T. T. Mitchell Consulting 
Liverpool, NY 13090 
(315) 622-5922 
(419) 730-3638 FAX 
Email: Coach, Mentor

I remember someone asking me "Why all this talk about motivation? How come people can't just motivate themselves?"

If there was an easy answer for that one, there would be a lot of speakers and writers out of business. The truth is that, as Zig Ziglar said, motivation is not a one time thing, just like eating and bathing. Staying motivated isn't as easy as one might believe; as a matter of fact, ask any 10 people how they stay motivated and nine of them probably won't be able to answer the question because it's not something they think about. If you're lucky enough to find 10 very happy or successful people you might have a better chance at getting some kind of answer, but most of us don't know that many people who are "up" all the time.

So, we spend money on motivational CDs and tapes, and we read books on motivation and success. We're a world that's always searching for the next thing that will help us feel better about ourselves. Is it meditation, tai chi, zen, The Secret,… does it matter where we get motivation from?

I tend to believe that if I can say something positive to someone else that it enhances both of our lives. If it's one on one, I like to find out what a person feels is important to them, what their goals are, and try to offer encouragement and ideas that might help them on their way. If I'm speaking to a group, I'll often tell them things about my life, and how I approach all the different aspects of my own dreams and goals. My motivation in doing this is to always try to help others feel better about their lives and themselves.

There are so many negative people in the world. Not all of them see themselves that way, but it's the truth. There are more people who will not believe in a person, or themselves, than there are who will believe. Let's face this fact; trying to do something different than what others expect is hard. Our parents told us to get a good education and get a job so that we can pay our bills. Anything that's out of that's out of the norm is scary to them and so they'll try to talk you out of it. This is why motivation is important.

I became a music major in college, with dreams of being a songwriter. I wasn't bad, but it didn't matter to my parents. They worked hard on trying to talk me out of it; I wouldn't budge. I had a much different vision than my parents did of my future; I wanted big things. However, what was in the back of my mind wasn't fame or fortune, but this quote that my high school chemistry teacher had on his wall. No one else seemed to care about it, but it went deep into my mind. That quote was "You don't get an education to learn how to do anything except how to think." I believed that was true because there were many things we learned in high school and college that I knew wouldn't have anything to do with my life later on, but I knew that the process of broadening my mind would help me to do other things later in life, whether I knew what those things were or not.

I have been lucky to achieve things that I never had thought I would. I knew I would have some achievements; I didn't know how I was going to do it. The Bernie Taupin dreams of my youth were replaced by the reality of my career, and I look at where I am now and realize that what being a music major did for me was teach me that I could create, I could get in front of others, I could work well with others, and I could motivate people to be better than they thought they could be.

Do I have down days? Sure I do. I sometimes have a down week. It's hard to keep going 24/7/365 after all. Sometimes I'm better at being positive during bad events; other times, it's a struggle, but at least I usually stay in control. I have perseverance, and I have a short "down" span. I also have things I know I can do to make myself feel better; I find motivation in many places. Sometimes it's something as easy as cleaning out clutter. Other times it's putting on music that I like. I might need to get away from my computer desk and clean up the house (my wife loves when I do that). Sometimes it's as easy as taking myself to breakfast or lunch. But I find ways to get myself motivated; I have a lot of things I want to do in my life, for myself and for others, and I don't want to sit and wallow or settle for anything less than what I want.

And if I don't get everything I want? I will never get everything I want. As Anthony Robbins said, once you reach your goals you either set new goals or you die. Since I don't want to go, I'll keep making more goals and having more dreams, because I want to continue going on. And I want you to continue going on also. I want you to be inspired to always strive for more, whatever you determine you want more of. That's what motivation is really all about.