100 Ways to Motivate Others : How Great Leaders Can Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

Know Your Owners and Victims

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/ 100 Ways to Motivate Others
11. Lead From the Front
You can’t change people. You must
be the change
you wish to see in people.
—Gandhi
There is nothing more motivational than leading from
the front.
It motivates others when you are out there and you do
it yourself. It’s inspiring to them when you do what you
want them to do. Be inspiring. Your people would rather
be inspired than fixed or corrected. They would rather be
inspired than anything else.
As a motivational practice, leading from the front hits
harder and lasts longer than any other practice. It changes
people more deeply and more completely than anything
else you can do.
So
be
what you want to see.
If you want your people to be more positive, be more
positive. If you want them to take more pride in their work,
take more pride in yours. Show them how it’s done. If you
want them to look good and dress professionally, look
better yourself. Want them to be on time? Always be early
(and tell them why...tell them what punctuality means to
you
, not to them).
And as General George Patton (a soul mate of
Gandhi’s) said, “There are three principles of leadership:
(1) Example, (2) Example, and (3) Example.”

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12. Preach the
Role of Thought
Great men are they who see that thought is stronger than any
material force, that thoughts rule the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Business and life coach JacQuaeline told us this story
last week about a mechanic in a school district complaining
of punching a time clock and doing the same thing on his
job over and over for the last 20 years.
“I’m burned out and need a change!” the mechanic
declared.
“Possibly,” JacQuaeline replied. “But you might want
to try learning to love what you are resisting, because if
you don’t, you will likely run into it in your next job too, in
another guise.”
The mechanic responded, “I can love what I’m resist-
ing? I’m not sure that I believe that’s possible, but even if
I did, how is it done?”
“Well,” his coach said, “what is a higher purpose to
your job than just turning nuts and bolts every day?”
“That’s easy,” replied the mechanic. “The higher pur-
pose of my job is saving children’s lives every day.”
“Yes, that’s great!” whispered the coach. “Now, every
morning when you get into your higher purpose, saving
children’s lives every day, you will be clear that your job
and responsibility is so important that the time clock al-
most won’t matter anymore.”
Preach the Role of Thought

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/ 100 Ways to Motivate Others
She had given him a new way to think. She had put him
in touch with the power of higher thought to transform
experience.
Make certain all the people you want to motivate un-
derstand the role of 
thought
in life. There is nothing more
important.
A: I’m depressed.
B: You just think you’re depressed.
A: Same thing...it feels like the same thing.
B: It feels like the same thing, because it is the same thing.
A: What if I thought I was really happy?
B: I think that would make you feel really happy.
A: I know it would.
Why is it that the rain depresses one person and makes
another person happy?
If things “make you” feel something, why does this
thing called rain make one person feel one thing and the
other person feel the other thing? Why, if things make
you feel something, doesn’t the rain make both people feel
the same thing?
One person you lead might say, “Oh no, bad weather,
how depressing.” Another person might say, “Oh boy, we
have some wonderful, refreshing rain!”
Because the rain doesn’t actually make you feel any-
thing. (No person, place, or thing can make you feel
anything.)
It is