Excerpt from Escape Life Sucks Syndrome by Brian Norris
Preface: A Few Words about “Motivation”
I’ve been speaking to audiences on the value of living life with passion and positivity for more than a decade. I love what I do. To me, speaking and coaching absolutely suit my personality and worldview to a tee.
When I meet people for the first time they often sense that I’m not normal in regards to my enthusiasm, the ease at which I engage others, my confidence and my general outlook on life.
The question generally comes up. What do you do for a living? I usually respond “I help people to be more positive.” Or I tell them I show managers how to create work environments that create more sales and better customer service.”
Usually, they nod, and we go on to discuss the details of what I do and why I do it. Inevitably I get, “Oh. So, you’re a motivational speaker or something? Ha! Go ahead… motivate me!”
I smile and shake my head side to side. It doesn’t work like that. Although the motivational industry might want to proclaim otherwise, there are only a few proven ways to motivate anyone.
The same can be said of people who proclaim that life has no redeeming value, or that this life is “out to get them” or that life is unjust, unfair and hell bent on making them miserable. They will always get what they want from life. Their actions or inactions keep them where they are.
If you’re the type of person who is absolutely convinced that life sucks, nothing I or anyone else says will change you.
So, before continuing, let’s get a few things out of the way…
1. Motivation is only good for people willing or ready to change.
Nothing I say or do can motivate you or suddenly transform you or the people you care about into a successful, happy, wealthy, loving, positive, energized, focused, concerned, giving, wealthy, healthy, altruistic person.I can't motivate you to stop being cynical or hateful or fat and out of shape (unless I threaten you). But I can inspire you to reevaluate who you are, your purpose and your passion.
2. Motivation is a warm bath.
After listening to a typical motivational speech, you might feel good. But that feeling is often temporary. When you go back to work and the euphoria wears off, you realize that nothing has changed. Worse still, you realize that you still lack the tools to do your job or to run your life more effectively.
What we need is that same dose of positive energy mixed with specific suggestions, a bucket of cold reality to wake us from our stupor and techniques to integrate the message immediately.
That’s what I promise to give you in this program.
You’re going to get a lot of very specific ways to keep life from sucking and to get to a place where you can see things more clearly, and perhaps differently, so that you can stop feeling like a victim.
3. Many motivational speakers, books and products are generally full of ... hot air.
They say a lot of nothing, liberally borrowing stories from others and trying to pass them off as their own. Many are victims of buzzword overload, still referring to paradigm shifts, re-engineering, cheese moving, FISH philosophies and other concepts made popular in the 80s and 90s.
Furthermore, how many times are you going to hear the one about the ship and the lighthouse or the boy and the starfish or the room full of fertilizer before you get sick to your stomach?
Even the principle behind the book and movie The Secret isn't much of a secret. You attract situations, people and energy into your life every moment of every day. So it's wise to monitor your thoughts and not get bogged down in perpetual misery or low-level thinking.
4. Positive thinking alone doesn't change the world.
Change requires constant movement. Sitting on your ass all day thinking or visualizing is only going to leave your frustrated. Wishing someone would be nice to you without having a conversation with that person does nothing to change the current situation.
Praying for peace is meaningless unless you're willing to do something more than just pray for it. Behind every success story or successful person is a team of doers; people who make things happen through their actions or relationships with others.
5. Focus on the fundamental realities that can drive you to succeed more or work smarter.
Words are powerful. Words inspire. They shake us from the haze or funk we can fall into from time to time. Words remind us of our greatness and reconnect us to a world where people can succeed IF they focus on taking one step at a time and hold themselves accountable, despite their situation.
Still, reassuring words and positive intentions without works and physical actions is meaningless. I’ll take a proven system and a deadline over a motivational speaker or motivational product any day.
Motivation without direction is dangerous. If I attempt to convince you that you can fly, I had better be prepared to show you where to buy an airplane or at least how to build one.
Throughout this program, keep an open mind. Challenge yourself. Go through each section. Don’t just read what’s being said. Think about it.
Take time to reflect on the ideas presented. Learn from the situations others are going through. And as always make an action plan for improvement.
Make a plan that’s simple enough to stick to and honest enough to highlight areas where you might need additional time, resources or people to assist you.
Home - Back to Articles - Email
All Rights Reserved.