Motivation

Karl Duncker, a German psychologist, investigated new ways to solve problems. His idea was that we often get stuck in our typical ways of thinking...making it hard for us to see a real solution. This concept, which he called functional fixedness and defined as being a "mental block against using an object in a new way that is required to solve a problem", led him to create The Candle Problem. The picture below prompts his test:

In this problem, his subjects had to attach the candle to the wall, light it, and not allow any wax to get on the table. I'm not going to reveal the answer, because (if you're like me) you'd like some time to think it through. I'll post the answer in a couple days so you can mull over it.

It's easy to get stuck in the same way of thinking and miss potential new ideas and different ways of looking at life. Dan Pink uses this experiment and concept to draw a picture of motivation. Warning: he does reveal the answer to the candle problem. Please enjoy Dan's talk:

Today we have a special guest post from blog reader Bruce Hall:

Self-Discipline: Source of Achievement or Self-Delusion?

"No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined."

-Harry Emerson Fosdick

It's 5 a.m. and cold as a meat locker. Outside, the gloom of winter darkness presses against my sliding glass door. A few feet away, here in the house, the dining room table is filled with stacks of reference books. A freshly prepared steaming hot cup of coffee waits on the table, which I must drink quickly, or risking losing the advantage. To my left, a small black desk lamp casts a strong beam of light, which cuts diagonally across the keyboard of an elderly, painfully slow laptop. This is the destination of my writing pilgrimage every morning.

I quickly turn up the thermostat and slide into my chair, muttering something about resolve. I take a sip of coffee, unload a sigh, and begin to plunk keys. If a few coherent sentences take root each day, I might have a blog by the end of the week. Inevitably, however, questions arise. What if I can't? What if my goal is clearly untenable, and all I end up with is a bowl of alphabet soup? What if the whole thing is mere hubris? Whew! Well, those questions are traveling in dangerous territory, aren't they? Besides, I'll know more after editing, rewriting, and egocentricity kick in.

Writing is not a rare experience for me; however, my decision to blog once a week has bent some edges of confidence. That level of commitment raised the issue of strong belief. Would I be up to the task? Am I self-disciplined enough? Sure, why not, I reasoned. Self-discipline is in my nature, along with an ability to mobilize resources for achieving an ultimate purpose, regardless of time. However, since I also value goal setting, I impose a schedule each day. I consider topics, mood, and language. I dream about similes for emphasis and creating powerful metaphors. I began to drink more coffee. How can I not succeed?

On the other hand, even the best of intentions are easily submerged under comfy layers of heavy blankets, safe and secure in my bed from worldly responsibility. In the beginning, I found I did not want to get up. I was not interested in self-discipline, self-awareness, self-discovery, or any other possibilities. I began to imagine a wide variety of procrastination techniques. I even confess entertaining notions of mental telepathy or automatic writing; not resources I really want to draw upon!

Successful people share one thing in common: an ability to mobilize themselves and their talent to achieve goals. Accomplishment is not a passive entity. One must work at it. History reveals self-disciplined individuals with an impulse to connect their imagination actively in fields like science, philosophy, psychology, religion, art, and technology have led to extraordinary accomplishments.

So now I practice what I coach others. Every day, very early, I arise from bed, shuffle down the hall, feed my hungry, barking dogs, make coffee and worry about grammatical troublemakers.

Do you have an image of achievement to call your own? That's a powerful vision to carry around. Do you possess the strength, persistence, and perseverance to develop the skills and experience to make it real? That's equally potent.

The drive for accomplishment often requires overcoming deficiencies in knowledge, physical or emotional complications, dogma, criticism, and persecution. More than idle curiosity, more than love for wisdom, more than truth for its own sake, self-discipline is the force behind the power of purpose.

As described in The Neuropsychology of Self-Discipline, "It is your ability to systemically and progressively work toward the goal until you have reached it. It includes acquiring knowledge and skills. It is your ability to become positively obsessed, single-minded and efficient; to strive without giving up, to work consistently, day after day, until your purpose is fulfilled."

Admittedly, self-discipline is not easy. It takes time to master. It requires retraining the way you think and organize your life. Sometimes, when thoughts are distanced and convenient alternatives like fear, anxiety, and procrastination emerge, it's far easier to wander, call it quits, and walk away.

On the other hand, self-discipline can help you ask questions, seek answers, set goals, and achieve them. Most important in doing so, you will also discover how quite wonderful it is to know what you want in life, how to plan achieving it, and actively move forward in that direction.

Bruce Hall is a Personal and Small Business Coach in Port Angeles, WA. You can visit his website at http://brucehallcoaching.com.

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly." ~Robert F. Kennedy

On our Facebook page, I shared a video about some famous failures. After some research, I found some other very interesting facts about people who failed on their way to success:

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Lombardi would later write, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up."

The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through "a minute-and a half" of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.

In 1947, one year into her contract, Marilyn Monroe was dropped by 20th Century-Fox because her producer thought she was unattractive and cannot act.

JK Rowling lived on welfare for years. A failing author, she went on to write the Harry Potter series, and today has an estimated worth over $1B. Among many recent notable successes, she performed Harvard's commencement speech.

After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" Poitier vowed to show him that he could make it, going on to win an Oscar and become one of the most well-regarded actors in the business.

The billion-dollar business that is Honda began with a series of failures and fortunate turns of luck. Soichiro Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time. He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finally started his own business.

What is your failure to success story?

We ALL Have Something to Contribute to Life

"Someone out there needs you more than you need them!" – Lt. General Hal Moore

I remember a day, many years ago, when I had the privilege to meet Alma Powell. "Young or old, you still have something to give to your country," she said. Now that I'm squarely positioned in the "mature" segment of our population, I think a lot about the wisdom of this statement, and believe that it applies to life as well.

Who's to say that a person of a "certain age" contributes less to our world than someone of youth and physical prowess? I plan on living at least another 50 years on this planet (I have to – I have way too many plans to check out earlier!!), and not in one mental image of myself down the road do I see a woman who is not giving back to my community, country, friends, family and earth. I will leave this world kicking and screaming if I don't make a difference. And, honestly, part of the drive within me to do something significant comes from a huge recognition of the trails blazed and conquered by those who have come before me. My achievements are meant to be an acknowledgement of the debt I owe to those who created the life I have, and who did so in uncertain, difficult, and often deadly circumstances. Giving back is part of who I am.

So, when I was offered the chance to come to Montevallo, Alabama to honor General Hal Moore as he was appointed Distinguished National Honorary Chair of The American Citizenship Trust and its American Village Campus; and to see him present the American Freedom Award to his longtime friend General George W. Casey, Jr., and posthumously to General George W. Casey, Sr., a fire in my belly said, "Go!"

I did, and I didn't look back. In anticipation of what I knew was going to be an amazing experience, in the midst of the events of the celebration weekend, which included the 88th birthday celebration of General Moore, as well as a 10th Anniversary celebration of the American Citizenship Trust, I opened myself up to meeting amazing people like Tom Walker, Founder and CEO of the American Citizenship Trust, and his wonderful, accomplished staff at the American Village.

I met the man called "Driver," the author of A Tender Warrior, and his lovely and spirited wife Char. I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Sobel, of Sobel Communications, a specialist in military history and events, who has interviewed and written about General Moore for publication numerous times.

But, I cannot tell a lie. The event truly came alive for me the minute the beloved Vietnam War hero himself, Lt. General Hal Moore, walked into view, a handsome soldier with a huge, beautiful smile. When he passed by me in the processional, I knew I was right where I was meant to be that day. And when he delivered his prepared speech with strength and conviction and energy, nearly 600 of us were electrified. We were truly "in the presence of greatness."

Diane Y. Chapman is President of Words To Your Advantage Speaking and Writing service. Her website is www.dichapman.com.

A few weeks ago, I found an unexpected letter and book from a Facebook fan of Simple Truths. Nicholas Dennen wrote to tell my team and me, "Thank you for believing and helping myself and others overcome seemingly 'impossible' situations. Blessings to you, your families, and Simple Truths." That was a touching letter...but what really touched me was Nick's amazing story! It was so amazing, in fact, that I invited him to share his amazing story of perseverance with you. Nick experienced trauma that he would not have overcome without the right attitude. Be encouraged by his life today:

Question: when you look back on your life, 10, 20, 30, even 50 years down the road, what do you think you'll remember most, the times you effortlessly moved forward without any bit of struggle or the times you found yourself wrestling against your deepest fears? I think Jim Rohn said it best, "we must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment." I would have surely regretted not giving 110% of my heart and soul to my rehabilitation.

I had taken a 35-foot fall into a creek with a near drowning, suffering massive closed head trauma, with a collapsed lung. Miraculously, I survived that, yet alone surpassing an uncertain future plagued by insurmountable odds. It was those same impossible odds that set the scene for an amazing journey. The odds were definitely against me, and sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), which according the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota, affects 100,000 individuals just in Minnesota alone. The numbers are close to 1.4 million across the United States.

And today, we have to also consider our brave troops overseas. It is estimated that nearly 20% of our returning troops will have some form of mild to severe traumatic brain injury, many from improvised explosive devises. This number is staggering, but I think is underestimated. I've learned, in my short time with my brain injury, prevention is the only known cure.

I had a choice, to remain in the shadows or move forward, defining the moment, or letting the moment define me. I was hospitalized for months, September 27th of 1998 until early December of that year. After being discharged, after escaping death, I continued outpatient rehab at Sister Kenny, and continued moving forward. Moving home provided me with the comfort of family, but also the drive to continue walking my path with myself. My parent's and I were at the mall one Sunday afternoon and we walked by Successories and then I saw it. A poster of a runner with an inspiring quote. "Persevere: On the road to success, you can be sure of one thing…there is never a crowd on the extra mile." At times, it felt like I was running alone; the action had to be pushed forward by me.

Seeing pictures of me in the hospital offer inspiration. I was totally unconscious on life-support laying there with my eyes open, but I was not there. I was semi-comatose. The difficulty in seeing myself in such a state has nothing to do with whether or not I thought I would make it back. The difficulty was knowing that my family, friends, and others were faced with the uncertainty and pain that I may never, ever return. I think it ultimately came down to faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these three being love, the love of my family, friends, and everybody else.

I love motivation, particularly self-motivation, and not letting fear make my decisions. It took a near-death experience to open my eyes, to see a future serving others. My mom gave me a plaque from Successories during that first year as I was enduring an extensive rehabilitation, relearning how to walk, how to write, how to feed myself, how to live again. It was titled, New Beginnings, and it said, "In life what sometimes appears to be the end is really a new beginning."

Yes, I had thought my life was over. I saw my friends and everyone else moving forward, and I was stuck in the past. I saw my glass as half-empty, not half-full. I had a bad attitude. I needed to visualize my new beginning. I needed to change my perspective. I needed to re-define my TBI. Rather than Traumatic Brain Injury, I think TBI really stands for, "To Believe in the Impossible," "To Baffle the Imagination," "To see Beyond the Individual," and "To Become Invincible." I needed to see my struggle as an opportunity to take me to the next level.

Nearly 12 years post-TBI now, looking back, I can hardly imagine my life going any other way, without everything I have learned and every person I have met from this one experience. I was able to return to college, meeting people on the journey whom have shaped my life and transformed my future. I have been fortunate enough to get a job working at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, where I have worked since August of 2004. Working here has helped me go from being somewhat shy and introverted (qualities amplified after having a head injury) to becoming the opposite, outgoing and extroverted. It became my future.

I never would have imagined such a meaningful purpose, serving others enduring the same trials and difficulties. I have found a place serving the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota on their Speaker's Bureau, as well as on their Board of Directors. I can use this experience to lift others up. Adversity can, in the end, strengthen character.

And the best part, which I saved for last, was meeting my beautiful wife, Tina, whom I never would have met had I not been injured. She is my best friend and someone I can't see my life without.

So, I'd like to ask you another question: would you ever take a journey if, before you even started, you knew you would face death, be overcome by fear, and feel as though the world would be better without you in it? Or think about it this way. If, walking that same path, you'd discover your potential, meet the person of your dreams, and find your true calling in life?

Check out Nick's website: http://www.dennen23.com, or leave comments for him!