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Win One for the Gipper
Maybe I Was Wrong
by Jerry Hocutt

When asked how he was able to motivate his players and staff at every program he led, legendary football coach Lou Holtz revealed his secret.  “If I can’t motivate them, I fire them!”

Truth in humor.  Holtz knows the cure for people who don’t want to be motivated. 

How many times have you – or your management – complained that after attending a motivational seminar, “All our people are charged up and gung-ho.  At least for a couple of days; and then we’re right back where we started.”

I guess that’s why I’ve never been a big fan of motivational seminars.  I prefer to teach and attend seminars that give me skills and techniques I can use whether I’m motivated or not.  But maybe I need to rethink that. 

Sports is real life at play.  Earlier in the year, tiny Appalachian State upset the #2 nationally ranked powerhouse University of Michigan in their own house.  The Mountaineers didn’t beat the Wolverines because they were stronger, faster, or more talented.  They set the Ann Arbor group back on their heels because they were more motivated.

Friday after Thanksgiving, the unranked Razorbacks of Arkansas upset the #1 team in the nation, the LSU Tigers.  Both teams were highly motivated.  LSU because their national title hopes were riding on a win.  Getting that national championship ring has been their goal since they started those long, hot, muggy Baton Rouge workouts this summer.

Arkansas was motivated because they wanted to beat the #1 team in the land.  They were motivated because they were playing in front of the Louisiana fans.  They were angry at Tigers coach Les Miles for continually demeaning them as the team from Ar-Kansas.  To the Arkansas players that was like someone purposely mispronouncing your name because they think it’s funny to do so and they don’t care if they humiliate you.  Maybe Miles forgot which team he was supposed to be motivating.

Both teams highly motivated.  Both teams playing with passion.  Both teams playing three overtimes.  But only one would win.  Motivation doesn’t guarantee you’ll win.  Only that you’ll give 100% all the way.  Motivation gives you the stamina to hang in when things get desperate.  Motivation gives you belief you can find a way.  Motivation gives you hope.

Don’t start your day without it

Without motivation, you don’t make the calls you need to make.  You don’t acquire the knowledge you need to negotiate better.  You don’t attend the seminar that could make a difference.

You need motivation whether you’re winning or losing, whether you’re starting or finishing.  You need motivation to crawl out of bed in the morning.  Motivation to exercise.  Motivation to diet.

Motivation is to success what gasoline is to a car.  It gets you started and keeps you going.  You’ve got to keep both in your tank for the long journey.  When you’re out of either you will sputter, stall, and stop.

If management thinks that sending their people to a motivational seminar is a waste of time, they may be right.  It could be they’re trying to outsource their responsibility.  They send the troops out for a three hour program and want them to come back all fired up and ready to set new records.  The problem is they’re coming back to the same environment that hasn’t changed.  An environment running on fumes.

If a company has policies, practices, and management that de-motivates their staff, they shouldn’t think that a three hour program by an outsider will change anything.  Members from a Fortune 100 company attended one of my public seminars in Denver.  After the program several managers approached me and asked if I would come and do my program for their upper management team in order to get them to change their culture in how they treated their employees.

I politely declined the offer explaining that a few hours of my presentation would do nothing that would change their company’s philosophy and treatment of their employees.  That was like the captain of the Titanic asking if I’d like to take control of the wheel now that the ship had come to a glacial stop.

No, the reason motivational seminars don’t work for a company is because it’s the management’s responsibility to motivate, to keep the tank full.  The motivational seminar is just a tune-up to make the team run better, to get the best possible mpg.

People want hope

Lou Holtz didn’t send his teams to motivational seminars to get them charged up for the game.  Lou Holtz was the motivator.  He was a living, breathing, fireball of motivation.  He had to motivate them all week to work through their pains, busted plays, and miserable weather conditions.  He had to motivate them on game day.  Motivate them at half-time when they were falling behind.  Or motivate them to not let up even if they were crushing their opponents. 

Lou Holtz was the inspiration.  He lived his philosophy.  He won.  He lost.  He won again.  Holtz was the punch line in comedian Nick Griffin’s lament: “I’m 40.  I don’t want a drink that gives me more energy.  I want a drink that gives me hope.”  Holtz is hope.  Hope motivates.

Motivation inspires the weak to be strong.  The slow to keep pace with the fast.  The less talented to find a way.  Motivation is belief in yourself and in others.

But don’t wait for your company to motivate you

Motivation really comes down to motivating ourselves and not counting on someone else to do it for us.  Our self-talk and our thoughts either keep us moving forward or stop us in our tracks.  We’ve got to be self-motivated.  It’s not an option.  It’s a requirement. 

Unfortunately, we’re better at de-motivating ourselves rather than picking ourselves up.  “What was I thinking?  That was stupid.”  “I can’t do it.  I’m not smart enough.”  There’s no way I can do something like that.  I’ve never done anything like that in my life.”

Don’t be your own worst enemy.  Become a self-motivator.  Encourage yourself like you encourage your child.  “C’mon.  You can do it!”  “Don’t get down on yourself.  I’m proud of you.  You’ll do better next time.”  “Take the risk.  If you fail, get up and try it again.  I’m behind you all the way.”

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We need to be our own cheerleaders.  We need to encourage ourselves to get through hard times.  Imagine how tough it was for Thomas Edison to keep his motivation up after failing 10,000 times with the light bulb.  Imagine author J.K. Rowling having to motivate herself to write after going on food stamps.  Imagine wounded warriors having to motivate themselves to push through the pain to rehabilitate their injuries.

Be your own coach.  Be your own inspiration.  Motivate yourself to get whatever it is you want.  Motivate yourself to make that one more call, ask that one more question, or meet that one more person.  Keep the faith that something will happen.  Believe things will work out.  Know that you can handle whatever comes next.

I was wrong.  I never gave motivation its just dues.  Motivation can’t be seen – or touched.  It’s invisible.  But it’s there.  And it’s there to encourage us to do better.

Motivation.  Nothing gets done without it. 

Strange strategic statistics.

Such a shapeless sash!

Ten tame tadpoles tucked tightly together in a thin tall tin.

You’re the Best!
“If each of us were to confess his most secret desire, the one that inspires all his plans, all his actions, he would say: ‘I want to be praised.’” – E.M Cioran

Hot Tamales and Enchiladas
“When you get hungry enough, you find yourself speaking Spanish pretty well.” – Josh Gibson, on playing baseball in Cuba

You Sure?
“People think that if they avoid the truth, it might change to something better before they have to hear it.” – Marsha Norman

Goldan Rule
“I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking.  If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.” – Golda Meir