Motivated By Consequences

One thing I've noticed about children is that they are more motivated by consequences than by rewards. Tell a child that if he reads 10 books he will get his favorite video game, he may or may not read those books. Most likely, he won't read those books. But tell him that if he doesn't read those books that something valuable will be taken away, then he'll be asking when he could go to the library.

As adults, we are no different from children. We are more motivated by consequences than by rewards. Instead of getting our act together while everything is going well, we wait until something bad happens before we shape up. Instead of exercising to maintain good health, we exercise when the doctor tells us that we'll get diabetes if we don't. Instead of eating our greens so that we could have more energy, we eat our greens when we get the news that something showed up on the MRI.

See, when things are going well, we get comfortable. We just don't care to do anything to further improve ourselves. When things start going bad, then we start talking change. The time to seek better things is when life is going good, not when life is falling apart. When life is good, you could improve yourself. When life is bad, then you're in crisis mode and you have little time to make improvements.

You know why companies go out of business? It's not because of competition. It's because those companies got comfortable. Instead of finding ways to better serve their customers WHILE business was still going good, they just assumed that business would always go well for them. So, they just stop trying. Ever went to a mom-and-pop shop that looked raggedy, outdated, with their cats running around, having over-priced items, and nobody has greeted you? They don't have a website or e-mail, and their cash register looks like it came from 1971. Yep, those folks got comfortable. Once their competition comes to town, they would start losing business...and then would they start talking of change. Sorry, guys, you should have been talking about change before competition came in.

When you have a good thing going for you, keep it going good and make it better. Think about the rewards you'll get for making the right adjustments in your life. When life starts taking a turn for the worst, that should NOT be the only time to talk about adjustments.

The end of the year is just around the corner, and no doubt many of you have made your New Year's resolutions. Why must they be New Year's resolutions? Why can't you start on your resolutions NOW while things are still going well for you? If you have a good job now, look for a better one WHILE you still have that job. Better yet, start working on your personal business while you still have income coming in. Don't wait until you lose that job to start talking about opening your restaurant.

We waste so much time in idleness, don't we? We could easily spend hours and hours vegging out on mindless activities, thinking that life is good. But once the rug gets pulled from under us, then we're scrambling to find what we could do with ourselves. We could have been using our free time to work on our art, our writing, our languages, or any skills that we have yet to master. No, instead, we used our free time on idleness thinking that life will always go well for us.

If you're in a good position now, let this be the time to pursue your heart's desires. Don't wait until the kids grow up and leave the house -- that may never happen. Don't wait until you get that job promotion -- that may never happen. Don't wait until next year or next month (or even next week) -- you may not be around. The best time to start anything is when everything is in your favor. The worst time is when everything seems to be against you. Whatever you want to do, do it NOW while the sun is still shining. When the night comes, you won't be able to see what you're doing.