Motivation for the Rebel's Within

You know those people who just seem so irresponsible, lazy, and down right rude about their work?  Every office has them.  They are the ones who find ways to duck out of a project before the heat gets going.  Or the ones who would rather tell a joke than schedule a due date.  When things go bad they are the ones who take zero responsibility and end up out right blaming others for the projects demise.  Do you know someone like this?

Here is the crazy thing about these people; when motivated they can be the most creative, rut busting, innovative, and energetic people on your team.  So how do we get from whiny responsibility dodger to creative genius?  Well I think it is time for me to make a confession.....I am this person.

That's right I can be the laziest, grumpiest, not-gonna-help-no-one-because-I-don't-wanna kind of teammate in the whole organization.  For instance; I am not a morning person.  Yet, my wife wants us to get up at 7am everyday and on top of the ungodly hour she also wants us to spend the first half hour of being awake CLEANING THE HOUSE!!!  God have mercy on us all.

Her motivation is to have a clean house that feels comfortable and that she can come home to without feeling the burden of more work at the end of the day.  As you might imagine, this motivation doesn't really carry the same weight for me.  

So for weeks we've been bickering about the morning routine.  Then last night she took a new technique.  She started laughing and when I asked why she said, "I am just thinking about how grumpy the mornings make you."  Chuckling all the way, she was cracking up at how much of a bummer the mornings are at our house.  Her laughter was contagious and soon we were both cracking up about the absurdity of our mornings.  

As we were sitting there laughing I suddenly was super motivated to get up and be as chipper as possible.  It wasn't something I thought about.....it was guttural.  After all people like this are gut people  that is how they make their decisions, and the best way to connect to the gut is to laugh.....really laugh.  

So next time you are dealing with that good for nothing slacker remember the potential that this person holds and find a reason to laugh.  Laughter is their cryptonite and armed with it a supervisor could end up with a force to be reckoned with.