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Michelle is an author and an expert on motivation that’s why we are lucky to share this episode with her because she’s giving us 5 tips on how to motivate others to achieve a goal. If you want to learn more about motivation and how to get others motivated, check this out!
Okay. Motivation. It’s one of those things where it’s like I want to motivate people but like, are we just getting them excited or are we actually motivating them for a purpose? So, we’re going to be talking about how to motivate others to achieve a goal. Alright. So, we’ve got Michelle McCullough here. She talks a lot about motivation and accountability in her book. I’ve heard her speak about it from the stage. So, and I… And I see in your notes. We’ve got like 5 specific things that are that are really juicy. They’re going to really, really help in knowing how to help others you know, motivate others to achieve a goal. Where would you like to start? -Well, I think first and foremost, it’s really good to check in. Because whether you’re an accountability partner or a mentor or someone who’s trying to get other people to do things, it’s really good to make sure that it’s something that they want and not something that you want. Look, because it’s sometimes when we’re searching how do you motivate others to get a goal, it’s because we want somebody else to change but they haven’t thought of it yet. But I think the best ways to elicit change and to encourage change within other people is to help them understand why they want something. And so, if that’s not established, if somebody just says hey this new year’s resolution. Or hey I want to do this. Make sure they know why they want to do it and that it really is for them because otherwise it doesn’t matter the work all the work you could do would be for naught because they’re not rooted and getting it done themselves. -Okay, so if I’m watching this video, I’, thinking, “You know what? I need to take a gut check here. What’s my motivation for wanting that person to achieve a goal? Is it Michael or is it their goal?” Okay. I’m glad we went there. -Well, and I think that as humans, we desire for the people around us to be better. And we want to cheer them on, we want them to be better and we want to motivate them for change. But the truth is is the best motivation comes from encouraging them to make the change on their own. And it’s more likely to stick and more likely to be impactful for them if you can help them come to the place where they’re committing for themselves. That might be why a motivational speech from the stage my fizzle Adam might not last. -Absolutely. And that’s one of the hardest parts for me as a motivational speaker because I’ll have people come up to me after an event and say, “Oh, my gosh. This was so great. I’m going to do this and thi this.” And and then I follow up with them a week or two later and they’re like, “Oh, yeah. Well, I just I got busy or I got tired or I got something.” And so, I really want to help people have the tools so that once they leave, they can say, “Oh, okay. I don’t feel motivated right now. This is what I can do to help me get motivated.” And the things that can help encourage them to push past it which is why I spend so much time helping people talk about their why and their greater purpose. Because if the why is big enough, people will figure out the how and the steps and the details because that is so strong and powerful.
-Okay. So, that sounds like a good first step. I don’t know if these are actually like 5 steps or… Okay. Well let’s call it. This is Step 1, find the why or find that motivation or for them to achieve that goal? -Mm-hmm. -Okay, what would step 2 be? -Define the plan. So, where people really get hung up in goal-setting whether it’s helping other people or even helping themselves is they have an idea but not a system. And so, whatever it is that you want, whether you want to lose weight or you want to grow a business or you’re trying to get your kids to listen to you the first time or whatever it is, you can’t just say you want something you have to create the plan to do it. And for me, that’s as simple as sitting down with a friend. You wants to get something done and saying, “That’s awesome. Here’s the plan.” What are your dailies, weeklies and monthlies. And we sit and say, “Okay, here’s your goal, here’s what you want to have happen, what do you have to do every day to make that work?” What you have to do every week? Maybe not as frequently but still important. And what do you if you do every month. And so part of that planning session is helping them create the individual pieces so that if they can attack and accomplish those every single day, they’re getting closer and closer to where they want to be. -I have a guest that one of your next steps might be accountability? -I do love that. -Because if you don’t have a specific you know, plan or outline of what you’re going to do it accomplished the goal, then accountability can’t even happen. -Right. -Okay. -And some of our biggest goals are big hairy audacious goals. The ones that really motivate us the most are going to take the longest. And so it’s really important to put some of those little check points in or mile markers in the middle. So that you can reach that next step instead of and get excited about that instead of waiting for the long term process. And so, part of that accountability piece is saying, “Okay, go do X Y & Z and then let’s talk again.” Studies have shown that if you tell someone and you… To be accountable with you on a goal, you’re 65% more likely to accomplish that goal if you have an accountability partner. And that’s awesome, that’s huge but it goes up one more to 95% you’re more likely to accomplish the goal if you have an accountability partner and you set a specific time to check in regularly. And so, just think of that, part of that is just… If you and I working together on something and I commit to you on my big goal that I’m going to get these three things done when we talk in 2 weeks, I don’t want to disappoint you but I also don’t want to disappoint me either. But now I have a time frame to work in to make it work. If we don’t give ourselves deadlines or timeframes whether it’s just that checkpoint in between or even at the end, then we can allow those goals and wishes to go on for days, weeks, months, even years because we haven’t set the right timelines to get us to actually take action. -Alright. So, just thinking about how this might play out. Let’s say that 5% that don’t take action or don’t achieve that step or that mark of their goal, what do you do then? -So, as an accountability partner or a mentor even just a really good friend, you have to know we have to pick one of 2 things. When to push and when to console. So sometimes in great accountability partnerships, I have had great friends who said, “Michelle, you didn’t do it. That’s okay. But now you have one week to get all those things done instead of 2 and I need you to come back with me.” And other times when they’ve said, “You know what? I get that you had something big going on but this goal is still important to you. When would you like to set that date?” And so sometimes as a good partner, you want to push them to say, “No, I’m calling your crap on this. You could have done it. But you were just scared.” And so, you push them to get that accomplished in that time or you can choose to console but then allow them to give you a new timeline. But either way, the best part about goals is that usually there’s not a consequence for not getting it except for what you actually want. And so, setting a new timeline is okay as long as you’re still pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and even doing some of the things to make sure you get the results you want. -What if they do keep their commitment or they do accomplish the goal? -I’m a huge fan of celebrations. So whatever that is… And sometimes you can even work that into your appointment. So in 2 weeks, if you get XY & Z done, how are you going to celebrate or how are we going to celebrate? Whether we go out to do something or something big like a massage, if it’s a big thing. Or something little like just getting together and sharing some ice cream, whatever that looks like. Creating some celebrations and sometimes the best things you can give yourself is just time alone and time away. But figure out what the motivations are. I’m a huge fan of celebrating. Even the milestones, as well as the next thing. Because for many of us, we have a series of broken goals that we’ve had in the past. Whether that’s New Year’s resolutions or something else and we have failed many other times. And so, it’s really good. It’s like confidence and goal-setting is like a muscle that the more you do it the more excited you can get. You can retrain your brain for success. And so, getting to the place where you can celebrate can really be powerful and helping people take that next step. -That is awesome. I like that you gave specific examples because when you said celebrate, I’m like, “Yeah, good job!” But I didn’t think about go for ice cream or… -Do something more fun, right? -Very cool. -Or cheer your friend on socially or put something out there. It doesn’t always have to cost money. But something bigger than a congratulations can help you get really excited. I really believe that success is not the destination, it’s the practice. And so as we continue to practice habits that make us more and more successful than once this one goal is done, that it makes it a lot easier for us to set another goal. And if you can be an awesome cheerleader for somebody and motivate them to accomplish their goal then they want you to be along for all of those other pieces. So part of this is establishing just a really great spirit of celebration and encouragement. -Do you ever do a celebration at more of a milestone at… If you’ve got a big goal and you’ve got five steps to get there. -Sure, -Yeah? -You can do that but here’s another study that they’ve done where they found that they were just motivating people to exercise and they told them to get a calendar just put a sticker up for every single day that they exercised. It was a visual reminder and they wanted to put the sticker up. So it doesn’t even have to be a big milestone like you lost the weight or something. Though I’m encouraged… I encouraged things like that too. But sometimes just as simple as doing the thing that you needed to do. Doing the habit and rewarding yourself is really valuable. My mom to this day still puts a smiley face on a calendar every day that she exercises and she’s been doing it for 3 or 4 years. But just that visual and the satisfaction, like a star from when you were in kindergarten can be just the motivation you need to celebrate even the simple little things. -Okay. Very cool.
So, we’ve we’ve covered 5 things. The first one was finding the why behind the goal. Making sure it’s their goal. -Yep. Second one, was that plan? -Mm-hmm. -Okay, make sure you have a plan. Third one is accountability. Fourth one? To either put… No… Kind of judge. Whether you need to get them that extra push or like consult. Okay. And then number 5 is to celebrate. -Yes. Awesome. I think those things will work. What do you guys think? Comment below. Let us know if you have any additional tips on how to motivate someone to achieve their goals. Be sure to subscribe. I’ll put a resource or a link to Michelle’s website if you want to look her up down in the description below and we’ll see you tomorrow.