Lately, for many of our coaching clients we have been thinking about the subject of motivation. For financial advisors and entrepreneurs especially, this is an interesting and always timely topic.
Coincidentally, there was a short piece this past week in Forbes that addressed this topic from the standpoint of entrepreneurs, "Why Serial Entrepreneurs Can't Stop." In this article the author contends that the motivation for entrepreneurs, especially the "serial entrepreneurs", i.e. those go-getters who can't stop creating and building new companies is...a sense of purpose. For them, changing the world is part of their quest. As such, their work is never done.
For the top-performing financial advisors who we work with, we also see them driven by other desires, such as:
Push/Pull Factors for Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs, there have been some interesting studies that investigate the key motivating factors for starting a business. Generally, the factors are split into two underlying reasons...Pull and Push factors.
Pull Factors for Entrepreneurs
Push Factors for Entrepreneurs
Interestingly, Pull Factors for entrepreneurs seem to be much more persistent and sustaining than the Push Factors.
As coaches, one of the frequent questions that we encounter is how to boost ambition. Without being completely directive and telling our clients what to do exactly, we have seen success for clients who do two things:
For closing thoughts, let's turn to one of our heroes...Mark Twain...whose memory has recently benefited from the publication of a 500,000 word autobiography:
"Keep away from the people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."...Mark Twain