Social Environment

My last posting dealt with physical environment. Today’s will deal with social environment.

Social environment means all the people and the collections of people who surround you and with whom you come in contact and the interactions you have with them. We use the term very broadly. There are so many different types of people in your social environment. Some examples are role models, mentors, professional organizations, family, friends, service clubs, peer partners, counselors, teachers, trainers, seminars. The list goes on and on.

As intentional men, our goal is to use our social environment to enhance our motivation. My vision is me as a public speaker, training people how to motivate themselves so they can become all they are capable of being. A large part of my social environment is Toastmasters, an organization that has given me, and continues to give me, experience, skill and camaraderie. If you are interested in public speaking, or just wish to get more comfortable speaking in public, check it out at www.Toastmasters.org. I belong to two clubs, one is a regular club and the other one an advanced club, the members of which are all professional speakers.

I am also a member of a marketing group. This group, through its newsletter and by interactions with other members, teaches me the skills I need to market myself as a speaker and an author. Having these two things, Toastmasters and my marketing group, in my social environment enhance my motivation.

I continually become more and more conscious of my social environment. My physical environment has pretty much stayed the same for the past two years, with the exception of the purchase of a new computer. Other than that, I use the same desk, in the same room, in the same house. My physical environment works well for me as it is, so changing it is not necessary, except for maybe once in a while cleaning up the mess.

My social environment, however, is continually in flux. I recently contracted with a publicist/expert/counselor. She is very experienced in book publishing and public speaking. She knows people who can do the things I need doing, like setting up an appropriate web page. She also is a source of encouragement. This woman is a new part of my social environment, one that definitely enhances my motivation.

No matter what your vision, there are ways for you to enhance your motivation by working on your social environment.

Environment, The Third Factor of Self Motivation

The third factor of self motivation is environment. This recognizes that your environment plays a large part in how motivated you are. Your environment can increase your motivation, or it can decrease your motivation. It’s up to you, because ultimately you control your environment.

In my book, Motivate Yourself, I tell about a wonderful speech my friend Mykassa Dixon made at a Toastmasters speech contest. (Mykassa won). Mykassa’s speech was about Mr. Bouncy Ball. Mykassa actually had a ball with him on the speaking platform and bounced it onto the floor which was about a foot lower. Mykassa explained how the in order for the ball to bounce back it had to bounce on the right environment. If he tried to bounce it on sand, for example, that would be the wrong environment; it would not bounce back. Mykassa had shared with the audience a major disappointment he had experienced and was explaining how he was able to bounce back from that disappointment, with the proper environment.

In my model for self motivation, I go one step further than Mykassa did. I believe in order to do anything, not just bounce back, we need to have the right environment.

What’s interesting about Mykassa’s speech, as it relates to self motivation, is that the speech itself, on the surface, is talking about physical environment, the ball won’t bounce back on sand or on water, but it will bounce back on wood or cement. The physical environment in his speech, however is actually a metaphor for the people in his environment; the support, understanding and encouragement they give him help him to bounce back from his major disappointment.

What makes this interesting is that when we deal with environment in self motivation, we are dealing with both our physical environment, the place where we pursue our vision, and our social environment, the people we surround ourselves with on our journey. Both types of environment can have a major impact on our motivation.