It seems obvious that types of motivation will differ across the population. Okay, I get that. You may be motivated by time off. Someone else might be motivated by a larger salary. And a third person might want a minimum salary with large bonus potential. In a similar manner, some will be motivated to change lifestyles so that they have less pain. Others will be motivated by the potential to live longer. Still others will want to do whatever is least disruptive to the time they can spend with family right now.
These sound like external motivations. They are external motivators, dangling carrots that serve to spark motivation, but the motivations themselves are internal. In other words, when you look at the statements above, the desire to pursue a certain path comes from within.
Watching the NCAA basketball tournament this year, I wondered out loud about player behavior that didn’t appear to help the player excel or the team win. A friend replied that the player wasn’t motivated to hit the weight room and improve. Huh?
I guess in my frame of reference, if you are talented enough and have worked hard enough to be on the court at that level, you’re motivated to do your best at your chosen sport or you choose not to participate in. It’s a bit beyond me to understand showing up halfway, not attempting to achieve the maximum of your ability, or do the best you can. I also don’t understand not caring whether you help your team win.
It’s not that I don’t grasp some people have jobs feel trapped in or that poor leadership within an organization might make you question whether your efforts are worth it. I understand and have had those feelings. But for me, if I’m not willing to improve to the best of my ability within a chosen sport, job, or portion of my life, I need to change paths. If I take it on. I feel like I should fully show up.
It is only now beginning to creep into my consciousness that some, maybe lots of, people do not function this way. Of course, I’ve seen behavior that isn’t like mine. And I’ve sometimes felt confused or frustrated when people I worked with skated by for years. At least it seemed that way. Perhaps they were doing all they were capable of doing.
Because we can’t know anyone else’s internal workings, it’s probably best not to judge whether someone else is doing their best. But it seems that a broad understanding of how others are motivated is important for developing approaches that can help all of us become our best, healthiest selves.
For people like me, you can change the external reward and it will have little to no effect on our behavior. I’ll venture a guess that people with this bent are also similar in that we can tolerate a high personal cost if we believe in our path.
Now I need someone else to weigh in. I’m not sure whether internal desire can be changed by external influences. Perhaps it can or perhaps it just looks that way because we imagine different goals for people than those they would choose. Would they change paths if they had more inspiration, education, or support? If they changed paths, would it truly improve their lives?
Flights of fancy in this direction always bring me back to thoughts of a parking lot security guard at a local restaurant I used to frequent. This man wore a uniform. He took his job seriously. He was clearly doing something he loved. He was content. And you could feel it. He was the right guy with the right job leaning in.
The security guard was well-known in the area. He was in a sweet spot I think we’d all enjoy. I’m just wondering what kind of motivation will get us all there.
