Motivation is oftentimes thought of as something external, such as a pep talk by a coach or a sales manager. While that is sometimes the case, in reality, motivation is the internal force behind all of our actions. If not properly motivated, we simply won’t act.
Well if that’s true, what motivates us? While most everyone is motivated by self-preservation, not everyone is motivated, at least to the same degree, by other common motivators, such as fame, fortune, love and revenge. The degree to which we are motivated will determine, in large part, the effort we put forth.
That’s why I’m amazed when I hear people say “Oh, I could never do that.” Reading between the lines, what they are really saying is “I currently am not sufficiently motivated to do that.”
Let’s look at an example. Suppose I said to you “let’s run the Marine Corps Marathon this fall, and you answered “Oh, I could never do that.” Let’s further assume that you are motivated by money. So if someone offered you a million dollars to run the marathon, would your answer be the same? Now maybe it would take more than a million dollars (or perhaps less), but if you are money motivated, there would be a figure that would do the trick. Do you agree?
This is not just my opinion; there are numerous documented cases throughout history where people have done incredible things when properly motivated. Many of these cases involve men in war and parents helping a child in danger.
Robert Schuller tells the story of a 100 pound woman lifting a 400 pound file cabinet that had fallen on her child, and Roger Dawson tells of four soldiers driving a jeep on a narrow single lane path when they realized they were driving right into the enemy and certain death. There was no room for a K-turn, so the four men picked up the jeep, turned it around and sped to safety. They were challenged to do it again back at camp and they couldn’t; the motivation was simply not present.
Knowledge alone is usually not a sufficient motivator. If it was, obesity and smoking wouldn’t be national problems. Who doesn’t know that smoking and obesity is bad for you? If knowledge was all that was necessary, there wouldn’t be any smart people that smoke or are overweight. But since there are, it becomes apparent that the proper motivation is needed to overcome not only those problems, but any problem.
So the answer to our problems is motivation. Properly motivated, we can solve most any problem. And while all lasting motivation comes from within, there is nothing wrong with occasionally relying on a pep talk (or kick in the rear) to accomplish the task at hand.