Did you ever ask yourself the question why athletes are so good in their sports and why it is not you in their place?  Being famous, earning larger amounts of money by competing in marathons, championships or world cups? And if you did, have you answered this question by your lack of talent and them being gifted?

Vince Lombardi -former American football coach- got he answer, as he once said:

Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.

Be motivated, get excited!

So, the extra bit that makes the difference is motivation. Is does not really matter of what your motivation consists Toni Church argues in his running-blog; whether you want to win, you want to achieve a personal best or if you are running in honor of a loved one.

Do not loose track

Once you found out why you are aiming for something, you are still not guaranteed any success. It is important to STAY motivated, something onelittlejill discusses in her blog asking the audience how they best motivate themselves. Kandi answers to this question that she kept telling her mum that she could make it and how strong she was in order to push her mom towards the completion of the marathon. Onelittlejil, she posted various images with motivating statements on her mirror which remind her every day of what her goal is.

Motivation in Business

And all of this can also be applied to business. Why are some more successful than others?

Nick Spano argues that Motivation, Productivity, and Change Management are very closely linked. Proper motivation can increase productivity.”

And finally, Anne Balaban concludes in her blog -after having rehearsed Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford University in 2005- that any individual can motivate others in order to make a difference.

Together we can do it

I believe that Sports teams are the perfect role model for companies and organizations regarding team work and a common target. If you watch basketball teams or soccer teams playing, you can always observe them when failing to score a point that they give each other high-fives. This is only a little gesture but in my opinion by this behaviour they are showing each other that they do not give up and they will keep trying until they finally score and win.

And this is what managers and team leaders in companies need to do. They should make sure employees stay passionate about projects in order to encourage them to keep working efficiently on projects and even more when they suffered setbacks.

This leads me to a few questions I would like to discuss with you:

In order to stay motivated, who is the more important part to motivate others? The team leaders or the team members?

connecting to the 1st question: WHO motivates managers? Are they fully self-responsible of their motivation?

Can athletic employees contribute a bigger share to the organizations’ success?