“Robin, I’m just not feeling motivated. Based on the work we’ve done I’ve defined my three-year vision, strategies and action plan. But today, I’m just not feeling it.”

This Week’s Edition

What do you do when you just can’t muster the motivation?

Clarify Your Thinking

Haley continued, “I’m the sales leader, and my lack of motivation has me dropping balls. For three days, I’ve just been staring at this list of fifteen prospects I need to call,” she confessed.

“What does all this make you think?” I asked.

“My thoughts have me dropping down a rabbit hole… why am I doing all of this? Does it really matter in the long run?” 

“Feelings are real. They just don’t always tell us the truth,” I said. 

“I get that. Intellectually, I know that what I do matters, but I can’t shake the feeling of being unmotivated,” she continued. “What do I do?”

“On any given day, on a scale of 1 to 10, what is your average performance level?” I asked.

“Oh, probably an 8,” she said. “But today it feels like a 3.”

“Think about it this way, on a scale of 1 to 10 your average performance is a 5, but it is your average. If you define average as an 8, even when you perform at a 7 you’re tempted to think of that as failure.”

I continued, “On any given day, like today, you may feel like your performance is a 3. When this happens, change your thinking about what success is. Redefine success. Perhaps success is merely showing up.”

Old Thinking: “I’ve just been beating myself up over the bad days I’ve been having, wondering if I’ve lost my mojo,” she said.

New Thinking: Experience the feelings… they’re real. Redefine success for a low performance day. Stay in the game for a better performance tomorrow.

Thoughts Lead to Actions

Leaders who craft their why have a built-in defense mechanism for when they’re just not feeling it. Your why is your purpose. It is the intrinsic motivation to improve and achieve.  

Discover your purpose through this exercise.

Step 1: Identify the number of times in your life when you experienced being in the zone. A time when you were in the flow or “on fire” as they say. 

Step 2: Describe each experience in detail. 

• What you were you doing?

• Why were you doing it?

• What you experienced?

• Why you were in the zone?

Step 3: Looking at all the experiences collectively, identify the commonalities. 

Haley worked through this exercise and realized that in every area of her life, including sales, she is geared toward establishing meaningful relationships that set the stage for others to discover their true potential. This had an immediate impact on how she thought about her leadership role. She described it as immediately motivating her to call the prospects with a renewed purpose. 

Boost Your Performance

Our coaching approach suggests that each of us has a unique purpose, a driving force for why we do what we do (both personally and professionally). Regardless of whether we know our purpose, we can’t help but operate in our purpose in almost everything we do. It just flows from us. If this is true, the times you felt the most in the zone may hold the key to revealing your unique purpose. Learn more in this week’s video.

What’s Your Opinion?

What is your purpose? Share with me at: robin.pou@robinpou.com.

Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!

Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist

If this was helpful, feel free to share it with another leader who needs to defeat doubt and complete their confidence.

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What is “The Confident Leader”?

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.