Season 4 Episode 7: No Crowds Needed: Self-Motivated Teams

Season 4 Episode 7 “No Crowds Needed”
Season 4 Episode 7 “No Crowds Needed”

The past year has delivered us powerful images and reminders all around us. One lesson worthy of acknowledgment and awareness is the difference between externally-focused leaders and teams and intrinsically-motivated and aligned leaders and teams. The difference, and outcomes, are obvious.

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SHOW NOTES

1:47 – Jason introduces Season 4 episode 7 of the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast and thank you for listening. We wish to create content that engages your mind and heart and allows you to step back and think and add some positivity to your life. This podcast is about sports during the pandemic and leadership lessons from teams and sports that found a way to win in a different world with no crowds in the stadiums as they played.

3:10 – Please leave a review for the podcast

5:10 – We can’t control everything but what we can control is our response. Still a lot of work to do but wanted to remind the audience what is within our control is the temperature we create in the organizations and teams we work with. If you have a suggestion, please send it in to info@jasonvbarger.com

6:50 – Jason talks about sports during the pandemic. Sports are important for many of us as an escape and a way to connect with others in a shared experience of perseverance and hope. Sports have an impact. Peak performance can be found in sports and during the global pandemic and safety concerns many sports leagues worked to deliver sports to people. Jason loves sports and particularly basketball. Check out the recent Gonzaga basketball podcast episode here.

Sports are an enormously and important thing. They can bring so much happiness and a mental escape for so many.

9:08 – Leaders in sport had to make tough decisions of how to continue playing sports during the pandemic. Sports bubbles were created where athletes were literally living at their jobs. Empty gyms, empty stadiums, empty arenas. The typical excitement and pageantry were gone.

11:20 – The teams that didn’t rely on the roar of the crowds for their focus and energy for their own intrinsic will to win were the teams that were the most successful. There was no home-field advantage anymore. It was who could stay focused and bring their own energy could win. The teams that could compete due to the craft itself and the culture they created rather than the pageantry that surrounds it was the teams that would win and they did.

14:58 – In a world that is so externally focused the sports teams that were intrinsically focused within themselves and not the external noises, those were the teams and players that were the most successful. Jason shares a story about Zig Ziglar after a speech during the Q&A, the person said I get so fired up after your speeches and I have these ideas and I’m so excited and motivated but then something happens were 3-4 weeks down the road I start to realize that it starts to fade away and I lose the feeling I had after your speech. So his question was do you believe in this motivation thing? Zig Ziglar says, of course, it does. He said, do you eat every day? Do you bathe every day? We eat every day because our bodies get hungry and require fuel to fuel us. Our bodies get dirty, we need to get clean. Motivation and inspiration are no different than that. We wish it were a one-shot or a pill, but that isn’t true. Zig needs to find motivation every single day to continue. Just like bathing, I’ve got to stay motivated myself.

21:20 – The best leaders have an ethic of seeking, finding, and developing that intrinsic motivation to drive those around us and to stimulate progress. The best leaders and teams aren’t just externally motivated for the roar of the crowds but their internal spirit is intrinsically motivated to bathe and develop with the other people around them even when there are no crowds around them. They are still able to perform and share their passion with others for the mission and the goal that’s in front of them. These are the ones that succeed.

Motivation takes daily practice. Don’t be externally motivated by crowds but by your mission and goal at hand.

Questions to Ponder

  1. When no one is watching, what motivates you?
  2. What are the gifts, what’s the passion, what are the skills that you want to continue to develop?
  3. What new ways do you need to bathe every day to find new ways to stay motivated?
  4. How can you share these gifts with your team and be committed to playing together even when no crowds are there?

Remember the best leaders, the best teams, drive forward by the way they bathe, they eat, they train, they think, & the way they go to work. No crowds are really needed but when the crowds show up they’re ready.


If you like the podcast, have a question, or just want to share your thoughts about daring to begin please leave a comment below or please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT

Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.

A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.

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