spirits this week? What good things happened and why if we know. What held us back from doing something? Then we distilled those thoughts into 4 or 5 word sayings. We’d work on a plan of how we’d match phrase to picture and create the graphic. Then I’d expand the thought to a 20 to 30 word blurb, add a link and the tags, and post away every Monday morning. (You can find this week’s sometime after 8am Monday at ROAMcare on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, even Twitter, and at www.ROAMcare.org) You’d think turning it into such a production would turn it into work and the words become just words for us. I don’t know how all the -ists manage it, but for me, that’s what made it even more motivating!

Maybe it’s because we spend so much time saying aloud the things we find motivating. Maybe it’s because we take each phrase and rephrase it 3, 4, 5, more than 5 times and hear it over and over. Maybe it’s because we spend so much time with each phrase. Or maybe I’m just easily motivated. But it’s true. I’ve been my most motivated since we started these motivating moments. Do you need some extra motivation. At the risk of putting myself out of business, maybe you just have to tell yourself, “Get motivated and do!” Moments of motivation. Moments that really do add up to a lifetime.

Oh, where were they when I was working for a living?

No job is just one job, but a series of steps to an ultimate goal. Is “You had just one job” a punch line or a new learning opportunity? We give you our take in that in the latest Uplift!

roamcare_logo-3