Harnessing Anticipation as Motivation

By Kathleen E. Murphy

As I was trying to motivate myself to continue to work on a project, I thought it would be an interesting twist to see if I could tap into and harness the energy I had from anticipating news I will hear about next week. Instead of potentially being anxious about hearing the news and procrastinating on what I should be working on, I considered how I could constructively utilize my anticipation of the news to motivate me in a productive and positive manner. So far so good, as I am sharing this experience with you now, and I hope you can apply my strategy to help harness your anticipation as motivation.

Another way to look at harnessing anticipation as motivation, was to direct my frustration in waiting for a response, and to again, redirect my energy in a constructive mode. I will admit, I had to think about how to do this, as it was not my first instinct, but the outcome and redirection of my energy is far more rewarding. My last blog article called “Persistence is a Super Power – Got it?” also inspired me to write this blog article by the type of people and organizations who were reading this article. Perhaps you have heard of a few of them?….The Garner Group and The Boston Red Sox. I was thrilled there are companies who are well known brands who are reading and benefitting from the topics I have been writing about. All of the topics I write about have come from my interest in exploring and learning more about the subject, and to share what I learn with others who might be curious about the subject too. If you are curious about how I pick my topics, I have a handful of people who I typically ask which topics from my list they want me to write about next. Often, it is difficult to decide which one to focus on, as they are all intriguing topics from my perspective, so it comes down to deciding which one I can relate to the most at that moment in time.

Have you ever thought about why you might be more motivated some days, or specific times of the day more than others? I have, and often I attribute my motivation levels to influences such as the weather (e.g., sunny or cloudy), whether I am well rested or tired, or if it is the morning, which tends to be the time of day I have the highest level of motivation. I attribute being a “morning person” to why my motivation level is highest in the morning. However, regardless of these influences, another factor I had not considered was what my level of “hope” I have in terms of anticipating a positive outcome. If I am anticipating hearing about, doing, or going someplace, the concept of how “hopeful” I am about doing so also plays a significant role in how motivated I am. Have you ever noticed this about yourself?

You may have heard the phrase, “hope is not a strategy”. However, I would disagree and say it could be. As a matter of fact, in the absence of having hope, I have personally felt myself become more stressed, and less optimistic about the anticipated outcome of a situation being positive. When I am hopeful about something, my attitude and motivation factors are much higher, and I have a sense of the possibility of anticipating an outcome which I can both visualize and desire. The next time you are faced with a situation when you are anticipating news of any kind, see if you are able to harness the energy derived from the anticipation to motivate you to do something positive, or constructive. I’m counting on doing this myself for the next few days.

Kathleen E. Murphy is the Founder, Chief Strategist and CMO of Market Me Too. Market Me Too has expertise in bridging marketing and sales teams and providing organizations techniques to accelerate their market growth, regardless of the industry they are in, or the business stage they are presently at. Contact Kathleen at kathymurphy@me.com.