What Really Drives You Forward!!!

What is holding you back? Why do some people move forward and why do some refuse to act? Is it a lack of belief? A low level of commitment? Inadequate knowledge and skills?

It’s actually a combination of all of them, forming a productivity model, also called the Belief Cycle. This cycle actually starts with BELIEF. But what do we have to believe in? We must first believe in our POTENTIAL and secondly, in the EXPECTATION of the end result. However, belief in the expectation does not have a magic formula. It requires some level of faith (the ability to believe in what we cannot see) so there are times when we just have to jump into things – take a leap of faith, which also depends on the desire for the end result. Always remember that you cannot calculate everything (just don’t tell that to the left-brain thinkers!!).

What about belief in our potential? Some will say that it depends on the level of knowledge and skills that we possess. If that were true, there would not be so many people with tremendous skills who still don’t seem to make use of it. While knowledge and skill will, to a certain extent, drive belief, they may not drive the COMMITMENT to act. To drive commitment, we must have a plan of how we are going to achieve the goal, define the steps and set the deadlines. In other words, change the context or environment in which this goal must happen. If you don’t create the right environment, then commitment and/or the motivation to act will decrease. It’s like motivating yourself to cook when the sink is full of dirty dishes…wrong environment – no action. Commitment always becomes stronger with the plan, eventually leading to effort and finally a result. This will, in turn, drive belief. Therefore, the more action we take, the more results we get, and the more belief we will have. Even if you don’t get the result you actually want, you will have a better idea of where to move from there.

Please note that not everyone is at the same place in this Belief Cycle. For people to commit to an action, it doesn’t necessarily mean that belief has to be in the right place. There have been many occasions where I jumped into a task without a complete belief in myself and still completed the task. I am sure that you have also. It simply depends on the situation.

In one of my classes recently, a female bodybuilder, came up to me during the break and said, “I can’t find the motivation to compete anymore, can you give me some advice?” I first had to find out what was causing this situation. While talking to her, it was clear that she had all the skills and knowledge necessary. She was already there physically, but not emotionally. Her mental struggle originated from the fact that her trainer died in a car accident a few months earlier. In other words, the context had changed. I made a simple request to her and made it clear that what she had to do required some willpower. She had to simply commit to doing the work on her own and the motivation will come. As long as she could create a new experience, it would drive her belief. One of the things I was told years ago is that action usually precedes motivation, not the other way around.

At the end of the Belief-Commitment-Effort-Result cycle, you now have a key factor. It is called EXPERIENCE and it will drive every step of the cycle. Belief will be stronger, commitment will be faster, the effort will be greater and the result in most cases will be closer to the result you want.

We have all struggled in some aspect of belief, so examine where you are, separate what is in your control from what is out of your control, and JUMP…because the difference between success and failure is the action we take!!!

Tony Ragoonanan is the Founder of  V-Formation Training & Development. As a Trainer and Performance Management Specialist, he helps individuals, teams, and businesses to align behaviours and goals, create the right organizational culture and maximize capability. Outside of this, it’s all about family,  football, and fitness!!

868-681-3492 | tonyr0909@gmail.com