THE POWER OF MOTIVATION
Improving Employee Enthusiasm and Resourcefulness

When thinking about how to correct self-defeating patterns, it helps to ask yourself: "What would I think of the choices I have been making if a teenager I loved were making the same ones?"

We don't allow our children to adopt habits that are damaging to themselves or others. All too often, though, we are more lenient with ourselves than we would be with our children. Perhaps this is because we have the mistaken idea that self-defeat is a victimless crime.

One lesson we learn from football is that the more self-discipline you apply to yourself, the better you will be and the better off those around you (crewmates, teammates, etc.) will be. That interaction works in life as well.

It is especially paradoxical that self-destructive behavior hits even in sports where fitness and mental control count for so much. One would think that the discipline and patience necessary to make it into the NFL would provide insurance against the easy-out decision. Yet, the NFL doesn't exist in a vacuum. Drugs are a problem in sports because they are a problem in society. There's no way to keep them out of NFL locker rooms any more than you can keep them out of the schools.

It is a modern tragedy that a wide receiver, say, who uses his God-given talents to out distance a defensive back and catch a touchdown pass with the screams of 77,000 fans in the air, might then go out after the game and resort to drugs to "take the pressure off." That says, if nothing else, that adulation and money aren't enough. Sometimes, only self-respect and self-esteem will do.

There's no rational explanation for a person seeking cocaine instead of self-esteem, for downing liquor instead of learning to love, or for gorging instead of running an extra mile. Self-abuse develops in many different personalities and for a variety of reasons. Self-abuse isn't the only way man is irrational, but it is in vogue. Still, self-abuse is no excuse.

I suggest we go back to the basics and remember the athlete's maxim: "The harder you are on yourself (that is, the more self-discipline you apply to yourself), the easier the game (or life) will be on you."