I am very glad that I have progressed enough in my public speaking abilities that I am able to laugh at myself with no problem. This is a really good thing because I often find myself with these opportunities.

This presentation was no different. As often happens to me, things pop into my head and I end up going a little “off-script.”  I do not remember exactly what I was talking about at the time but the word that I wanted to say was “motivated.”  What came out was a word that to the best of my recollection, I have never said or even heard. The word was MOTIFIED.

Many people would simply correct themselves and move on, but not me.  I could see some grins on the faces in the room and am pretty sure I even heard a few chuckles. Take advantage of a captured audience .. right?  I paused and asked the group, “what did I just day?”  More than one spoke the word back to me just as I had delivered it.

As I later reflected on my presentation, I realized that this ten or fifteen seconds of authenticity really helped me to connect with the audience.  I am sure that I will use this story in the future at one time or another so it got me thinking … I better be able to define this word.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of some of the most famous business books of our time, The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, tells the story of how he would invent words and insert them into his writings – “tipping point” being one of the most famous.  He would then see if others would use the word in their own work later.  No coincidence that I recently learned of this reading “The Impact Equation” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.  (Stay tuned for a 4 post series on The Impact Equation).

So what does “motified” mean?  Well I guess the first part is easy – Motivation.  Now comes the fun part … how do we tie a word that ends in “fied” into the definition? Unified.  Satisfied.  Certified.  Magnified.  There are certainly a number of words one could use.  But what might just stick?

I am certainly open to your thoughts, but I am going to go with satisfied.  Why do we try and motivate people?  In most cases, because we want them to achieve more in working towards a desired outcome.  If we achieve that desired outcome, we are satisfied.  Seems logical enough – now how do we use it?

When we motivate someone, it typically is to get them to start something new or do more of what they are already doing.  But motivation only lasts as long as the motivator keeps motivating.  What if we did such an incredible job of motivation that there was an actual change in the person being motivated.  Not just short term, but long term.

To motivate is to “get them going” but when they are motified, they keep going.”  I like that.  I think lots of people have motivated me in my life but very few have motified me. I want to be a motifier, not a motivator.

OK – we had a little fun in this post but think about how important words, and more importantly their meanings, are.  Remember what my speech was on that resulted in the creation of this word – Influential Leadership.  If you truly want to influence others, you better be able to motify them.

Who do you know that needs to be MOTIFIED?

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com      3/11/13            photo by author

The post Looking For Motivation? – Maybe It’s Time To Get MOTIFIED! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to attend an event called “A Day About Books”.  John Maxwell, Charlie Wetzel and Michael Hyatt shared their thoughts on book writing and the platform used to get your word out.  You might be tempted to stop reading right here if you think “I am not interested in writing a book, why would I be interested in reading this?”  Well here is why you should continue reading … ultimately you want people to hear what you have to say.  Have you given any thought to how you deliver your message, who will hear it and what they will in turn, do with your message after hearing it?

I am of the belief that every person in this world has a unique story and a story that is worth being told.  The problem is that most people either don’t think their story is worth hearing or they simply do not have any way to get their story out to be heard.

NEWS FLASH!  “IF YOU HAVE A COMPUTER AND A KEYBOARD, YOU HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY TOOLS NEEDED TO TELL THE WORLD YOUR STORY.”

I listened intently as John and Charlie spoke about the creative process that goes into writing a book, and was fascinated by the way the two of them complimented each other in sharing not only values and ideas, but almost as if they were reading each others minds.  I suppose more than two decades of working together will do that for you.  I am currently working on my first book and although the finish product is far from complete, I can now see the path to follow to complete the journey.

More than once I have heard John talk about writing a thesis for his books and I really never understood what he meant by this.  Now I better understand that if  you can help people with what you write in your book, they will not only read it, they will buy it too.  

The logical questions to answer in writing a thesis for your book would be:

• What do I want the reader to know? 
• What do I want the reader to do?

From there, write the outline which should consist of 3 or 4 points for each chapter that all point back directly to the thesis.  The rest of the content can be related to the thesis but is pretty much filler for the book.  The thesis and outline are the backbone of your story.

OK, so now you have an idea that you want the world to hear.  In my example above it is a book but it could be anything.  A book, video, ebook, DVD, CD, some kind of service, it really doesn’t matter unless you have a PLATFORM to tell the world about it.

Michael Hyatt spent about an hour hitting the highlights of his recently released book Platform, Get Noticed in a Noisy World.  There is way too much information to share here to do justice to the information provided in the book, so I suggest you just go get a copy and read it.  I will say this, Hyatt has done an outstanding job of covering all the bases and not overwhelming the reader with too much techie info.

Hyatt suggests 3 Benefits of Building a Platform

• Visibility – The amount of people that can see you is directly related to the number of people that can hear you.
• Amplification – A platform allows you to get your story out to many and then they will in turn, tell many more.
• Connection – A platform gives you multiple resources to connect with anyone capable of hearing your story.

Hyatt breaks down Platform, Get Noticed in a Noisy World into 5 parts:

• Part One: Start With The Wow – Content is King.  If you bring a poor product, the platform won’t matter.
• Part Two:  Prepare to Launch – The launch of your product is not an event, it is a process.  Remember that!
• Part Three:  Build Your Home Base – This is the piece of your platform that you own and control i.e. a blog, podcast or video.  Protect this unconditionally.
• Part Four:  Expand Your Reach – Stay focused on your “why” and spread your word.
• Part Five:  Engage Your Tribe – These are the people that share your values and your passion.  These are the ones that need to hear your story.

Don’t be intimidated into thinking that you have to write a book or create a website to get your word out, all you really need is the platform to do it.

WHAT IS YOUR STORY AND WHO NEEDS TO HEAR IT?  MORE IMPORTANTLY … WILL THEY?

Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com   6/24/12

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