3 Reasons You Can't Motivate Yourself at Work Anymore—and How to Overcome Each One

We’ve all faced days at the office where we’re just not feeling motivated . Off days happen to everyone and it’s tough—if not unrealistic—to constantly do your best work. There are bound to be times when you procrastinate too much , lack focus, or struggle to start important projects.

You may react by getting down on yourself, wondering where your determination has gone. It can be disappointing to feel like you’re not living up to your aspirations, especially when there’s important work to be done—which there almost always is. Speed, efficiency, and productivity are what drive results, and when our energy doesn’t match our ambition, it can be frustrating.

When you lack enthusiasm, a single day at the office can feel like an uphill battle. A long-lasting motivational slump can leave you stressed out, feeling guilty that you’re not doing enough to advance in your career.

The effects on your well-being can be numerous: You may have difficulty sleeping, find yourself getting sick, or notice a decrease in your ability to concentrate. Your mental health takes a beating from emotional exhaustion, with anxiety and pessimism overshadowing your mood.

But you don’t have to stay stuck in this rut. With some exploration and reflection, you can get to the bottom of what’s sapping your energy and dig yourself out of it.

Here are three reasons you’re unmotivated along with solutions to getting back on track fast. 

1. You’re Caught in the “Busy Trap”

Today being busy is a status symbol, a sign that you’re sought-after and in-demand. While your ego may enjoy the validation, existing perpetually in “work mode” and being available round-the-clock can lead to burnout.

Operating under the illusion that staying constantly busy is helping you advance professionally can backfire, earning you the title of office pushover—or leading you to resent your job, boss, and co-workers.

To disentangle yourself from the busy trap, you've got to ruthlessly prioritize and eliminate non-urgent tasks, which will allow you to invest in work that’s truly important.

To get over your chronic busy-worshipping, begin to unhook yourself from responsibilities that are actually someone else’s work. Practice saying “no” more often. When you do agree to take something on, do so with a clear intention. Try saying, “I choose to…” rather than “I have to…” It may sound simple, but your words create your reality, and this subtle verbal shift invokes autonomy and personal choice, which stokes motivation. It feels very different to say “I choose go to tonight’s networking event” instead of “I have to to go to tonight’s networking event.” 

2. You’re Relying on Willpower

Convincing yourself to accomplish a task out of sheer will is difficult. When willpower fails you, focus on creating habits that make your success inevitable. Often, getting started on a big goal or complicated project is the hardest part. Once you actually get going, the whole project feels a lot less daunting.

The trick to staying motivated is to create small habits that help with productivity and make you feel good about what you’re accomplishing.

Conquer willpower dips by lowering barriers that get in the way of your beginning a task. If you have a hard writing assignment to tackle, for example, focus on getting just the the first sentence down (even if it’s a stream of consciousness). But, once you write that first line, you’ll likely feel your anxiety melt away.

You can also try developing a warm-up routine that sets off a positive chain of events to help you generate momentum. For instance, maybe you have a cue like brewing your morning coffee or checking your email that serves as a transition into work mode. Many entrepreneurs I work with like to start their day with 10 minutes of meditation. This can be an excellent way to prepare for your day and cue your mind to get in the mood for work. Instead of conjuring willpower, you'll organically move into the professional state of mind. 

3. You’re Emotionally Exhausted

If you feel like you’re sleepwalking through your workday, it’s likely you’re among the 70% of people who feel emotionally disconnected at the office.

Don’t underestimate your social needs when trying to pinpoint your motivational barrier. Maslow’s pyramid ranks belonging as the third most important aspect of our mental health, coming only after physical needs and safety. Feeling accepted and useful at work is essential to sustaining the drive to stick with your duties day after day.

In fact, “psychological safety” has been found to be the most important trait successful teams share. Groups characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect are not only happier, they’re also more productive. When employees have a sense of confidence that their co-workers will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for speaking up they accomplish more and thrive in their careers.

To repair your emotional exhaustion , begin deliberately structuring social opportunities into your workflow. An easy way to start is by showing up five minutes early to meetings. Use the unstructured time for light conversation. This informal small talk is not just meaningless chitchat, and it goes a long way to building stronger relationships with colleagues.

If you’re a manager, try reigniting your team’s motivation by giving day-to-day tasks more meaning and circling back to shared goals. Empathic leadership has everything to do with lifting up other people, which can be accomplished by reinforcing how your direct report’s efforts tie into to big-picture goals and the company’s mission. 


No one among us is motivated and productive 100% of the time, but if you’re feeling lethargic and blasé about your work more often than not, then you’ve got to find a way to climb out of the slump. Reading inspiring tips and career advice is one thing, but taking action is another. Doing something to alleviate the lethargy is the real antidote to getting unstuck and out of a work rut. 

25 Steve Jobs Quotes That Will Change the Way You Work—in the Best Way Possible

It took years of hard work, determination, and perseverance to build Apple into the company that it is today. When you take a step back from your MacBook (and put down your iPhone), and really think about all that he accomplished, it’s beyond remarkable. He changed the way we live.

Thanks to his many lectures and speeches, we have a glimpse into his day-to-day work ethic and how he managed to do as much as he did. And, in order to help you reach your career goals, we’ve rounded up 25 of his best quotes. Read them, be inspired by them, and then get out there and make your dreams come true.

My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.

I’m as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become.

I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.

That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.

Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful...that’s what matters to me.

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

We’re just enthusiastic about what we do.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.

What is Apple, after all? Apple is about people who think ‘outside the box,’ people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done.

Things don’t have to change the world to be important.

Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.

I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.

Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune. I’ve been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. There’s no way you could ever spend it all, and I don’t view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.

My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others’ negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

How can Entrepreneurs Stay Motivated

When you are running a business, no matter how many times you face failure, it is important to never back down. The start of an entrepreneurial journey is always tough, but individuals should stay motivated during those hard times and keep at it. It’s only when a founder is spirited to take on the tasks for the day that his/her employees too look forward to completing their targets for the day.

No Motivation, No Growth

Be it an early-stage start-up or a late-stage one, for any company to scale, staying motivated is a key trait its founder needs to have. Lack of the same could have disastrous effects on the company — deadlines are missed, employees begin to have a lackadaisical attitude and eventually the revenue or growth is affected.

Therefore, a founder needs to be more alert of his or her mood at work.

 Nithin Kamath, founder of Zerodha, an online-only Indian discount stock brokerage, said staying motivated isn’t a difficult task for an eternal optimist like him. “I also try to lead a balanced life, finding time for family, sports, music and travelling,” said Kamath.

Mentor and investor Rakesh Bhatia seconded Kamath’s views and stated that motivation can come from various places. For your work to reflect an optimistic growth, you need to go beyond the work environment too at times. “Remember that entrepreneurship is a marathon and not a sprint, don’t burn yourself out. Don’t miss out on having fun, spending time with your family and friends once in a while and sleep while keeping your eye firm on your targets,” said Bhatia.


A Founder’s Strength – His/Her Team

The strength of a founder lies in having a strong team and to make sure that the team spirit is always high. Kamath opined that his own motivation level rubbed off on his team. “I also make sure to constantly reiterate the long-term vision for the business to the team, make sure everyone knows their part, and grow inclusively,” he said.

While fun is a part of work, for most start-ups their work is fun, which keeps them motivated. At ClearTax, they believe that it is their vision of simplifying taxes and compliance that keeps them driven. “Every single time a client writes back to us with appreciation for our product or support, we know that we are one step closer to achieving our dream and this is what keeps us going,” said Archit Gupta, Founder of ClearTax.

What entrepreneurs need to keep in mind is that even after a failure, regaining motivation is the key to success. While it won’t be something that happens overnight, the trick lies in pulling yourself out of the situation, find solutions with the help of your team members and start afresh.

Leadership in a Limbo of Bystander Apathy: CPR Connection

In March of 1964, Catherine Susan Genovese – an American woman – was stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Kew Gardens, a neighbourhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Two weeks after the incident, the New York Times published a long report that conveyed a scene of indifference from the neighbours, considering the situation.

Indifference? Simply put, the neighbours failed to come to Genovese’s aid. In fact, with 38 witnesses in the proximity of the crime, not one bothered to contact the police despite having heard or seen the attack. The incident prompted inquiries into what came to be known as Bystander Apathy or the Genovese Syndrome.

John Darley and Bibb Latané attributed bystander apathy to the perceived diffusion of responsibility, which indicated that onlookers are more likely to intervene with few or no witnesses. The syndrome is also dependent on social influence, a commonplace scenario where individuals in a group monitor the behaviour of those around them to determine their own next course of action.

Made famous by a tragic murder, bystander apathy finds a place in almost all functions of life – including those of organizational nature. In Genovese’s case, onlookers concluded from their neighbours’ inaction that their own personal help was unnecessary.

In business, think of a company with giant leadership voids. These are challenges in the company that every employee is wary about, but simply without initiative to do something about. That is correct. Most people are bystanders, and they are all waiting for someone else to take the lead.


In the meanwhile, businesses far and wide continue to beg their employees to take more initiative, to take charge. This being one of the more common requests from CEOs.

People are hesitant to step up to a problem in the presence of others, and in practice, a lot of leadership opportunities are lost by the socially awkward but perhaps deserving employees.

On the other hand, we find something rather overwhelming in the leadership-by-hubris department. A tad bit insane, belligerent and pompous people tend to take charge simply because of their inherent genetic wiring to do so. However, there is no denying we hate crazy, belligerent people. We don’t want to rely on them at all.

Convert Bystanders into Leaders

Funnily enough, it was neither a mentorship program nor a 101 on leadership that solved the quality of bystander apathy in people. It was CPR. Correct. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

Theoretically, it is a method to save lives. Most of us know the basics. Heart stops beating, you step in to help the blood flow by pushing on their chest. That routine.

In India Skills 2016, during the World Youth Skills Day, the Healthcare Sector Skill Council demonstrated that mouth-to-mouth was no longer part of the procedure. While effective, that method of CPR cost too many lives; simply because, too many responders refused to kiss a stranger.


The most appealing aspect of the demonstration, however, was value addition on overcoming bystander apathy. Before the part about handling potential CPR patients, trainers stressed on how best to recognize an emergency and take charge.

Classes taught trainees to assess any situation for danger and then, if possible or necessary – to ask for help explicitly. At its most basic definition, this is leadership.

The CPR community actively discusses bystander apathy and designs training to ensure transformation of the same into a leader. It’s important to know, and very clearly transferable to daily life, both at the workplace and not.

Never abandon the idea of training leaders. Often, people who lead by competence are not far behind on pulling the trigger to action. They are most definitely not cowards or shy. They are merely a tiny bit slower, or perhaps missing a few skills.

Innovation is the seed to revolutionary success, and an hour of CPR training may perhaps turn out to be your most impactful hour on leadership yet. Not mentorship programs, maybe. Not seminars, perhaps. A course on CPR may just be what breathes new life into your organization.

10 Tips to Motivate Employees Without Resorting to Money

Are you looking for ways to motivate your people? If so, you need to start looking beyond monetary incentives.

The reason? Employees aren’t motivated by money. Instead, they’re motivated by intrinsic motivators like being recognized for their hard work, flexible work time, growth and advancement.

The best part is that intrinsic motivators don’t break the bank. To help you get your team on the motivation path, here are 10 tips on how to motivate your employees without resorting to money.


1. Autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Daniel Pink, author of “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” has found that we’re motivated by three things:

Autonomy: People want to have control over their own work. Instead of being a “helicopter boss,” give your employees the chance to make decisions. For example, if you have weekly meetings, at least have your team decide the topic or select the snacks that will be present.

Mastery: Everyone wants to get better at what they do. Provide opportunities to show your employees how they’ve progressed. Give constructive feedback, provide performance metrics, and create individual development plans.

Purpose: People want to be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. Show how their work has benefited the business. And, more importantly, show how their work has aligned with their values.


2. Offer specific and sincere praise.
There’s no such thing as too giving too much recognition and praise to your employees. A simple “thank you” note or shout-out during a meeting should suffice. Just make sure that you’re acknowledging tangible accomplishments.

In other words, you need to quantify accomplishments by looking at specific metrics. This could include sales volume, contracts/bids won, amount of customers retained, or increase in profitability.

3. Develop a community.
By building a sense of community your employees feel connected to each other - and not just to the business.

Online forums can be used, but you can’t replace old-fashioned in-person interaction. Encourage your team to eat lunch together. Play games to go everyone a break. Hold a conference or just throw a party to celebrate reaching a milestone.

By developing a community also influences after-hours bonding. That’s why you should always invite employees and their families to events like company picnics.



4. Engage your employees in the incentive process.
If you aren’t sure what will motivate your team, don’t be afraid to just ask them. For example, ask them what kinds of rewards they would like to receive through surveys, brainstorming sessions, a suggestion box, or questions during employee reviews.

Once you’ve gathered your employee feedback, you can create clear goals for them to strive for. Not only will this increase your business’ bottom line, it communicates the value for employee contributions. That itself should motivate them to participate in the incentive program.

5. Get to know them as people.
What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any children or pets? When you build personal relationships with your staff, you can find out what makes them tick. For example, if they don’t like working late because of they have a dog, then consider allowing employees to being their dogs to work.


More importantly, when you show genuine interest in them, they’ll do their best not to let you down.



6. Offer flexibility.
Offering flexible work schedules allows your employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance. This is because it allows them to meet family needs, personal obligations, and life responsibilities. Additionally, it lets them avoid commuting to work, reduces stress, and gives them a chance to work when they’re most productive.

7. Stay connected.
Frequently keep in touch with your employees. Thanks to the proliferation of email, texting, social media, and apps like Slack communication has never been easier.

Staying connected with your team allows you to offer training and tips that can improve their work. It also lets you share relevant and timely information like the latest updates on the business. Just don’t cross the line by communicating with them 24/7.



8. Provide perks and privileges.
Again, work-life quality is important to employees. When healthy, they’ll work harder and smarter because their workdays are more pleasurable and rewarding. If flexible schedules aren’t working for everyone, then give them a chance to earn work-from-home days.

Besides flexibility, provide preferred parking spots, longer lunches, or the opportunity to spend time on passion projects or tasks they enjoy. Remember, when employees enjoy their work, they’re more productive - and that’s great for your bottom line.

9. Volunteer together.
Does anything brings a group closer together than spending time sorting canned goods at the local food bank or raising donations for a nonprofit? I don’t think so. In fact, that’s why we’re seeing more and more businesses encourage volunteerism.

It’s not only good PR, volunteering increases productivity, boosts cooperation, and attracts and retains employees. Just remember to select volunteer opportunities that your employees are passionate about. Asking them through a survey is a simply way to find this out.



10. Offer the opportunity for employees to learn desired skills.
People get stuck in a rut when they perform the same work tasks day-in and day-out. When you’re in a rut, it’s easy to become less motivated, creative, and dissatisfied with your jobs. As a result, you can expect lowered productivity and higher turnover.

You can change that around by rewarding your exceptional employees with time during the workday to learn any new skills that interests them. It’s a simple way to enhance their job satisfaction, improve output, and increase their abilities that they can use to improve your business.

How to Motivate Your Team During the Last Months of the Year

The end of the fiscal year is upon us as we begin our initial decent into the infamous fourth quarter. These final three months of the year will determine whether an organization's goals were met, objectives were accomplished and overall progress was made from the previous year. With that said, one thing that all executives are going to be asking for this holiday season is for a strong finish in Q4.


Professional athletes that deliver in crunch time are labeled "clutch." It takes a strong-minded player to shoot an important shot with the game on the line, or go for the "Hail Mary" pass with only seconds remaining on the clock. The same type of mentality is needed by executives as they enter into their crunch time. This time of the year will put their executive leadership skills to the test, and show just how effectively they can rally their team with time running out.

Let's face it -- it's hard for executives to find ways to motivate employees as the year comes to a close. Thanksgiving and the December holidays are notorious for decreasing employee productivity, and the physical and mental stress of the past year starts to play a part in employee performance around this time as well. This is bad news for executives as they try and make one final push to end the year on a high note. Fortunately, there are proven ways to motivate employees specifically in Q4.

Lead by example.
Actions speak louder than words. It's hard for employees to take speeches about finishing the year strong seriously if they don't see the motivation from their managers or executives. If executives expect their employees to push themselves to the limits by the end of the year, they will have to do so as well. If this means getting to the office early and leaving late, so be it.


Employees look up to their executive staff for guidance. If they see their CEO laughing, having a good time and not working hard on the task at hand, employees will quickly follow suit. True leadership during Q4 comes from executives rolling up their sleeves and working hard side-by-side with their employees.

Related: 6 Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team

Recognize great work.
While great work should be expected all year-round, it's important to recognize and praise employees when they go above and beyond in Q4. No one is expecting daily recognition for doing their job, but showing appreciation after seeing an employee put in 110 percent effort on a project or task will show staff members that executives are paying close attention to their efforts at the end of the year.

Recognizing employees for their hard work and expressing the value they bring is a proven method to increase motivation and engagement. A study by Make Their Day, an employee motivation firm, found that 70 percent of survey respondents reported their most meaningful recognition "had no dollar value" and that 83 percent of respondents said recognition for contributions was more fulfilling than rewards of gifts. Making sure that employees are receiving the feedback they deserve toward year-end could lead to a very promising Q4.

Set realistic Q4 goals.
Back in January, executives made clear goals and objectives for the organization to achieve by the end of the year, and it's been proven that employees understand their company's direction. My company's 2017 DATIS Executive Priorities Report, which was built from survey responses of over 400 executives, found that over 75 percent of executives believe their employees have a clear understanding of their organization's vision for the year. By now, it's likely clear whether those goals will be met or not. Regardless of the organization's progress, executives will want to see a final push from their employees to set themselves up for a strong start to Q1.


Related: 4 Innovative Ways to Motivate Your Team

One way to accomplish this is to set Q4-specific goals that will regain the focus of employees and give them new targets to aim for. It's important to make sure that these goals are challenging yet realistic, enough to drive employees to deliver top performances but fair enough to not dishearten staff members.

Offer incentives.
While earlier I discussed a study that said that rewards and gifts aren't as fulfilling as recognition, they still work, especially at the end of the year when the holiday season is approaching. Keep in mind there are rewards and gifts outside of bonuses and gift cards. Offering extra PTO days in the new year to the hardest worker of the quarter is a way to motivate employees without offering them an instantly redeemable monetary reward.

As we enter Q4, it's important to stay on track and keep energy high. It's the executive's responsibility to find ways to motivate employees during this period and drive results. With the right mindset and strategy, Q4 could be this year's strongest quarter. Now is the time for executives to ask themselves, "Do I have what it takes to motive my team and finish this year strong?"

SOUNESS

There is very little Graeme Souness does not understand about the modern game. There are elements that bemuse or irritate him. he is no fan of the jargon, the technical cages, and expected goals that would have brought chuckles from old football men like Joe Fagan and Bob Paisley.

But, at 65 next birthday, Souness’s insights from the confines of a Sky studio are every bit as sharp as the mind that helped drive Liverpool to three european titles and five league championships during his time at Anfield.

‘But there’s one thing I don’t get,’ says Souness, his brow furrowing, although not entirely quizzically, because he’s making a point, not asking a question.

‘I don’t know how Jose Mourinho gets that message across to his players. You know the one I mean. At the final against Ajax; at Anfield last week. “We’re not good enough to take them on in a game of football. So we’re going to go long and stay behind the ball.”

‘I don’t know how you say that to players — because when I played at Liverpool, it was the opposite. We were made to feel unbeatable.’

Souness had a German shepherd called Jock during his time at Anfield. his friend, Bob, was a dog handler at Walton prison. Souness used to run for Bob’s dog, with a sleeve, to train it to attack, and Bob repaid the favour.

‘And at Liverpool we were like that dog,’ he explains, ‘because at the end of the training, it was essential that you walked away, as if you had lost. The dog had to win, because it had to be trained to believe it was invincible. every time. It could never be beaten.

‘And that was us. Before each game we were told, “In that dressing-room across the corridor, it’s the biggest game of their season. It’s not the biggest game of your season, but if you are at it today and play, there is nothing in this game for them”.

‘There were no tactics, no fear of the opposition. It was all about us, what we did and what we were going to do. There was one game, against Bayern Munich in the european Cup, when Sammy Lee was asked to mark Paul Breitner, and we were all laughing about it because it was unheard of.

‘Mind you, we’d had two weeks to work on it and Sammy got told in the tunnel, as the buzzer went for us to go out. Can you imagine that today?’

There are a lot of Souness’s memories that would be unimaginable today and he has revisited them for his autobiography Football: My Life, My Passion. Some argue modern coaching and sports science have made the old ways obsolete. Souness disagrees. There is little that is new, he argues, just a lot of spoofing and bluffing.

he has a way of cutting through the bluster, of pointing out that if attacking full- backs are so modern, how did Phil Neal, Tommy Smith and Alan Kennedy score three of Liverpool’s five goals from open play in their european Cup final appearances between 1977 and 1984? It is why as a Sky analyst he is not just some old- stager talking about the glory days, but remains every bit as insightful and relevant as the younger men surrounding him. he gets it. he just doesn’t have to agree.

‘everything is statistics-based these days,’ he says. ‘I was doing a Brighton game recently and we had figures on Pascal Gross, the German guy who plays in midfield. The statistic was he had created 95 chances for Ingolstadt last season, the most in the Bundesliga. And four assists. how the f*** is that possible?

‘I hear fans talking. how did we not win today, we had 64 per cent possession? Yes, but 44 per cent of it was in your own half. They’re all kidding. expected goals. high press and a low press. What the f***’s a low press? A couple of years back we had figures on who had completed the highest rate of passes of any Premier League player. It turned out to be Per Mertesacker. Five yards this way, five yards that way. So what?

‘ We give statistics about the number of kilometres players cover. here’s my argument. At Blackburn I had two central midfielders. robbie Savage would cover every blade of grass — 12, 13 kilometres a game. Tugay would stand in the centre circle, the ball was like a magnet to him. he made cute and clever passes and probably covered seven kilometres. Who influenced the game more?

‘ I got injured with Liverpool once. I was returning from a bad back. Joe Fagan said to me, “Today, son, obviously your fitness won’t be where it should be. Try just standing still occasionally”. I don’t think I ever got as many touches. how did he know that? Years and years of experience.

‘ When you’re a player or a manager, you’re too involved for it all to sink in. Now I do the punditry thing I remember more of what these guys told me and I realise they were just the most fabulous football people.’

LeAvING the funeral of ronnie Moran earlier this year, it dawned on Souness who had been the greatest influence on his career. ‘You know, there has never been a watershed moment with a coach when I’ve gone, “Wow, I learned something today”,’ Souness explains.

‘No coach has done that for me, no single piece of information. But coming back from ronnie’s funeral I realised the effect he had on me as a player. his attitude, his message, which was always — “Yeah, you’re a good team. Yeah, you might be a good player. But you’re not like the players we’ve had here in the past”.

‘ he always left the feeling there was room for improvement, that every game was vital, that you showed no mercy, but stayed humble when you won. he was ruthless, but he had a way of making you strive to be better.

‘Three or four days into preseason he would come in with any old box he had found lying around, dump it in the middle of our dressing-room and say, “right, there’s your medals. If you’ve played enough games and you think you deserve one, have one”.

‘And he’d walk out. And we’d all be counting in our heads: one, two, three, four… Then his head would pop back round the door. “And by the way, you’ll get f*** all this season for what’s in that box!” And exit.

‘I can see him now, sharing a whisky with Joe after we’d won the league title again. “Well, Joe, looks like we’ve got a job next season, then”. “Aye, ronnie — up to Christmas, maybe”.

‘If they were about now, those guys, they’d be chuckling about this modern stuff. The false No 9s, technical cages — all of this terminology. They wouldn’t buy into that. I can remember Bob, in his Geordie accent, asking what was meant by leading the line. And blindside runs. “What the f***’ s a blindside run?” ‘ Bob’s background was player to physio to trainer to manager. he could diagnose an injury sitting in the directors’ box. A player would go down a certain way and Bob would say, “That’s a six-weeker” and nine times out of 10 he’d be right.

‘So what he would make of today’s sports science departments I’m not quite sure — taking players off in the 68th minute because the stats say this. ‘I’m not sure men like Joe Fagan or Bob Paisley could even be managers today. They wouldn’t have the personality for it. But their knowledge — you’d have them around your football club every day. I joined Liverpool in 1978. I was the record signing between english clubs. Manchester United bought Joe Jordan from Leeds for £350,000, so Liverpool paid Middlesbrough £352,000 for me.

‘First week, Monday to Friday, we did the same thing. Walk round the perimeter at the Melwood training ground, then jog round it, few stretches, six-a-side, some sprints, and home. every day with a day off in the middle.

‘First game, West Brom. I’m in the dressing room and I’m looking around — John Toshack, Steve heighway, Ian Callaghan — all these great players.

‘I ask Joe Fagan if I can have a word. “Yes, son,” he says. “What is it?” And Joe always spoke in a quiet voice, so you had to lean in. I said, “Joe, I’ve been here a week and nobody’s spoken to me. how does he want me to play?” And he leaned in, so I leaned in, and then he just said, “F*** OFF!” in this big booming voice. “We’ve spent all this money on you and you ask me how to play football!” and he walked away shaking his head.

‘Imagine saying that to a player today. he’d be straight on to his agent. Do you think I ever asked a question again? And it was ronnie and Joe we were with in training every day. The boss was in the background.

‘ If anyone new asked a daft question, you could see all the players wincing because they knew what was coming next. “Joe, can you believe what this fool has just asked me? Work it out for yourself, son. And if you don’t — you won’t be here very long”.

‘My final game was the 1984 european Cup final, against roma in rome (left). Nobody went to look at our training ground, so when we turned up it was a ploughed field, unplayable.

‘We went back to the hotel to have lunch on the day of the game and at the end of the meal Joe Fagan tapped a glass with his spoon for attention, and stood up. he asked all the waiters to leave the room.

‘We were all wondering what he was going to say. So he gets up, and it’s like he’s talking to himself. “Big game tonight… going to

be a big crowd, too, I’d think. These must be a good team... they’ve got people who’ve won a World Cup, I think, is that right, Ron, people who’ve won a World Cup?” And Ron nodded and said yes. “They won the league too last year... but I’ll tell you what, they can’t be as good as us, right the bus leaves at five...”

‘And that was it. Joe’s team talk. He never mentioned a single Roma player.

‘ You couldn’t do that today. Players want to be guided through it all. I was at Blackburn and we drew a Turkish team, Genclerbirligi, in the UEFA Cup. We went over there and lost 3-1. Came back and drew 1-1. We should have won by 10 but it was one of those nights, nothing would go in, and we went out.

‘Afterwards, Dwight Yorke said to me that we didn’t prepare properly. “At Manchester United we would have had pen pictures, watched videos, seen their strengths and weaknesses”. I said to him, “Dwight, this is Genclerbirligi. Surely you can beat them without all that preparation?”

‘We’d had them watched, we knew what they were about. I just didn’t think we needed to build them into a big thing, to go into every last detail.’

Souness describes the great Liverpool team as being able to go to war against Derby at a muddy Baseball Ground on Saturday, then outplay Bayern Munich on a perfect surface four days later. He was the epitome of that. If it was a fight, he could be the nastiest piece of work on the field, if it was a game he was the best player.

His aim, he says, was to find the forwards with his second touch — an urgency and immediacy that is increasingly lost to the game.

‘The way we were taught at Liverpool was that nobody matters except the guys who put the ball in the net,’ he continues.

‘They might not have said that specifically, but the message was there. The forwards are the ones who need time to get their head up and score, so we were just there to facilitate them. Now it’s about midfield players having 60 touches and not giving the ball away. What’s wrong with sticking someone in early?

‘If I had a kid who was going to be a footballer, I’d tell him: don’t be a striker in the modern game. It’s the worst place to be in most teams these days. Manchester City are probably the exception.

BUT, ask yourself, would you have liked to be Romelu Lukaku at Anfield last weekend? Lukaku’s a centre forward you don’t want to play against right now. He can out-muscle you. He can get in a race with you. He can outjump you. And he was feeding on scraps.

‘As a striker, you rely on it coming early. You make a run — it goes square. You make another run — it goes back a bit. You make a third run, but it’s all about him, the midfielder, having time on the ball. Striker is the last position you want to play now. A striker wants me to have one touch and hit him with my second.

‘We even had a name for it at Liverpool. We used to call it doing a [the name of this player, an England international, has been withheld at Mr Souness’s request. He may be a hard man, but he is not without feelings]. The midfielder went into the back four, took an easy pass, and passed an easy pass.

‘How many do you see do that now? Get the ball off the back four, get their head up and face 11 opposition players. He’s got five of his own behind, plus him. So it’s five versus 11. I see the boy at Newcastle, Jonjo Shelvey, and at least he’s looking for it, looking to put you in. He won’t always get there. But at least he tries.

‘ It can’t be tip- tap, tip- tap. There are so many myths about what is important these days. We’ve got to go back to the strengths of being British. Instead, we look at France, we look at Spain, we look at Germany. We’re like the Chinese. We’re trying to make copies of Louis Vuitton handbags.’

Souness’s last managerial position ended at Newcastle in 2006. The late Freddy Shepherd notified him of his dismissal by letter. Soon after he was working with Johnny Giles for RTE in Dublin. ‘He said to me, “Give it a year and you’ll wonder why you ever did that job”,’ Souness recalls. ‘And that’s exactly what happened.’

Souness may have been too intense for management. He was once described as a man heading

Striker is the worst position now — Lukaku lives on scraps

for a fire with a bucket of kerosene and that took its toll.

From Craig Bellamy to Tommy Smith, he was never one to duck confrontation — another facet of his personality that wouldn’t play well in today’s game.

Managers are bypassed now, he says, by agents who deal directly with chief executives. Even on those days when a return appeals, the feeling soon passes.

‘I’d be a better manager today because I’ve calmed down a bit,’ he says. ‘ There are times when I’m loving the atmosphere and thinking about being on the touchline, then I’m going home hearing the results and thinking of all the poor buggers who will be having a miserable week ahead.

‘By the time I stopped, the good times weren’t compensating for the bad times. The way I was with my family, my wife, nothing else in life was important. And in terms of my health, it wasn’t good for me.

‘If I went out socially, the minute there was any lull in the conversation I’d be thinking of the aggro I’d have to deal with on Monday. That’s not good for any relationship. I’m not sure anyone really enjoys managing.’

So, not tempted? Not even by Scotland? ‘No, definitely not,’ he concludes. ‘ I haven’t got the personality for it. The exploding head is still in there deep down, and I don’t think I could deal with young footballers today. I get my fix by talking about the game.

‘ I never want to go back to football, so I don’t care who I upset. And if people are upset, I won’t apologise. All I can say is that I say it as I see it and I try to be totally unbiased.

‘I’ve never courted popularity. I don’t go looking for managers, I don’t go to functions where the players go. I don’t really socialise in the football world. And I don’t think the modern footballers have any interest in players from my generation. Zero. None.

‘Half the players today will have no idea I even played the game.’

But he did play the game. And he did so quite magnificently. If any bluffers really don’t know who they are dealing with, they could always read the book.