Are you feeling unmotivated as a leader? Do you have no enthusiasm for your current assignment? If so, I want to introduce to someone who has seemingly mastered the art of staying motivated.
Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, is one of my favorite leaders. This past weekend, his squad won its fourth consecutive Premier League title, and six in seven seasons.
Afterwards, Guardiola was interviewed and asked how he continually stayed motived to lead at the highest level even though he has nothing left to prove. The following was his response:
From Guardiola’s comments we learn the following six things about staying motivated as a leader:
The Only Sustainable Motivation Is Self-Motivation.
There is an intrinsic nature to motivation, it must come from within. Guardiola admitted he did not know how he stayed motivated. It seemingly comes natural to him. But then he did offer the following ideas.
Motivation Comes From Hard Work.
Most people think hard work comes from motivation. But it is actually the other way around. The most successful leaders know hard working people become motivated.
Don’t wait to get motivated to start working hard. Start working hard and then the motivation will come. Effort fuels motivation. Guardiola said, “So we’re up a game, work a lot.”
Motivation Comes With Respect.
Referring to his opponents, he also said, “Respect them a lot.” When you respect your opposition, you will work hard because you know they can beat you anytime if you are not at your best. Motivated people not only respect their opponents, they respect the game. They respect their profession.
Motivated People Are Humble People.
Guardiola added, “Be humble.” Why is this so? Motivated people know average performance will not be enough to be successful. They will have to continually improve to achieve what they need to accomplish.
Motivated People Look At Failure Differently.
“Be scared to lose the game.” This is an interesting statement. I don’t think Guardiola fears failure in and of itself. In fact, you can learn much from failure. I think Guardiola, and motivated leaders in general, fear the feeling of failure. It hurts. It’s sickening. You want to get the taste out of your mouth as soon as possible. Therefore, you are motivated to not have that feeling again.
Motivated People Stay In The Moment
They do not look ahead. Guardiola concluded his question by saying, “And one game and one game and one game. No more than that. You cannot think in November you’re going to win I don’t know how many games. What’s next? This is next. This is what you’re supposed to do.”
I recently read the following quote from novelist Hugh Howey. He said, “You can’t get to where you want to be in one day, just like you don’t sail around the world in a day. You just look at the horizon and say, ‘I can sail that far.’ Sailing around the world is just sailing to the horizon over and over again. Writing a novel is just writing a paragraph over and over again.”
Guardiola focused on winning the next game, and then the next, and then the next, until Manchester City eventually won the Premier League four times in a row, and six in seven years.
That’s what motivated leaders do.
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