These motivational strategies can put a stop to your workday blues.

October16, 20197 min read

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We all experience a work slump from time to time. Sometimes its just a case of the blahs, when we feel disconnected and indifferent to our projects and not motivated to achieve our goals. Sometimes we dont even realize were down because weve been robotically going through the motions of work and life.

Has every day become a rinse and repeat of the last? Have lost your zest for what youre doing? Do you feel unsatisfied, but cant quite pinpoint why? If so, you might be in a slump.

Stop yawning, put your coffee mug down and decide its time to put a stop your workday blues. Heres how you can kick your rut to the curb.

The first step to getting your work mojo back is to consider what might have prompted your slump in the first place. Can you pinpoint when you first started feeling off and what might have triggered the downturn?

Often, career ruts are caused by feeling complacent or bored by what youre doing. Once youve mastered your role at work, it may stop feeling exciting and interesting. Or perhaps youre feeling burned out because youve overextended yourself. Is there something going on outside of work that is distracting you (either positively or negatively)?

Related:10 Tips to Help Entrepreneurs GetMotivated

Another issue may be that you no longer take pleasure in what youre doing. Pay attention to what your gut says and how you react to different situations -- this may clue you in on whats behind your slump.

Even people who are working in jobs they like and excel at can find themselves in an extended lull at times. This may be due to a naturally occurring phenomenon called hedonic treadmill or hedonic adaptation. This phenomenon happens when we get used to things, even the things we consider great and wonderful in our lives.

As Tim Bono, lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has said, Someone who loves chocolate will grow tired of eating it after a while if chocolate is the only thing they have to eat every single day, day after day. The same is true for anything in life, including a job you initially loved and felt excited about, but that now feels routine and humdrum.

Related:10 Ways ToMotivateYourself To Workout Everyday

If this is the case, consider ways to rotate through things that you enjoy. Mix things up. Look for new ways to engage your mind and make things interesting, even if you are still doing the same basic tasks.

Breaking a slump happens when you rekindle your motivation; when you feel excited about something and look forward to accomplishing a goal. Inspiration can be the key to motivation.

Are there activities or interests that energize you or spark your creativity? For some people, its engaging with art or music. Others find inspiration in nature, such as taking a long walk in a shady park or sitting beside the ocean.

Still others are energized by the hustle and bustle of a busy city, getting lost in the crowds and feeling humanity all around. Whatever ignites you, make time for it in your daily schedule.

Another powerful tool to help you feel inspired is to create a vision board. This will help you visualize and focus on the things that are most important to you and your future.

Think about your intentions and goals in life. What do you want? What do you value? Do a mental scan of your career, finances, relationships, personal growth and health. What do you want each of those areas to look like in the future? How do you want to feel when you accomplish those goals?

Select images that represent those desires -- these should be pictures that resonate with you and invoke the feeling or state of mind that you connect with those goals. You can cut up magazines or find pictures online -- Pinterest may be a helpful place to start. Paste or tape these images onto a poster board or large sheet of paper. Then display it where you will see it frequently, so it becomes a regular visual reminder of your core values.

Work slumps can crop up when the strategies you once used to produce results are no longer effective. This may be an indication that youre avoiding something thats bothering you, and this is holding you back and impeding your workflow.

Related:25 Ways to Lead, Inspire andMotivateYour Team to Greatness

Perhaps you have a decision you need to make, but have been putting it off. Or you might be sidestepping a difficult situation, like confronting your boss about something, dealing with a problematic employee or owning up to a mistake you made. It could even be that you simply arent happy in your current job, but youre putting off looking for a new one.

The more you try to dodge these troublesome issues, the more they will weigh you down. Stop evading. You must confront this obstacle and take action. Its the only way to move past your rut.

Slumps can come from getting in a rut that has become set in stone. You become comfortable with the way things are and you stop pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. If thats the case, its time to shake things up!

You can start by changing one part of your routine every day. Get up at the break of dawn and go for a run. Go to a farmers market instead of the grocery store to buy your fruits and veggies. Liven up your workspace by bringing in some new decor or moving your office furniture around.

Try doing something radically different at least once a week. Take a new class or try a new hobby. Do something that scares you a little. Go on that roller coaster youd normally never ride. Start conversations with strangers. The point is to make every day unique by doing away with boring and humdrum routines.

There are times when the stress and pressures of life just pile up. The result of being chronically overwhelmed is a slump where you just dont feel like you can handle anything. This is a clear indication that you need a break.

Taking a mental health day is similar to calling in sick when you have a cold or the flu. Its a crucial part of self-care, giving yourself a chance to rest and recharge. This is time you should be using for stress relief and burnout prevention. Its a break from the noise and confusion of daily life.

If youre taking a mental health day, its important that you actually do things that will help you relax and feel restored. That may mean a day spent in your pajamas binge-watching Netflix. Or getting a massage, practicing gratitude or doing yoga and stretching. It can mean spending time with a friend or loved one. Just remember to pick something that will provide tension relief and avoid doing things that stress you out.

See more here:
7 Ways to Get Motivated and Break Out of a Work Slump - Entrepreneur

QUESTION: I want employees who are as motivated as I am people who dont need to be managed because they are constantly pushing to be better. Will I be able to find these kinds of people and if not, how can I motivate the employees I have?

ANSWER: One school of thought is that if you get the right people on the bus, they will be intrinsically motivated, requiring no external motivation.

While these high performers will insist on receiving market rate compensation, they dont require extrinsic motivation. They are driven. They couldnt conceive of doing less than their absolute best, regardless of the circumstances.

That may be true for top performers who are well above average.

In the real world, however, the average employee is, well, average.

The fact is that the average employee does need extrinsic motivation. The notion that you can remove motivation and people will continue to work hard, because they are intrinsically motivated ignores human nature.

In general, people will work harder if they believe there are rewards for good results and penalties for poor ones.

Elite employees notwithstanding, the vast majority of companies do need to motivate their people.

Compensation is perhaps the most frequently used motivator.

It works, but studies show that only the prospect of receiving money in the near future is a strong enough motivator to change behavior.

Once the employee receives the money, its power to motivate ends very quickly. Some studies say within a week.

Further, the same studies indicate that to truly change behavior, the amount of the incentive must be at least 10% of base compensation for the period.

Money is important, but we all want and need more than compensation alone.

Our work indicates that people also want to be recognized as contributing members of a winning team.

This means that people want to know that the business they are involved is succeeding. They want to know that what they are doing is contributing to that success and they want these efforts to be recognized.

Take every opportunity to celebrate successes.

Disingenuous hoopla wont work and if a company is underperforming, management needs to acknowledge that reality.

However, even when a business is in trouble, if it begins to move in a positive direction, the progress should be acknowledged.

Celebrations communicate to employees that the company is succeeding, the first of the three things needed to motivate.

Second, employees need to understand how what they are doing is contributing to that success.

How will they know this? Their manager needs to tell them.

If you cant come up with a way that an employee is contributing to the success of the company, then you should ask if you need that position or that employee.

Finally, employees want their contributions to be recognized.

Monetary recognition is one way. But, simply saying thank you when an employee does a job well can be powerful.

Instead of speaking to employees only to correct them, catch employees doing something right and praise them.

When you praise an employee, be specific about what you liked and link their behavior to a company or professional goal.

A well-timed gift certificate, recognition at a company meeting, extra time off, or even a sincere job well done will go a long way towards motivating employees.

Carrots are good, but our experience is that to be most effective, there needs to be some stick as well. Employees need to know that there are consequences associated with poor performance.

Yes, there are a few superstars who dont need motivation, but most employees do.

The superstars are expensive. Small businesses often cant afford them.

Small businesses need to focus on motivating their employees to get superior performance from average people.

Doug and Polly White have a large ownership stake in Gather, a company that designs, builds and operates collaborative workspaces. Pollys focus is on human resources, people management and human systems. Dougs areas of expertise are business strategy, operations and finance.

Read more:
Ask Doug & Polly: Businesses need to focus on motivating employees to get superior performance from average people - Richmond.com

Very often victims of gender-based abuse say that they choose not to walk away because of the children. The fact is that staying in an abusive relationship because of the children will cause the children to be scarred for life as growing up in such a home is one of the most terrifying and traumatic experience a child can go through.

Children in abusive relationships may blame themselves for the abuse, thinking if they had not done or said a particular thing, the abuse would not have occurred. They may also become angry at their siblings or their mothers for triggering the abuse and may display increased aggression towards peers or mothers.

Such children may feel rage, embarrassment, and humiliation. They generally feel isolated and vulnerable and can easily engage in self-harm or even become suicidal. They are starved for attention, affection and approval as they become physically, emotionally and psychologically abandoned. Thus, they can also be continually angry and act out or they can become depressed and withdrawn, too frightened and embarrassed to speak out and easily bullied. Also, they can be anxious to please and thus become easy to manipulate and be taken advantage of. Some children lose the ability to feel empathy for others. Others may have low self-esteem and become socially isolated, unable to make friends as easily due to social discomfort or confusion over what is acceptable

Since children have a natural tendency to identify with strength, they may ally themselves with the abuser and lose respect for their seemingly helpless mother. In fact, there is a definite correlation between violence and child abuse. Growing up in a violent home can set patterns for children patterns that can cause them to commit violence and abuse thereby continuing that cycle. In effect, witnessing domestic violence is the single best predictor of juvenile delinquency and adult criminality.

As well females can also become accepting of abuse thinking that it is normal, as they grew up seeing it happen continually, with the victim staying rather than leaving. And so they will not only tolerate intimate-partner abuse as they get older but may actually think such abuse is normal.

Children in abusive relationships may experience developmental delays in speech, motor or cognitive skills. They are also more apt to use poor judgment, have health problems, social and emotional issues, higher risks of alcohol/drug abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder. They are also more apt to become school dropouts, pregnant teens and gun users. They grow up to suffer from low self-esteem, stay in dead-end jobs or worsenot being able to keep a job.

Older children may regress to behaviour they displayed when younger, such as bed-wetting, thumb-sucking, increased crying and whining. They may also develop difficulty falling or staying asleep; show signs of terror, such as stuttering or hiding; and show signs of severe separation anxiety. Older children may not participate in school activities or get good grades, have fewer friends than others, and get into trouble more often. They also may have a lot of headaches and stomach aches.

Teens who witness abuse may act out in negative ways, such as fighting with family members or skipping school. They may also engage in risky behaviours, such as having unprotected sex and using alcohol or drugs. They may start fights or bully others and are more likely to get in trouble with the law. This type of behaviour is more common in teen boys who are abused in childhood than in teen girls. Girls are more likely than boys to be withdrawn and to experience depression.

As well, toxic stress on children can result in lifelong emotional, mental, and social damage that can affect childrens developmental growth. In fact, research shows that witnessing abuse carries the same risk of harm to childrens mental health and learning as if the children had been abused directly. Among childhood adversities, Ronald Kessler says, those involving family violence inflict the worst long-term effects. Kessler is a co-director of the World Health Organizations World Mental Health Survey Initiative. One of the long-term effects of childhood adversity is that they create emotional scars that get reopened when people are exposed to traumas in adulthood leading to adult PTSD, Kessler said.

According to a 2002 US Department of Justice Special report, children who grow up in homes where violence is present are:

6 times more likely to take their lives

24 times more likely to be sexually assaulted

67 times more likely to engage in delinquent behaviour as adolescents

100 times more likely to be abusers themselves

500 times more likely to be abused or neglected

In effect, children should be the most critical reason not to stay in an abusive relationship. However, The Caribbean Voice must also make it clear that we are not advocating walking away from a relationship without first trying to work things through. Family/loved ones interventions, followed by couples counseling are critical first steps. But if these dont work then we quite emphatically say that if children are in the picture using them as an excuse to remain in an abusive relationship is counter productive and such children can be permanently harmed for life. By the same token, we also emphasize that children should never be used as pawns by parents against each other or by one parent against the other. Instead, children must be reassured of the love of both parents who will both always be there for them, the children, in spite of the separation.

Annan Boodram

The Caribbean Voice

Link:
Children should not be the motivation to stay in an abusive relationship - Barbados Today

In this week's "Monday Motivation," Know Your Value founder and "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski talks about the importance of bringing grace into our everyday lives.

Brzezinski reflected on the recent passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings, noting the veteran congressman seemed to be driven by grace and empathy.

RELATED: Remembering Elijah Cummings: Why Joe and I asked him to officiate our wedding

"Whether we were talking to him privately, or speaking at our wedding, or listening him officiate the House Committee on Oversight and and Reform hearings whenever I heard Elijah speak, I wanted to be a better person," said Brzezinski. "And it was the grace and empathy that he brought to the table every time he used his voice that made him so powerful and so beautiful."

Watch the video above for more, including how grace can enhance our ability to be effective communicators and add value to all of our relationships.

Original post:
Monday Motivation: The power of grace - NBC News

Limiting access to food might increase levels of hormone - ghrelin, which might also increase your motivation to exercise, said a new research.

The study, published in the Journal of Endocrinology suggested that a surge in levels of the appetite-promoting hormone - ghrelin, after a period of fasting prompted mice to initiate voluntary exercise.

These novel findings indicate that better diet control, for example limiting food intake to mealtimes or fasting intermittently, could help overweight people maintain a more effective exercise routine, lose weight and avoid debilitating complications such as diabetes and heart disease.

Our findings suggest that hunger, which promotes ghrelin production, may also be involved in increasing motivation for voluntary exercise when feeding is limited, said author Yuji Tajiri from the Kurume University in Japan.

Therefore, maintaining a healthy eating routine, with regular mealtimes or fasting, could also encourage motivation for exercise in overweight people, Tajiri said.

Ghrelin, often referred to as the hunger hormone, stimulates appetite through actions on the brain reward circuitry that increases motivation to eat.

It has also been reported to be essential for endurance exercise by increasing metabolism to meet the energy demands of prolonged exercise.

Although previous studies have suggested a relationship between ghrelin and exercise, it was not known whether the hormone levels have a direct effect on motivation to exercise.

In this study, the research team investigated the relationship between exercise and the hormone levels in mice.

Food intake and wheel-running activity were compared in mice given free access to food with those fed only twice a day for a limited time.

Although both groups ate a similar amount of food, the restricted mice ran significantly more.

Mice genetically altered to have no ghrelin and on the restricted feeding diet, ran less than the mice which were given free access, however, this could be reversed by administering the hormone.

Furthermore, mice were given free access to food and given ghrelin also ran significantly more.

These findings suggest that ghrelin might play an important role in the motivation for both feeding and exercise, in response to restricted eating plans.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. )

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First Published:Oct 20, 2019 12:55 IST

More here:
Limiting mealtimes, food access increases motivation for exercise. Heres how - Hindustan Times

Previously

Luke Thompson and Derek Moeller-Smith hosted Melissa Tribwasser from Frogs O War to discuss Saturdays match up between Kansas State and TCU.

Yes we have a football game this weekend. No were not starting there. Thats because the coaches poll, plus the start of practice means we have a bunch of basketball news.

Up first, Kansas State will hold an open practice this fall. -Ryan Black, Manhattan Mercury

Next, Bruce Weber expects incoming Freshman Dajaun Gordon to bring big things to the court this season. -Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle

The Big 12 Coaches poll was released yesterday with a heaping pile of DISRESPECT for last years Big 12 conference champions. - Gary Bedore, KC Star

Xavier Sneed is burning with confidence as he returns for his final season as the unquestioned leader of the Wildcats. -Greg Black, Manhattan Mercury

Unto football, where the Wildcats expect no-hard feelings for Alex Delton. -Kellis Robinett

Riley Gates is reporting that Kenyon Reed has entered the transfer portal. The true freshman out of California has yet to appear for the wildcats this season. -Riley Gates, 247sports.com

Lastly, the 2020 baseball schedule was released yesterday.-Ryan Black, Manhattan Mercury

Read more from the original source:
SLate: Xavier Sneed Enters 2019-20 with Plenty of Motivation. - Bring On The Cats

Photo by Marck Benjamin / Facebook

Rockaway residents are surrounded by hard-working local business owners who are a source of inspiration to get up and seize the day. This week, we chatted with Marck H. Benjamin, a Rockaway native and the owner of Soul Exchange Bistro & Wine Bar on Doughty Boulevard.

The Grand Opening on Oct. 4 was a dream come true for Benjamin, who always wanted to own a restaurant that brings the soul, mind & spirits together via good food and great tunesnot to mention a high level of family-style customer service.

With its fusion of Caribeean, Asian, and Mediterranaen cuisine, the Soul Exchange Bistro & Wine Bar does just that. Benjamins inclusion of music like cool jazz, caribbean tunes, old school hip hop and other flavorful music in his restaurant has definitely contributed to a laid-back, classy atmosphere.

Our philosophy is to soulfully remind you of how to enjoy life, Benjamin told The Wave. Wine Glasses Up, that is the Soul Exchange Motto!

Running a business in nearby Inwood, he acknowledged that the Rockaway community is very close to his heart: I grew up here and my family still resides here, Benjamin explained. I always promised to come back and give back to my neighborhood.

That ambition is alive and well today and Benjamin hopes to expand his business on the peninsula once his newest venture gets into full swing, adding that is definitely the goal. He urged other like-minded entrepreneurs to stay focussed and follow their dreams. But like all business owners, he has also encountered challenges along the way, however.

Marketing and getting people to know what we have to offer [has been a challenge], he said. But given the turn out at the opening and beyond, the hard work has paid off. Benjamin hoped that other small businesses will follow suit right here in Rockaway as the revitalization gets into full swing; he called for more eclectic shops and bistros like Manhattan and Astoria and Brooklyn.

Why should we have to go there when we can have it here, Benjamin enthused. Rockaway will be the new Hamptons!

Soul Exchange Bistro & Wine Bar is open everyday from 4.30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and located at 233 Doughty Blvd, Inwood, a five minute drive from the Far Rockaway Mott Ave. Station and accessible via the Q114, n31 and n32 bus.

The rest is here:
Monday Motivation With Soul Exchange Bistro & Wine Bar - Wave of Long Island

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Almost without exception, video games feature conflict. Whether it's eviscerating endless goons or building shelter for when night comes, external pressure creates conflict, driving players through the game and shaping their experience.

Even ostensibly peaceful games like Minecraft or Stardew Valley have monsters that lurk in dark corners of the world, ready to ruin your day. AI coding and colony sim Autonauts, however, has taken a distinctly different approach, where all conflict is essentially of the player's own design. In Autonauts, you are your own worst enemy; not only do you solve your own problems, you create them too as you attempt to optimise your increasingly convoluted production pipeline.

Released last week on PC, Autonauts comes from a two-person team within Dundee-based Denki Games, comprised of DMA Design alumni Gary Penn and Aaron Puzey. As creative director for the original Grand Theft Auto, Penn is one of the original architects of modern sandbox games. However, his previous work of violence and carnage has given way to Autonauts, a game with so little conflict it was actually a "real pain the arse" to design.

Gary Penn, Autonauts creative director

Autonauts was "love at first sight" Penn tells us, after technical director Puzey knocked together a prototype. The game sees players colonising a planet, developing technology and developing complex systems to automate processes along the way. Though promoted as an AI coding game that can help teach the fundamentals of programming, that was never their intention.

"We didn't set out to make that," says Penn. "We did the initial prototype and that's when we noticed... It's not that close to real coding, but you do definitely pick up a lot of the principles and the ideas of interacting systems... So as a happy side effect, it's a really nice one to have."

It's been over 20 years since the original Grand Theft Auto (21 today, in fact), and despite his involvement with games like Crackdown 3, Penn says his relationship with violent video games has changed. He says this is partly thanks to getting older and having kids, but also because of the industry's continued over-reliance on violence. At this point it's like punctuation or the chorus of a song, he says.

"A lot of the violent stuff that's out there doesn't really explore violence in a particularly interesting way," he continues. "By which I don't mean violence as a good thing, I mean that 99.9% of it seems to be gratuitous. and gets very banal as a result.

"I don't think anyone gets desensitised to it. I guess the mundanity is a degree of desensitisation, but I think people would still find violence a repugnant thing. But I think as you get older and your perspective on life changes, you realise there is more to it.

"So we ended up with less and less threat, but more and more to do weirdly"

"From an artistic point of view it's stuff that's worth exploring, but no one does it in a particularly interesting way. A lot of it is just the same old stuff over and over again, and you get it with a lot of games that have interesting storylines, but it turns out the main way of interacting with the game is shooting."

Grand Theft Auto may be the poster child of video game violence, but Autonauts couldn't be a further departure from that world. The game sees players automate every aspect of their colony in order to build, grow, harvest, or whatever else you can think of. While Penn says they experimented with things like wolves and cataclysmic weather events, nothing felt right.

"It didn't really seem to resonate with anyone, it just felt wrong and misplaced," he continues. "So we gradually extracted these things. But also, because you've spent so much time investing into training and teaching these robots to do things, the last thing you want is for a torrential weather event or some other aggressive menace wiping the whole thing out. It's very well having a save game, but it's quite a miserable thing to happen. So we ended up with less and less threat, but more and more to do weirdly."

Autonauts tries to lead you rather than push you; Penn describes it as "less prescriptive" than most games, and being more about playful experimentation. But making a game without conflict presents a fairly unique set of challenges when it comes to driving the player forward, and Penn says there are no easy answers. It's a game where the possibilities slowly unfold; players need to decide what their own objectives are, and figure out the best way to make them happen.

After half a dozen frameworks and game structures, none of which really worked Penn admits, they settled on a fairly stripped-back and simple approach, trying to avoid overcomplication or tedious simplicity.

"The stuff you do yourself isn't painful," says Penn, "and it doesn't last that long if you automate stuff, but the contrast is really quite marked... Once you get that, there are some really joyous moments where people realise you can automate everything, and they don't have to do it themselves...

"And that's been the hardest balance of all actually -- driving you forwards but still doing what you want. We resisted putting a tutorial in but did eventually because not enough people were getting it themselves. We had to give them the direction, or enough rope to skip. That's been difficult."

Autonauts has gone through extensive public testing, with the devs watching live streams obsessively trying to figure out the many ways in which it might be broken. Repeatedly, the question around player guidance was causing problems: it's an open game, but without conflict to drive the player in a given direction, they often wound up rudderless, and trying to guide them felt "really, really bad."

"It's why the tutorial felt a bit weird at first, but we tried to keep that fairly light and open, which has been a pain in the arse," says Penn. "When you're building an open world game, there are so many possible edge cases you've got to cater for and you can't predict them all, so we've had to try and keep them as constrained as possible and flexible as possible, and that's caused no end of problems... We've ended up with what we've ended up with, because we couldn't sit there forever trying to figure out the perfect game. You've got to ship something, and I like that old saying about games being like fruit, and having an expiry date. I think it's quite a lovely idea."

Read the rest here:
Autonauts: Motivating players without conflict - GamesIndustry.biz

By Randi Mann.11 hours ago

Its Monday morning and Dwayne The Rock Johnson has already entertained his followers, promoted his projects, and at least started his workout (which seemingly does not end). Before The Rock starts working out at Iron Paradise, he shares on Instagram all of his workout essentials packed in his Project Rock 90 bag:

Can you really workout with a little Maui doll? The Rocks kids packed a little plush of the character that he played in Disneys Moana.

RELATED: The Rock Responds To WrestleMania Challenge From WWE Star Randy Orton

The wrestler-turned-actor also took out his post-workout shake, Project Rock headphones, Project Rock beanie, and a bag full of hot dogs, or as The Rock describes them lion dogs.

And the highlight of the video? The Rock takes a colouring page and remarks, My wife Lauren drew me a picture. Thank you, baby.

The muscleman also took a second to sip from his new line of tequila, which is said to launch by the end of the year.

RELATED: Dwayne The Rock Johnson Drops The Peoples Elbow In Return To The WWE Ring

His bag is packed with a few more surprises, but before Peoples 2016 Sexiest Man Alive starts his workout, he has a quick spat with his Magic 8-Ball.

Johnson also offers an update on his friend and frequent co-star Kevin Hart after the comedians car accident last month.

I packed this myself, Johnson jokes as he shows off his doll. This didnt come from my babies, because Im going to see my best friend, Kevin Hart, and I always like to bring him a few toys that he can play with. He likes my Rock doll, because we kind of play, Hey, heres my doll, wheres your doll?'

Adds Johnson:Hes recovering from his injuries, hes doing great. Cant wait to come back, but I always gotta take care of my son.

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The Rock Provides Some Monday Motivation By Revealing Whats In His Gym Bag, Shares Health Update On Kevin Hart - ETCanada.com

NBA icon Shaquille ONeal is fueled by Martin Luther King Jr. as he explores a new business venture.

After a stellar and lengthy NBA career, ONeal has evolved into a shrewd entrepreneur. In fact, his latest venture is a partnership with Miles College a tie-up that will reportedly help bring a Papa Johns Pizzeria to every historically black college and university campus in the nation.

In a statement issued through the Purpose PR firm in Birmingham, ONeal commended HBCUs for upholding equality on their endeavors, Birmingham Times reported.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities have paved the way for African Americans and people of other races to receive a quality education deservedly, ONeal said.

ONeal even emphasized a compelling quote fromMLK and channeledthe late activists belief towards his new business venture. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision thats positive for them, that taps important values, that gets them something they desire and it has to be presented compellingly, so that they feel inspired to follow, ONeal noted.

Miles College President Bobbie Knight was excited about the new venture. According to her, the school is honored to have ONeal as their partner. She also described the NBA legend as a business genius and admitted to being thrilled to bring Papa Johns on their campuses.

Miles College is honored to partner with Shaquille ONeal and welcome him to our historic and beautiful campus, Knight said in a statement.

Shaquille is a skilled investor, savvy entrepreneur, and marketing and branding genius. This partnership tells the world that this is Miles Colleges day, and this is Miles Colleges time to show America that HBCUs can join icons like Shaquille and launch business ventures like Papa Johns on our campuses, Knight added.

ONeal is best known for his historic championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Together with Kobe Bryant, they managed to bring 3 NBA titles to LA. During ONeal and Bryants glory days with the team, Shaq revealed in an exclusive interview that they had extra powers in the organization.

However, the 3-time NBA Finals MVP never cared about the extras Bryant was getting from Lakers because he knew that he can also get what he wanted.

I know I can get what I want. He got to do whatever he want, I got to do whatever I want. Thats just the name of the game, ONeal emphasized.

Shaquille O'Neal (L) reacts to his former players seated in the audience with Kobe Bryant looking on during unveiling of his statue at Staples Center, in Los Angeles, March 24, 2017. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

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NBA: Shaquille O'Neal Motivated By Martin Luther King In New Business Venture - International Business Times