Lou Holtz, ND Football Coach, had it right.

"It's not my job to motivate players. They bring extraordinary motivation to our program. It's my job not to de-motivate them." - Lou Holtz, Notre Dame football coach.

(My parents are Notre Dame fans, and I thought Lou's quote my strike a positive chord within them.)

You are telling yourself a story about yourself. In that story, you want to be the hero. You want to see yourself doing work and being successful at it. You want to see others recognizing you for your work and ability to overcome the obstacles in your way. You do not need another human to motivate you.  

Leaders who tell themselves, "I need to motivate my teams better," miss an essential fact; every human wants to see themselves as successful. So what do leaders do? Block and tackle.

A good manager, coach, teacher, conductor, music director, etc... excels at two things. First, helping people get out of their own way. Second, effectively removing the things that cause people to lose their motivation. 

Lou's advice is spot on. Probably why ND is the best college football team... ever. ;-)

Even Touchdown Jesus agrees.