Page 123 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

The Whiners have left their reaction to their company’s problems down at

the emotional level. They express resentment, fear, and worry. The manager’s
problem in such a meeting is that he deals primarily with those emotions, so he
finishes the meeting with his own sense of discouragement.

When you are committed to self-motivation as a way of life, you will fall
into the realm of the Thinker. Your thinking not only creates your motivation,
but it creates your relationships, your family, and the organization you work for,
as well, because they are all a part of you. You are more valuable to your
organization with this orientation to thinking, and you’re more valuable to
yourself.

87. Put more enjoyment in

There is a huge difference between pleasure and enjoyment. And when
we’re absolutely clear about the difference, we can grow much faster toward a
focused and energized life. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi best describes this
difference in his various books on “flow”—the psychological state that we get in
when time disappears and we are thoroughly engaged in what we’re doing.

Csikszentmihalyi distinguishes what we do for pleasure (routine sex, eating,
drinking, and so on) from what we do for enjoyment. Enjoyment is deeper.
Enjoyment always involves the use of a skill and the facing of a challenge. So
sailing, gardening, painting, bowling, golfing, cooking, and any such activity
involving skills meeting a challenge constitute enjoyment.

People who get clear on that difference begin to put more enjoyment into
their lives. They reach the happy and fulfilled psychological state known as
“flow.” Increasing their skills and seeking challenges to engage those skills are
what lead to an enjoyable life.

There are many stories and accounts about the winners of lotteries who are

jubilant when they win, but whose lives descend into a nightmare after acquiring
that unearned money. (No challenge, no skill.) The lottery looks like “the
answer” to people because they associate money with pleasure. But the true
enjoyment of money comes in part from the earning of it, which involves skill
and challenge.

Watching television is usually done for pleasure. That’s why so few people
can remember (or make use of) any of the 30 hours of television they have