Motivation By An Audience

Sooner or later, if you keep working hard in a focused way on a skill or project, you will have an audience even if it is an audience of one.

People are naturally attracted to the hardworking, skilled person and will want to watch or learn.

Having an audience motivates most people and the larger the better. Even an internet audience that you cannot see in the flesh can motivate you. Jack Humphreys writes:

"From providing a killer product or service, to top-notch customer service, webmasters get way more professional when a lot of people are looking and buying. After all, it is embarrassing to get all that traffic and have people landing on a dud page with crud products and ugly, broken links."

A big audience is a great motivator. Some sportsmen and women only perform at their best when they have a huge audience. Wayne Rooney, the latest soccer sensation in the UK, tends to score goals when he has a big audience as in the recent European cup competition.

Teams in the lower leagues of the soccer championships in England tend to perform miracles when they take on the top teams in front of large audiences. They frequently defeat the teams from the higher leagues.

There is a danger that a large audience will be so motivating that you freeze and do not do your best. However, usually a large audience will bring out the best in you especially if you decide to go for it.

Not all of us can have a huge audience, however, but we will have some kind of an audience over a period of weeks and months. If we lose weight, for example, large numbers of people will notice this over the next few months.

Just one person that we respect and/or love can be enough of an audience to bring out the best in us. Most of us go to great lengths to please our parents even after they have died. We see them as looking down on us and approving our efforts.

The key point in all this is that whatever we do in private, whether it is good or bad, usually emerges in the public world. The thought of this can motivate us to do more.

When you are practicing your guitar on a daily basis, it is almost inevitable that a time will come when you perform in front of an audience. So don't wait for the audience to arrive. Just get practising on your own and sooner or later the audience will appear. A little marketing of course might help.

The writer works away on his or her own before public acknowledgement happens. Geoff Thompson wrote his first book on toilet paper in the only private place he could find - the gents. The book can now be found on many bookshelves. Geoff is now known all over the world.

So get off your butt and get working hard. Get serious and professional. The professional does whatever it takes to become highly skilled and worthy of payment. The amateur only works when he or she feels like it.

The amateur can of course reach a higher standard than some so-called professionals but usually the professional is superior in performance. The professional has to produce the goods or face the sack.

Robert Louis Stevenson only managed to finish his great adventure story 'Treasure Island' because he had been paid in advance for it as professionals often are. Before that he had failed to finish nine novels.

Work hard whether you feel like it or not and don't give up. Your admiring audience will arrive later. Even if they don't, you, as an individual who has followed your dreams wholeheartedly, will be much happier and stronger.

Back in 1990 I opened in a martial arts school in Kent. I only had one student arrive on the first night but that was enough to motivate me to keep going and gradually the numbers increased. The school is still going strong 15 years later.

If you don't have an audience yet, start visualising one. If you keep working hard at your skill or skills, the imaginary audience will become a real one.

Those who have a skill usually end up as leaders. They lead and teach those don't yet have that skill and leaders will gradually acquire followers and followers usually provide an enthusiastic, respectful and appreciative audience.

About the author

John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams. They can both be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is "36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now! - Acronyms, Stories, And Pictures...Easy To Remember And Use Everyday To Grab Your Life And Soar With The Eagles"

The book can be found at this URL http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

The book uses acronyms, stories and pictures to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life if you apply them.

You are welcome to publish the article above in your ezine or on your website so long as you do not alter it and keep in the words about the author and the 36 Laws.

---

Five Great Ideas From Aristotle

It was Socrates who said that the purpose of philosophy... Read More

Hurry Up And Procrastinate

I've been meaning to write this column, but I keep... Read More

How To Get Through A Bad Day

No matter how hard you try to make them otherwise,... Read More

Pride and Prejudice Can Be Healed and Melted Away

Several years ago, my husband introduced me to some potential... Read More

If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It!

"I have heard it said that the first ingredient of... Read More

Motivation From A Great Western - We All Have It Coming

Most self-help gurus warn us against watching too much TV.... Read More

Are You A Procrastinator?

What is the dictionary definition of a procrastinator? It is... Read More

Three Simple Ways to Stay Focused

While I was trying to find a subject to write... Read More

How to Become an Effective Self-Help User

"Know Yourself" That's what the big guy said way back... Read More

Ambitiously Pursuing Your Own Self

(Excerpted from The Power of Ambition series)What is the origin... Read More

Motivation: 3 Powerful Quotes from Golfer Tiger Woods

I am not a golfer, unless you count an occasional... Read More

What Makes a Champion?

Imagine for a moment that you are a champion. You... Read More

Decide

Where do you want to be in a year? In... Read More

Citizens of the Land of Opportunity

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men... Read More

Letting Go Of Our Negativity

Everyone has something, whether it be a habit, or aspect... Read More

Motivation and Success: Improved Techniques

Changing our internal programming that limits us has never been... Read More

Nothing To Lose

I stormed out of the office and headed for the... Read More

Keep On Keepin On

In those times when everything seems to be going just... Read More

Get Up and Do!

The motivation to change my oil came the other day... Read More

Bold Action: Living in the Moment

Reality show audition...I did it!What an experience, a day and... Read More

Words That Inspire - CHOICE

What CHOICE do you want to make?Dictionary* says:the act of... Read More

STOP! Reading the Headlines and Live Your Own Life First

Imagine! 40 is old. The California State Supreme Court has... Read More

A Resolution for Excellence

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not... Read More

Challenge Yourself - Stretch Your Boundaries Daily!

Many times we fall into a sedentary lifestyle because we... Read More

5 Fun & Easy Ways to Get Out of the Rut

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel less... Read More

Motivation By Consequences

In 2004 seven badly behaved teenagers were sent to a... Read More

7 Hot Tips For Self Improvement Part 2

Self Improvement Tip 4 Don't procrastinate! The more you put... Read More

Seeing Through the Pain

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain... Read More

6 Simple Steps To Accelerating your Learning

What is Accelerated learning?Simply put, accelerated learning is the ability... Read More

Know your Mission

One passage states "If you want to defeat them, distract... Read More

The New Morality

In a world where dynamism alters egos and principles in... Read More

Stained Glass Windows

Elizabeth Kubler Ross once said, "People are like stained glass... Read More

Ending Procrastination

Perseverance is about as important to achievement as gasoline is... Read More