Nigel Lane » Motivation

Would you prefer 50 cents or 500 bucks?

nigel — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:55:21 +0000

Just the other day I was talking to a young man who is on the edge of leaving school early. I don’t mean going home before lunch, I mean that his school is suggesting to him that he needs to change or he needs to change. [No that wasn’t a typographical error]. Let me explain.

Either he needs to change his attitude and his current level of effort or he needs to change his school. He wouldn’t be expelled, as such, but he would be encouraged to go and find a place that meets his requirements. The difficulty is that they will only meet his immediate requirements not his medium and long term ones. Many young people, scratch the word young, many people don’t make decisions and think about their future at the same time. They are keen on instant fixes, immediate solutions and now answers. Life, unlike coffee, doesn’t come with an instant option.

During the conversation I had one of those moments of creativity and explained that school [actually school, Read More

Where are you heading?

nigel — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:47:40 +0000

Recently I met with a 16 year old girl who is trying to decide whether to prematurely end her time in high school [she has 1.5 years to go], to finish this year and defer her final year or to continue on and finish year 12 along with her peer group. That’s an easy decision you may say but it is only easy if you know where you want your life to go.

Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People states that we should begin with the end in mind. The Cheshire Cat informed Alice that she could turn any way she liked at the crossroads because, as she didn’t know where she was going, it didn’t matter. Without a definite destination there is no preferred route. It reminds me of a pre-school activity we used to play entitled ‘taking a pencil for a walk’. To the untrained eye it looked like a scribble but to the bright eyed youngster it was an imaginary journey whose route was permanently recorded by the pencil.

The Read More

A complex mixture

nigel — Sun, 23 May 2010 10:53:49 +0000

In some ways I am highly similar to every other human being on the planet and yet at the same time I feel unique. Similar in physical characteristics [the standard two arms, two legs, one mouth etc.]; similar emotionally in that I feel happy and content and then anxious and frustrated; similar socially in that [as a male of the species] I have friends but equally can live extended periods without them -and so on.

I am similar too in that I have dreams, aspirations, goals, desires – don’t we all? But I think I am unique in the blend of interests that motivate me to going the extra mile, to serving others to helping people find a better way.

I am heavily committed to young people – giving them opportunities to find themselves, achieve their wildest dreams and to have the best life they could ever have. I understand enough to know that parents are the greatest influence in a young person’s life and therefore I want to support them in their Read More