Hi Amy,

Thank you for your kind comments. I will make a Quest For Positive Relative Returns graph for your club.

I think motivation is something everyone working on something that goes on for a long time has to deal with. It is an interesting topic. Different things motivate different people. I heard a comment once that the problem with motivation is that it needs to be continually refreshed. That is why it's good to align yourself in a structured setting where you regularly address whatever it is that you'd like to be motivated to accomplish.

I think one of the benefits of being in an investment club is the fact that your club meeting is a monthly date on the calendar where you focus on investing. Obviously everyone in a club has an interest in learning about investing. But, how many of you would be doing anything about that each month if they didn't at least have a club meeting to attend?

I think setting goals is a good motivator. Just don't make them so ambitious that everyone gets discouraged. Make them something small that everyone can work on together each month that will produce positive feelings of accomplishment. People need to feel they will be successful. Motivating a group of people isn't easy.

Perhaps just having a discussion of what you'd all like to accomplish would be a good place to start. Your goals can be whatever works for your group. Perhaps it's beating the market, perhaps it's earning enough money to spend on something specific like a group outing or a donation to a specific charity, perhaps it's just making the commitment to work together to learn about investing each month.

Different things will motivate different groups. My club was motivated to keep going for many years because we were a group with a common interest in investing and the need for a Moms night out once a month. We didn't necessarily accomplish big things at each meeting but over the span of many years, we've learned a lot and we've had a lot of fun.

A big part of being successful at something can sometimes be just hanging in there. Don't forget to pat yourselves on the back for what you have accomplished. There's always more to do and continually focusing on that can get overwhelming and demotivating. I read an article the other day where the author was addressing procrastination. One of the suggestions he had was to regularly make an "I did" list. As a constant maker of "things to do" lists, that really struck me. He's right. It feels good, and motivating to take the time to think about how much you have gotten done every now and then.

Over the span of 10 years, I'm sure your club has accomplished a lot. Perhaps you might have some fun at a meeting reminding yourselves of how far you've come.

I find people who are interested in investing like learning things. There is lots of great information available on the Internet aimed at teaching you about various aspects of investing. I also find that if you can push yourself to engage with the topic by having a little activity to do, you walk away feeling good. Feeling good is a great motivator.

The reason I started the monthly Club Meeting Meetings was to provide your clubs with an idea for an educational topic you might discuss and a club activity you might work on together. I put the ideas out there so you don't have the additional burden of having to think things up yourselves. They're there for you to use or not use. They're just some suggestions for topics you might have some fun with, and in the process you might learn something new about something you are interested in.

I also think keeping an eye on how you're doing can help you focus on what you need to work on in your club. There are a lot of things you could do in a club meeting. The more focused you can be, the better chance people will walk away from the meeting feeling they've accomplished something.

That is the idea behind the Quest For Positive Relative Returns graphs. It's interesting to look at them and talk about what decisions you made in the past that might have produced the results you have. It might help you to focus on what you want to do more of going forward.

Perhaps others on this list have ideas they can share about things they do in their groups to stay motivated. I'm sure everyone would be very interested if you'd like to share them.

 

Hi Amy,

Thank you for your kind comments.  I will make a Quest For Positive Relative Returns graph for your club.

I think motivation is something everyone working on something that goes on for a long time has to deal with.  It is an interesting topic.  Different things motivate different people.  I heard a comment once that the problem with motivation is that it needs to be continually refreshed.   That is why it's good to align yourself in a structured setting where you regularly address whatever it is that you'd like to be motivated to accomplish.

I think one of the benefits of being in an investment club is the fact that your club meeting is a monthly date on the calendar where you focus on investing.  Obviously everyone in a club has an interest in learning about investing.   But, how many of you would be doing anything about that each month if they didn't at least have a club meeting to attend?

I think setting goals is a good motivator.  Just don't make them so ambitious that everyone gets discouraged.  Make them something small that everyone can work on together each month that will produce positive feelings of accomplishment.   People need to feel they will be successful.  Motivating a group of people isn't easy. 

Perhaps just having a discussion of what you'd all like to accomplish would be a good place to start.  Your goals can be whatever works for your group.  Perhaps it's beating the market,  perhaps it's earning enough money to spend on something specific like a group outing or a donation to a specific charity,  perhaps it's just making the commitment to work together to learn about investing each month.

Different things will motivate different groups.  My club was motivated to keep going for many years because we were a group with a common interest in investing and the need for a Moms night out once a month.  We didn't necessarily accomplish big things at each meeting but over the span of many years, we've learned a lot and we've had a lot of fun.  

A big part of being successful at something can sometimes be just hanging in there.  Don't forget to pat yourselves on the back for what you have accomplished.  There's always more to do and continually focusing on that can get overwhelming and demotivating.  I read an article the other day where the author was addressing procrastination.  One of the suggestions he had was to regularly make an "I did"  list.  As a constant maker of "things to do" lists,  that really struck me.  He's right.  It feels good, and motivating to take the time to think about how much you have gotten done every now and then.

Over the span of 10 years,  I'm sure your club has accomplished a lot.  Perhaps you might have some fun at a meeting reminding yourselves of how far you've come.

I find people who are interested in investing like learning things.  There is lots of great information available on the Internet aimed at teaching you about various aspects of investing.   I also find that if you can push yourself to engage with the topic by having a little activity to do,  you walk away feeling good.  Feeling good is a great motivator.

The reason I started the monthly Club Meeting Meetings was to provide your clubs with an idea for an educational topic you might discuss and a club activity you might work on together.  I put the ideas out there so you don't have the additional burden of having to think things up yourselves.  They're there for you to use or not use.  They're just some suggestions for topics you might have some fun with, and in the process you might learn something new about something you are interested in.

I also think keeping an eye on how you're doing can help you focus on what you need to work on in your club. There are a lot of things you could do in a club meeting.  The more focused you can be,  the better chance people will walk away from the meeting feeling they've accomplished something.

That is the idea behind the Quest For Positive Relative Returns graphs.  It's interesting to look at them and talk about what decisions you made in the past that might have produced the results you have. It might help you to focus on what you want to do more of going forward.

Perhaps others on this list have ideas they can share about things they do in their groups to stay motivated.  I'm sure everyone would be very interested if you'd like to share them.