A Memorial Day Management Test.

This isn't scientific. Let me state that right from the start. But . . . This test has worked for me during my 20 years of managing large teams in corporate settings.

First, enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. Relax. Have fun. Spend it with people you love.

When you get to work on Tuesday, get there early and observe your team members as they arrive. See how they act the first 30 minutes at work.

Are they grumpy? Are they not happy to be at work? Do they miss their long weekend? Are they complaining? Or . . .

Are they energized? Ready to hit the ground running with a smile? Did they have fun on the weekend, but now they are ready to make some money?

Short holidays are great opportunities to better understand your team's appreciation of their job.

If they come in grumpy —

• They might not like their job.
• They might not like what they do.
• They might be hitting obstacles.
• They might be checking out.

If they come in energized —

• They probably like what they do.
• They probably enjoy your role as their manager.
• They are probably crushing it with their responsibilities.
• They will probably stick around.

Again — this isn't scientific. But I've found if you gracefully approach the grumpy team members individually and find out what is missing in their work life, you might turn them around and energize them.

If people don't realize work is a part of life and you have to make the best of it, it's high time to find out if they've bought into this concept. Because if they're not consistently bringing their A-game to the office, you're going to receive sub-standard work and deal with stinky personalities.

And life's too short to deal with stinky personalities.

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Motivation Is Your Worst Enemy.

Bosses suck. Motivational speakers are awful. Business books are boring. Your spouse/partner is wrong. I know you sometimes feel this way. I do.

Do you sometimes feel those forces in and around you are just pointing you towards disparate directions? Is it's just too much work to start . . . or if you start, the cavalcade of work will overwhelm you?

Here's the worst one — if you start, you'll know you'll give up midway through and ultimately fail? Again?

Most people live in a rut — doing the same thing every day — even though they are not really happy about where they are in life.

But when they are faced with solutions, they tend to spurn them because they rely on emotional triggers to make them fail before they've even started.

Motivation is truly their enemy — because it gives them a vision, a glimpse of what their life could really be like and then they let their emotional right side ("I can't do that, I'll fail) churn with their logical left side ("You don't have time to do that") and they regularly dismiss the vision.

Does this happen to you? Let me begin by saying — there are no silver bullets. There is no free lunch. Nothing in and of itself will solve all of your problems. Nothing will.

I want you to look at you, your life, your career, your relationships — everything you do — as a gas tank which needs to be topped off regularly to run efficiently and to always have a complete reservoir of energy to tap into.

Don’t wait until your gas tank is empty. If you do, you’ll probably sound like the person in the first half of this post.

You need to regularly stop off at your Shell or Mobil station and top off your Vision Gas Tank. Small fill-ups of motivation will not only keep your engine running clean and efficiently — it will ultimately get you where you want to go.

Doesn't your car run better when it has a full tank of gas? When it's all shiny and clean? I know mine does.

Here’s the kicker — if you use premium gas — your engine will have more horsepower and run even more efficiently.

So motivation isn’t a quick fix or a silver bullet, it’s a series of small, incremental fill-ups.

What can you do?

As I frequently say: “All a person needs is a glimpse to get them started.”

If you read an inspirational book, listen to motivational CD’s or even play your favorite music – you will begin to get a glimpse of what life could be like if you stepped out of your comfort zone. New visions will flow into your head and you will be energized to make them happen immediately.

You will incrementally become inspired and resolve to slowly change your behaviors, set new goals and proceed to pursue them.

All you need is a glimpse. Promise me you will top off your Vision Gas Tank every day and you will see powerful changes occur in your life.

What do you do to top-off your Vision Gas Tank?