In my previous blogpost, I mentioned that I was featured as an invited speaker over the Radio Channel 938LIVE on the topic of “Do Motivational Talks Really Work?”

Honestly, I have been engaged to speak/train in over 6 countries to thousands of people so far and there have been mixed responses. There are basically 2 camps of people, one group saying that it works big time and really changes their lives, while there is the other side where they say all the motivational fluff does not work at all.

Anyway, despite which side you are, let me share with you what I think and also the motivational theory behind it. It will really make a difference once you understand its concept.

Here are some photos that I have taken during my time in the Mediacorp, the leading media station in Singapore. The best part is that I have recorded what I have said over the air and is made available to my loyal subscribers like you. The link is below. Enjoy my conversation with Show Host, Eugene Loh.

Eugene Loh and me talking for a few minutes before the radio interview

Getting ready to speak just before the traffic news segment

The interesting thing about going on this segment is that Eugene prefers not to have the session scripted. I was rather surprised that there were no prepared questions before hand since he wanted it as natural as possible. So the radio segment what you hear will be pretty much me speaking from my heart and mind on how you can make the most out of motivational programs and also how you constantly stay motivated in your life, especially when the daily problems of work plague you.

Do Motivational Talks Really Work with Kenneth Kwan

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I will be interviewed over Singapore’s 938FM LIVE on 19 Apr (Tues), from 2-3pm. My topic will be on “Do motivational talks really change you?”

Since I have been invited to speak in many companies on such topics of motivation and personal growth, I hope to dispel some wrong ideas about motivational seminars! I hope to be able to record the talk and share with my subscribers after the radio show.

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Image from www.psychcentral.com

Dedicating to yourself to your personal development goals is a great step in the right direction. When I talk about personal development, it means dedicating time to learn work on your mental fitness, health, skills and knowledge.

Upon completing these goals, you may notice that you have gained some sideline spectators as well. In most cases, you are catching their attention because of the changes you are making. I frequently think that success breeds more success. This means that when we have achieved a small level of success with our work, we tend to have people attracted to what we do. For example, when I started gaining small successes in the speaking industry, I started to get more offers to speak in different countries and seminars.

By gaining someone’s attention, you are serving as an inspiration to others. This often happens naturally and is another big commitment. You have committed to be consistent with your actions and to serve as a role model for others to follow.

If you want to make the most out of this occurrence and really impact other people’s lives positively, you can use the steps below. These steps are designed to create an amazing life:

1. Passion and excitement: A person will usually only serve as an inspiration to others if they are passionate and love what they do. It is a known fact that the more excited someone is about something, the more they will excel in their work. What makes you passionate? Does it excite other people to pursue theirs as well?

2. Goal Setting: Always set goals for what you are looking to achieve. The use of goals has proven to be very effective and allows for a greater commitment factor. It is important to make them detailed so you know when you have actually reached the goal. You can then celebrate the accomplishment of that goal and move on to create another. This will not only keep you motivated, but show others that goals are attainable. In addition, this will get people to draw their inspiration from you and desire for more out of their lives.

3. Go big or go home! You need to set goals to push your limits. By doing so, you will achieve more and really shine to yourself and others. The important thing to keep in mind is to make sure you are not creating goals that are unrealistic. There is a distinct line between goals that are challenging versus those that are just not plausible (eg. walk on the moon without a breathing apparatus).

Another aspect to keep in mind with very challenging goals is to make sure you measure them by performance. In other words, the outcome might not have been the outcome you wanted but you gave your best performance in achieving it. This means that you might fail at times, but knowing that you have given your best shot at it, it is alright to fail. You just need to change completely or modify your strategy and take massive actions on it. Which leads to the point 4 below.

4. Consistency and Persistency: To be truly exceptional, you have to make sure you are reaching goals. Be continuous in your efforts in reaching challenging goals. The harder you work for the goal, the more you will appreciate it. Moreover, persistence, as seen from an outsider, is what really motivates and inspires someone. This persistency in handling problems is what is termed as Adversity Quotient (AQ), where you demonstrate resilience in tough situations. It is not talented people who succeed all the time, but people who have strengthened their AQ over time and are able to keep moving forward even when situations seem bleak or rough.

In my life, I do not always have all the answers, but I know that it is just a matter of time before I find the answers that I seek. I just need to be consistent and persistent in my quest. In my line of work, I never knew it was possible for me to be invited to speak in seminars or even give keynotes because I started out doing small group training (I first started out with only three people in front of me and now it has grown to hundreds) The question I feel is never whether you can or cannot do it, it is always “how can I do it?”. Persistency will pay off if you keep at striving for different ways to make it work. Will you decide to be relentless?

5. Share what you know: It is important, as an inspiration to others, that you share knowledge you have. Let people know how you did it and encourage them just the same. I have personally found that some people just need you to light the fire in their hearts and they will start their search for greatness.

It is important to remember that you need to keep a positive attitude and always look to the future. With doing this, you will not only enrich your life, but you will do the same for others. No man is an island, everything we do affects another person.

Make a decision to inspire someone today! Who will they be? Do leave your comments.

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Let’s start with a little analogy of teamwork. Have you observed how a flock of geese fly? They usually fly in V formation and those at the back will usually honk at the one in front. This is to encourage the lead geese who puts in most of the work to overcome wind resistance. Once the leader tires, he moves to the back and another geese moves in to take his place. This form of support helps the entire flock of geese to fly about 71% further than if each geese were to fly on its own. In addition, if a geese were sick or got injured, two of them will slow down to help or protect him.

Isn’t it a wonder how birds know the essentials of teamwork? We humans can do far better with the brain that we’ve got. Explained below are the 10 ways how leaders can inspire team members to consistently give their best for the entire team.

1. Develop trust

Trust is the principle by which the team functions. If the leaders and members have the trust of every person in a team, everyone will be motivated to give their best without inhibitions or fear of being exploited.

2. Involve everybody

When the leaders share information with team members and ask for opinions, a feeling of camaraderie is created and members feel motivated to perform better. Important note: People want their opinions to be heard and know that it considered and acted upon if reasonable.

3. Be a good leader

As a leader, you must be 100 percent clear and confident of what you are doing and what you are getting done from the team. Faith in the leader boosts motivation among the team members. I have been consulted many times by leaders on how to improve their teams and the first place I always look at is the leader. Great Leadership = Great Teams.

4. Give feedback

Everybody needs a feedback on his or her work. Everyone needs to know how they have performed and what they need to do better. Nothing can be more motivating than a constructive feedback. Be sure to start with the positives though.

5. Active Listening

Actively listen to the team members. Listen to their ideas, complaints, grudges, suggestions… anything they may want to share. Just listening to them will give them will help them know that you care and support them.

6. Perform periodic assessments

Periodically assess the progress of the team as a whole and each individual in particular. If any team member is complacent, he or she will wake up and start performing to the best of his or her abilities.

7. Allow team members to give feedback to you

Let the team members give feedback to the leader at regular intervals. This builds mutual respect, mutual trust and confidence. Give them an avenue to tell you what needs to be changed.

8. Hold a weekly interactive session

Let each member of the team have his or her chance to address the team from the front. As a leader, it is always good to show how well the team has performed. If you consistently concentrate on the positives, you will tend to see a more positive behavior in the group.

9. Hold one-on-one meetings

With one-on-one meetings the leaders get a chance to know about personal difficulties of each member. Those who need extra help or extra training should be given so most gladly. Think of the goodwill it will generate.

10. Celebrate success of the team

If you constantly celebrate the successes of your team, both great and small wins, you will find that people will constantly want to share their successes and win even more! Success always breeds more success, and you need to keep the momentum up and running.

Conclusion:
If you want to multiply your efforts and receive exponential results, you definitely need a great team. For every successful person, there is always a successful team behind him/her.

PS: If you have other ideas that you want to share, please leave it down. Click on the “Leave your comment” on the top right hand of this post.

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Kenneth speaking to 120 of Becton Dickinson's Asia Pacific Staff

Do you personally think that motivational talks are important? Or is it some kind of high energy rubbish designed to make people feel good for one day and before it dissipates next day?

So… What do the experts got to say?

First of all, I’m a Certified Behaviourial Consultant and according to motivational theory, it is believed that we cannot ‘motivate’ another person. A person can only motivate himself/herself. Therefore, we cannot ‘change’ a person, but we can influence them. We can influence them to a set of thinking patterns and help them create more empowering belief systems that will make them be more resourceful in life. This leads to them becoming more successful.

People have asked me whether motivation really works and my magic answer to them is:

“It depends….”

It depends if this person is open to change.

It depends if this person is currently happy with the results that he/she is getting.

It depends whether this person at this stage of his/her life is hungry to learn.

I have given many talks to multi-national corporations and government agencies. In my experience, no two people are similar in their appetite for learning and growth. One person can be so fired up and talking about the philosophies that I have just shared, while the other person next to him just claps his hands and asks when is lunch break?

Kenneth sharing a personal story

But one thing I know, I can influence a crowd to relook at their lives, look at where they are and how much greater they can be. What I am doing is creating a desire for change and it will be up to them to decide how they want to change their lives. When people understand that they have the power to change and make a difference, they will not want to be the same again.

When you truly empower people, the results are phenomenal. I have a lot of people usually coming up to me at the end of the seminar saying that it has changed the way they think and the principles taught are really useful for the workplace.

CAUTION: Let me warn you… motivation is like eating. You need to feed yourself with a healthy dose of it every day. I mean… can you survive a week just by eating a day? Some people have this weird belief that motivation is a one day thing that will TOTALLY change your live. I see it as a process where we find out what motivates us and bathe in it every day to get the results that you want.

So… back to the question, does motivation really change you and make you successful? It depends whether you choose to let it and then take massive action to make things happen.

PS: If you need someone to get people to be pro-active and change mindsets, you can engage me to speak for your organisation.

Related Readings:

The One Decision That Changed My Life

How to Motivate Yourself for Greater Heights!

Importance of Surrounding Yourself With the Right People

How Do You Change Yourself?

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This post is short. What is the most inspiring thing you heard from your boss? Watch this hilarious video that changed this person’s life.

Well… I can’t argue with that logic… hehehehe

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Being in the line of Training and Development, I am privileged to be able to bless people with tickets to Anthony Robbins’ Program “Unleash The Power Within” this weekend. This program is about creating Breakthroughs, moving past fears and limiting beliefs, going through dreams and making it into reality.

I have alot of friends who bought their tickets at $995 but you will not need to pay for it. I have 2 tickets to give away for my DEEP IMPACT subscribers. If you are keen, just subscribe to my blog and you might stand a chance to win these tickets.

http://www.deepimpactonline.com/blog

(The subscribe button is on the right hand side)

(Note: Winners will be picked at random. Only winners of this contest will be notified through email)

If you are a current subscriber, you are automatically enrolled to this.

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It is true that the past has an impact on who you are today. If you look at yourself today, you will either see someone who has overcome obstacles positively, or someone who has maybe let the obstacles overcome them. In any case, we all have situations in our life that we might have wanted to play out differently. There are some incidents in my life that I am not proud of, but I have to remind myself that what matters now is the future and I can’t change my past.

Even if I could change it, why should I? It has served as a learning experience and, therefore, it is something that contributes to my development.

So how can you take those not so pleasurable experiences and make them into something usable? Allow me to suggest some pointers when you are looking to leave the past behind you.

1. Do not allow your past to creep up into decisions where it dictates your life. If your past has held you back before, it has no bearings in the future.

2. Let it go and embrace the changes you can make today, tomorrow and years to come. Instead of looking back a year ago, look ahead a year. Set goals that will allow you to accomplish something you have wanted to do. Those goals will lead to more goals. Pretty soon, you will look back over your shoulder and see only positive and smile.

3. If you have gone through a traumatic experience in your life, it is unfortunate. You need to make peace with your past and no longer allow it to control you. It has already got you once- why let it keep bringing you down?

4. Think positive: Make sure you cast out negative thoughts. These thoughts can only bring you down and pierce your personal development achievements.

5. Get rid of physical evidence:  Even though something might cause us pain, we still seem to keep reminders around. For instance, a broken relationship might yield gifts given and pictures. Put them out of sight. Seeing past situations that hurt only make the pain worse.

Conclusion

The only way you can move forward is to accept the past, know you cannot change it and let it go. This will allow you to continue with a bright future with the past lifted off your shoulders.

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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Motivating yourself is often times the most difficult aspect of personal development. The concept of personal development is to improve the overall well being, attitude and actions of a person. In doing so, you will run into many obstacles and how they are met is dependent upon you. I have made many mistakes by constantly thinking that other people can motivate me, but in essence, only I can motivate myself. Others can only create an environment for me to motivate myself!

What happens when you jump start yourself with a little motivation and then start to plateau? From there, you do not feel like you are getting anywhere, and then you start to slip. Keeping yourself motivated is a hard task, but can definitely be done.

Outlined below are some ways you can coach yourself into success.

1. Goal setting

The first and most important aspect of personal development. This is where it all starts. Without a goal, you have no direction. Without a direction, you have no purpose. Lay out your goals clearly and with detail. Once you have a goal with defined values, you will know when you achieve them. Seeing success is the best motivator around. When I set one of my goals to create my own training video this year, I finally achieved it in March! It is indeed every trainer’s dream to have their own training video! This would not have happened if I did not write down my goals and review them almost every night!

2. Write it out, Draw up a plan!

Do something! You have to make your goals and aspirations visible to you. You need to make sure you have our goals on your mind every day. Each day is a different set of goals looking to achieve a bigger goal. If you want to take a cruise to the Bahamas, but do not have that extra cash right this minute, work to get there. Put a picture of a beautiful beach on your nightstand so you see it every time you wake up in the morning and every time you go to bed. Plan out how you are going to get there and follow it.

3. Take Action!

There is no sense of making goals if you are not going to do anything about them. Take action on your checklist! Make it a goal to get a certain amount of tasks done every day that is out of your normal daily schedule. Shift it around, make it more exciting; enjoy meeting goals and then celebrate when you achieve them. If you have to, make them smaller so you can reach them easier and then graduate to larger goals. This works for me and gives me confidence when I constantly achieve smaller goals.

4. Surround yourself with the right people

Being around people that are supportive and positive can really make or break success in personal development. You need to make sure you have people around you that want to see you succeed. They will be there for you and offer positive words of encouragement. They are also the people that are around when you celebrate success. Anyone who offers negativity has no place in your personal development goals.

With all these tips in mind, stay focused and positive. There will be roadblocks in the way; there always are. Keep track of your past achieved goals and review them when you doubt yourself. Stay Driven!

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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When you are on the road to personal development, take a look of who is around you. Are these the people that inspire you? Are these the people that make you want to succeed?

It is important to understand why having the right people around you will make all the difference in the world. Success is measured by actions. If you never get around to the actions, you have not succeeded.

Here are the reasons why the right people around you will be more fulfilling and enriching to your personal developmental needs.

1. Some people cause stress

To be more precise, some people cause consistent stress. People that cause consistent stress should not be around you. In all, stress devours will, drive, motivation and a positive outlook. A person can only have so much stress before they begin to cave in. If these are the types of people you surround yourself with daily, what are you doing to yourself?

2. Drainer versus Provider

Do the people around you lean on you for things, or do they spark your interest and motivate you to do things. The best people to be around are those people that constantly evolve and take you along for the ride. Personal development thrives on these characteristics. The idea behind these traits is the fact that it will keep you focused and consistently on the lookout for better or new ways of doing things. More importantly, it will show you how you can personally develop yourself.

3. Find people who ask more from you

One of my favourite shows like Rocky, I can always recall the Rocky’s coach demanding more of him. Words like, “You can do 10 more push-ups or get back to running another 5 laps!” Coaching him to do more than what Rocky has faith in himself. A good friend challenges you to your limit and helps you grow.

Conclusion

People can sometimes help you grow to your potential or they can break you. So, surround yourself with people with the right people who have your interests and you will surely go far.

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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