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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to this seven minute leadership podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode seven ninety. Today we're talking about something that

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<v Speaker 2>gets far too much credit in leadership, and that's motivation.

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<v Speaker 2>People are constantly chasing it. They wait to feel inspired

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<v Speaker 2>before they take action. They scroll social media looking for

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<v Speaker 2>the next quote that gives them enough energy to attack

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<v Speaker 2>the day. They buy books, watch videos, listen to podcasts,

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<v Speaker 2>and hope motivation magically shows up every morning. Here's the problem.

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<v Speaker 2>Motivation is a terrible business partner. It doesn't show up

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<v Speaker 2>on your schedule. It doesn't care about your deadlines. It

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't care that your team needs direction. It certainly doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>care that customers are waiting. Motivation is emotional, discipline is dependable.

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<v Speaker 2>Real leaders don't build their careers around how they feel.

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<v Speaker 2>They build their careers around what they do. Think about

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<v Speaker 2>the people you admire the most elite athletes, military leaders, pilots,

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<v Speaker 2>emergency responders, successful entrepreneurs. Do you really believe they wake

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<v Speaker 2>up every single morning, excited to do the hard work.

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<v Speaker 2>Of course not, They've learned something most people never do.

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<v Speaker 2>Discipline carries you through the days when motivation takes the

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<v Speaker 2>day off. As a paramedic, I've worked plenty of shifts

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<v Speaker 2>where I was exhausted before they even started. Twelve hours

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<v Speaker 2>into a busy day, Motivation had packed its bags and

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<v Speaker 2>gone home. Patients were still calling, Equipment still needs to

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<v Speaker 2>be checked, reports still needed completed, crew members still expected. Leadership.

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<v Speaker 2>Nobody gets to say I'm not motivated today. The work

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<v Speaker 2>still has to be done, and leadership is exactly the same.

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<v Speaker 2>Some mornings you'll feel unstoppable, other mornings you'll question everything.

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<v Speaker 2>Neither feeling changes your responsibility. This is why I often

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<v Speaker 2>say leadership is less about emotions and more about habits.

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<v Speaker 2>Habits create consistency. Consistency builds trust, and trust creates credibility,

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<v Speaker 2>and credibility is what people actually follow. And here's something

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<v Speaker 2>that I I've noticed over the years. Many struggling leaders

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<v Speaker 2>don't have a motivation problem. They have a systems problem.

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<v Speaker 2>They rely on emotion instead of routine. They wait until

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<v Speaker 2>they feel like having the difficult conversation. They wait until

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<v Speaker 2>they feel like coaching the employee. They wait until they

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<v Speaker 2>feel like updating policies, They wait until they feel like exercising,

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<v Speaker 2>and they wait until they feel like reading another leadership book.

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<v Speaker 2>And then days become weeks, and weeks become months, and

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<v Speaker 2>eventually they wonder why nothing has changed, because waiting became

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<v Speaker 2>the habit. Discipline would have changed everything. And one of

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<v Speaker 2>the best examples comes from aviation. Pilots don't complete a

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<v Speaker 2>checklist because they feel inspired. They complete it because that's

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<v Speaker 2>what professionals do, even after thousands of flights, even when

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<v Speaker 2>they flown the same airplane hundreds of times, even when

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<v Speaker 2>they know every switch by memory, they still pull out

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<v Speaker 2>the checklist. Why. Because discipline protects people from confidence. Discipline

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<v Speaker 2>protects people from complacency. Leadership has checklists, two return phone calls,

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<v Speaker 2>walk through your workplace, recognize the good work, correct poor performance, quickly,

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<v Speaker 2>follow through on promises, and listen before speaking. These aren't

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<v Speaker 2>exciting activities. They're repetitive. They're ordinary, they're disciplined, and ironically,

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<v Speaker 2>those ordinary actions often separate average leaders from extraordinary ones.

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<v Speaker 2>People frequently ask me how to become a better leader.

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<v Speaker 2>They're hoping I'll reveal some hidden leadership secret, and there

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<v Speaker 2>isn't one show up, keep your word, learn, continuously, prepare

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<v Speaker 2>before you need to, and repeat and then repeat again.

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership isn't glamorous nearly as often as social media makes

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<v Speaker 2>it appear. It's quiet, it's repetitive, it's steady. The leader

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<v Speaker 2>who consistently does the little things eventually becomes the leader

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<v Speaker 2>everyone trusts during the big things. And there's another reason

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<v Speaker 2>discipline matters. Your team is watching far more than they're listening.

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<v Speaker 2>They notice whether you arrive prepared. They notice whether you

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<v Speaker 2>finish what you start. They notice whether your standards change

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<v Speaker 2>depending on your mood. When your discipline disappears, your credibility

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<v Speaker 2>starts disappearing with it. And one of my favorite leadership

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<v Speaker 2>observations is this, you never rise to the level of

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<v Speaker 2>your motivation. You fall to the level of your sin systems.

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<v Speaker 2>That's true in business, it's true in fitness, it's true

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<v Speaker 2>in relationships, and it's absolutely true in leadership. The leaders

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<v Speaker 2>who seem unstoppable usually aren't superhuman. They've simply built routines

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<v Speaker 2>that don't require constant motivation. They've made excellence automatic. Imagine

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<v Speaker 2>if every leader listening today committed to one disciplined action

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<v Speaker 2>every single day, not ten, just one. Spend seven intentional

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<v Speaker 2>minutes improving your leadership. Read one chapter, coach one employee,

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<v Speaker 2>write one handwritten thank you note, walk one extra lap

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<v Speaker 2>through your workplace, and ask one meaningful question. And over

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<v Speaker 2>the course of a year, that's hundreds of intentional leadership moments.

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<v Speaker 2>That's how great leadership is built, not through giant breakthroughs,

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<v Speaker 2>through disciplined repetition. And i'll leave you with this. Motivation

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<v Speaker 2>may get you started, discipline is what gets you across

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<v Speaker 2>the finish line. When you don't feel like leading, lead anyway,

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<v Speaker 2>when you don't feel like improving, improve anyway, when you

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<v Speaker 2>don't feel like showing up, show up anyway. Because your

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<v Speaker 2>future team isn't waiting for the motivated version of you.

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<v Speaker 2>They're counting on the discipline version of you. That's the

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<v Speaker 2>leader they'll remember, that's the leader they'll trust, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>the leader worth becoming. So thank you for spending these

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<v Speaker 2>few minutes with me today. If this episode challenged the

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<v Speaker 2>way you think about motivation, share it with another leader

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<v Speaker 2>who needs the reminder that consistency always beats inspiration. Leadership

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<v Speaker 2>isn't built on your best day it's built on the

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<v Speaker 2>day's nobody is watching, and you choose discipline anyway. So

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<v Speaker 2>until next time, keep leading with purpose, keep raising your standards,

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<v Speaker 2>and remember that every day is another opportunity to become

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<v Speaker 2>the leader that your team deserves. This has been the

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<v Speaker 2>seven minute Leadership Podcast and I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.