It’s probably not the thing to say, but I’ve never quite understood why businesses and conferences bring in motivational speakers. Their intentions are good, no question – give the troops some inspirational stories about success through perseverance; triumph over adversity; or 100 guaranteed ways to achieve your goals – with the hope that some of the people will hear a gem they feel inspired by or be encouraged enough to do something different in their working or personal worlds. Yet my hesitation about it all is that motivation comes from within. We have either an internal locus of control (what happens to us is our doing) or an external locus of control (things that happen are all due to luck or fate) and that’s a factor to consider however for those with an internal locus they will probably do things anyway. For those with an external locus, they probably won’t do or continue to do some things, regardless. I don’t believe external prompts are sustaining. They may linger for a day or a week or two but probably not much beyond that. At the end of the day, it’s up to us, no one else.