Motivation is a dynamic state that results in the desire, directional intensity and persistence of behaviour to achieve a long or short- term goal. Without motivation our sales performance, and consequently our results can be severely impaired. When we are feeling motivated, we light up our performance like a Christmas Tree, and equally when we feel de-motivated, everything seems to be much harder work.

As sales people, if we continually look to find motivation from outside of ourselves, then we are placing ourselves in a risky situation because it may not always be possible to have a drip-feed of motivation feeding us when we need it most. That's why, the more we can understand about what motivates us personally, the more it helps us to tap into our internal motivational power.

We are all unique individuals and are motivated by what is important to us personally. The factors that are important to us can be described as our values and are the fuel that drives our behaviour. Our values are unique to us and we each have a different set of values based on different aspects of our lives. For example:

- Career
- Relationships
- Finances
- Health and Fitness
- Family and Home
- Social Life
- Personal Development
- Spirituality

If we can discover our values in the context of our career in sales, we are consciously able to identify what is important to us and can therefore begin to notice ways to leverage our own motivation.
If we are doing a job that satisfies our most important values then we will feel highly motivated and energised. Sometimes when we feel de-motivated, it's because we are not consciously aware that certain aspects of our job role are aligned to our career values.

The process to leverage our own motivation is:

1. Discover what is important to us in our career (these are our career values)
2. Prioritise our career values in their order of importance to us
3. Develop reasons why our current job role can satisfy each of our career values

More thoughts about motivation: "Understanding Motivation - The Fundementals"

Today's News: I've agreed to do two more interviews next week, the first with Eyes On Sales and the second, with my good friend Paul McCord - I will post full details on Monday. If you want to catch up with my most recent ones, just click on the banner below.

Finally, a couple of superb blog posts for you: From Paul McCord - "From Classroom To Paycheck - Making Sales Training Work" and from Dave Stein - "Should You Trust Sponsored Research?"

Tomorrow: I am preparing to head back to Paris, where the weather has been less than seasonal, but that will not bother most Parisiens, who will have headed south for the whole of August, leaving the place to the few of us remaining and a few million Japanes tourists :-) Americans have been conspicuous by their absence this year - a sign of the economic times, I guess.

Wherever you are, have a great w/e and be sure to join me and my guests next week - JF