Why Motivation is Bad for your Health and your Business?

Why motivation is not good for your health or your business? Because it doesn't last and it may even leave a negative impact. You may experience high energy for some time, but then you will fall back to your default original state. Stop seeking motivation and trying to motivate others. Seek to get inspired and inspire others instead. 

Inspiration is the energy which comes from within in response to someone who has connected to their depths to do something that was impossible for them before by going beyond their fears, resistance and inertia. To inspire someone, you want to be authentic and vulnerable, and take 10X action of what you are inviting others to take. To inspire others, you take action not to seek others' approval, appreciation, applause but for your own inner god.

Motivation makes a lot of noise. Inspiration is silent. Motivation gives a push while Inspiration results in joyous effortless action. Read about the greatest human beings on Earth to be inspired or talk to people who bring warmth in your heart and stars in yours eyes to be inspired. Live your greatest dreams to inspire.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the acclaimed astrophysicist and cosmologist, beautifully brings about the negative impact of motivation in his review of the movie 'Whiplash' during an interview -

"I just saw Whiplash. It was interesting. Here’s why I take issue with it. It’s one jazz musician and one overbearing coach, so I get that, but I come from a world where true success is completely driven from within the individual and not from someone outside of them. While the case portrayed there is some fraction of cases that are out there, at the end of the day, Einstein became Einstein not because someone said, “Keep studying, keep studying!” and someone didn’t say, “Isaac Newton, go invent calculus!” He invented it on his own. So in my world, there is no success without people being self-driven, and to believe that you only achieve greatness because someone pushed you there? I don’t see that. The story was nonetheless intriguing, but I feel it may be the minority of cases who have succeeded in a singular way in life. If someone treats you that way, you may become really good at something but you won’t become the greatest at it, and you’ll resent them and you might even turn away from the subject entirely."

Steve Jobs used the power of dreams and questions to inspire. Here's an excerpt from an article from Entrepreneur magazine - 
" A retail executive who was once tasked with revitalizing the Disney Store called Steve Jobs, Disney’s largest shareholder, to ask for advice. Jobs said, “Dream bigger.” Those two words contained a wealth of wisdom and inspired Disney to think radically different. The Disney Store would no longer provide a place just for customers to buy products. The store would be a physical manifestation of the Disney experience.

..... Jobs was a master of dreaming big and he encouraged others to do the same. Sometimes the inspiration came in the form of a question that forced people to re-examine their lives and their businesses. The story of how Jobs challenged then-Pepsi president John Sculley to do some real soul-searching is now well-known. “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?” Jobs asked. Sculley once said the question landed “like a punch to the gut.” (Sculley was vice-president and president of Pepsi, until he became chief executive officer of Apple)

..... Jobs did not ask his team to build a retail store so Apple could sell more products and increase its market share. Instead Jobs asked, “How can we reinvent the store?” The question forced his team to think outside of the entire category. Instead of copying other electronics stores, the team visited The Ritz-Carlton hotel for inspiration. What they learned became the foundation for the store. Walk into an Apple Store and you’ll be greeted at the entrance, like at a hotel. You won’t find a cashier at the Apple Store, but there is a concierge. You’ll even notice a "bar" at the back of the store, but instead of dispensing alcohol, “geniuses” dispense advice. These innovations were the direct result of Jobs asking the people around him to dream bigger."

I am inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote that inspires Jeff Bezos. This is what Jeff tweeted about it - Love this quote. It’s been on my fridge for years, and I see it every time I open the door. 
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

I seek out thought leaders, master coaches, industry leaders who inspire me because they connect me to the highest in me by connecting to the highest in themselves.

Good leaders lead. Good parents parent. Good coaches coach. Great leaders, parents, coaches simply inspire.

Love, Jyoti.

References:
1. Hat Tip to Master Coach Rich Litvin for getting me to become aware of Tyson's interview through one of his many inspirational posts.
​2. Tyson's Interview
​3. Article in Entrepreneur Magazine on Steve Jobs
4. CNBC Article on Jeff Bezos