Mechanics of Motivation
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” - Abraham Maslow
Do you like watching Netflix? How about drinking a bit too much? I'm wondering if you want this, or have you been fooled into complacency?
The idea for this post came from my lack of motivation and seeing the melancholy apathy present around me. This thought spurred several questions in my mind:
First, what is motivation, and from where does it come?
Second, how can we identify our strengths and a goal that would complement those?
Third, how do we take the first step? How and when do we leap? What is the difference between a step and a leap?
Motivation
We, as humans, create meaning, which helps us to form our values. We are value-driven and goal oriented. So it makes sense that when we align with a purpose that we see has value, we will become driven. We must pursue goals to meet our needs. We are biological, psychological, and social beings with necessities for survival and prosperity. At the most fundamental level, we require work and love. Motivation helps us to attain these demands. Motivation, generally speaking, comes from two sources, internally and externally.
We all know the feeling. Perhaps we describe it as excitement, being giddy, or restless. It's what happens when an idea comes to our mind that we cannot stop thinking about and would like to embark on immediately. This idea could be the commencement of reading a book, watching a show, starting a project at home. This concept is what is known as intrinsic motivation. It's the energy inherent to the inception of ideas that speak from our soul. We gain the reward of goal pursuit from within ourselves.
Extrinsic motivation is a drive that is a result of potential or received external reward. When we start to take steps toward a goal that is meaningful and can see the net result is positive, we become motivated, even propelled toward the fulfillment of that goal. If we start to work hard at our day job, and we receive a pay raise, that is extrinsic motivation at it’s finest, especially if we do not feel that our work is inherently fulfilling.
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation combine to form our overall behavior to either move toward or away from some goal. We choose which goals to pursue based on temporal proximity and biological immediacy. We are in constant flux as to which goals are most important at this moment to be focusing our acute attention to as a means to an end.
“It looks as if there were a single ultimate goal for mankind, a far goal toward which all persons strive. This is called variously by different authors self-actualization, self-realization, integration, psychological health, individuation, autonomy, creativity, productivity, but they all agree that this amounts to realizing the potentialities of the person, that is to say, becoming fully human, everything that person can be.” - Abraham Maslow
The Tale of Two Boats
Let’s embark upon a small metaphorical journey that I believe will help to illustrate some of the details surrounding motivation.
“I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.” - Abraham Maslow
In small lakes and ponds, there are two primary kinds of vessels. There are those with the capacity for sailing, and those that have oars for rowing. Let us think of these two types of boats as differing strategies for goal achievement. Because we have two primary types of goal-directed behavior (extrinsic and intrinsic), we can apply this metaphor to both.
Let’s say that our first goal is to get from one end of a lake to the other. To begin, we choose the rowing boat. We hop in and are on our way. We use both oars and paddle away with enormous effort. We will make some strides toward the other side. However, when we reach there, if we did not tire and give up during the journey, we will be exhausted. We will most likely want to hop out of the boat and rest or nap.
Our other option is to take the sailing vessel. As long as there is the wind, we can fly a sail and speed across the lake with little to no effort. This approach does, however, take some skill and knowledge to accomplish. If the wind is not blowing in the direction of our goal, we must jib and tack to make our way to our destination. It may not be the quickest or most direct route. However, when we arrive, we will have done it with ease.
There are several things to take away from this short metaphor at this midpoint in the story. The first idea is that of “Wu Wei” from the Daoist doctrine. This concept means “The Way” or flow, or the way of reality. It loosely translates to not pushing or forcing things but instead suggests that we go with the way of reality. It’s like in Jujutsu when they utilize the momentum of their aggressor's attacks to throw them off balance in a technique known as Kuzushi. We can learn to turn an aggressive attack or a problem into a solution (a widespread mindset in stoic philosophy).
“Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth). Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.” - Abraham Maslow
Even within the realm of going with the way of reality, two facets come into play here. These character traits are known as self-control and discipline. Both of the water faring vessels require a healthy dose of these two aspects to navigate successfully. However, it makes sense to me that the sailing ship would require a great deal more awareness, self-control, and discipline not only in the voyage but in the time leading up to it. There would need to be a great deal of learning and practice so that one has the skill necessary to leverage the complexities of a sailboat successfully. In this manner, we can spend our lives utilizing brute force (rowboat) or take time to learn, practice, and become masters (sailboat) and thus glide through life at times in an effortless manner.
“One's only rival is one's own potentialities. One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must, therefore, be treated like a king.” - Abraham Maslow
To continue down this path, the next concept to explore is that of “The Hero’s Journey,” often attributed to Joseph Campbell. I have spoken about this in several other articles listed at the end of this work. With that being said, here is an image of that journey as a refresher:
When we walk down to the water to choose the boat that will allow us to cross to the other side of the lake, I see this as us having had a “call to adventure,” and reaching the edge of the lake is the “Threshold.” When we look out over the lake, we see challenges and temptations. The lake symbolically represents the unknown or the set of infinite opportunities available to us. The other shore is the end goal; when we reach there, we are transformed and achieve atonement. On the other side of the lake, we enter the woods and continue our journey, hiking to the next lake or pond, to find a new boat and a new set of unknown information.
“If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.” - Abraham Maslow
When we walk to the edge of the lake, we must know where we are. Here we must be honest with ourselves about where we are in terms of our ability and location in our life’s journey. If we think that we are at the edge of a vast lake with profound opportunities when in reality, we are standing by a small pond, or worse yet, a decaying swampland, then we will with no amount of effort to achieve our goals. This situation occurs because we will be orienting ourselves in the world from a location that is unknown to ourselves. Therefore, honesty, albeit painful, is essential in the process of proper goal setting, which will, in turn, allow us to fuel our motivation.
“Not allowing people to go through their pain, and protecting them from it, may turn out to be a kind of over-protection, which in turn implies a certain lack of respect for the integrity and the intrinsic nature and the future development of the individual.” - Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
We cannot discuss motivation and goal setting without bringing up meaning. I also cannot write an article about motivation without citing Jordan Peterson. He mentions that we should “Pursue what is meaningful, not expedient.” Here it makes sense that the sailing metaphor breaks down a bit. If the rowboat provides us more intrinsic meaning and motivation, then perhaps we should take that road based on the end goals that it bears. However, if we can get to the same place, but it was an abundance of ease and even joy along the way with it taking a bit more time, it makes sense to me that this is the proper method. This approach, in my mind, is the difference between the rowboat and sailboat. It makes sense that this quote by Peterson is a warning against pursuits that yield instant gratification that is low or devoid in meaning.
“If the essential core of the person is denied or suppressed, he gets sick sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes immediately, sometimes later.” - Abraham Maslow
Now we should think about how to get from where we are to where we want to go. This idea is where we come full circle in our metaphor. We can choose to take the sailboat or the rowing boat. In our mind, we might think that we have the skill and ability to hop in the sailboat and zoom across the lake with ease. If we do not have the prerequisite knowledge and expertise, and we choose that vessel, we will soon become overwhelmed, and our emotions will become dysregulated. This situation will yield us incapable of achieving our goal. This point is where procrastination, avoidance, and distraction come into play. If we try to complete tasks that are above our level of competence, then we will fail and become beaten down mentally. Therefore, it is essential to, as they say, eat an elephant one bite at a time. The fundamental notion is only to take the bites appropriately sized for our ability to chew successfully. Trying to eat an elephant steak that is larger than our mouth, does not make sense. Therefore, keeping a focus on the present moment and ensuring each bite is small enough to chew thoroughly, is significant, albeit detrimental to the ego. This approach will also help us not to become afraid of who it is that we are capable of being because we look up and see something that seems far too profound to be who we indeed are.
“We fear our highest possibilities. We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under conditions of great courage. We enjoy and even thrill to godlike possibilities we see in ourselves in such peak moments. And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, awe, and fear before these very same possibilities.” - Abraham Maslow
In the end, it seems essential that we are honest with ourselves and that we do not cover or tarnish our truths. We often look away from the fact because it is a painful experience to look at it in the face. However, it is there that all of our most significant weaknesses lie in tandem with our greatest strengths. It is only here that we can take account of our proficiencies and align them with our goals in life. It is only then that the spring of motivation is tapped, and the winds of change are unleashed. At that juncture, we sail across the lake with ease.
Learning To Walk
“If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.” - Abraham Maslow
It was alluded to earlier in the article that we need to take small steps toward achieving our goals to ensure that we are consistently motivated toward those ends. With that being said, what is the first step, and when do I leap (Aka. When do I leave my job), we might ask? It took a long time to figure this out, and it still changes with the seasons for me. However, there are a few things that make sense.
The first is it is wise not to let go of the left hand until you have something in the right. This idea is to say, don’t leave your current job until you have some other source of secure income. Perhaps this is another job or a business that you have started. After all, the best time to find a new position is when we still have one as we are most marketable in such a state. If we want to break free from such a paradigm, then to create something new, we must act differently. We can work nights and weekends to try out and eventually manifest a new dream. We, as humans, hold conflicting needs. We need security and novelty simultaneously. So we will want to leave our job in search of originality, but will also want to stay for safety. It is up to us to change our meanings enough to value behavior that will lay the groundwork for change in our lives. I embrace pain here, as I believe it is the strongest motivator for this type of change.
The second is that we can only see the next step; it is difficult to see the entirety of our journey from the starting point. There needs to be a level of trust that hard work, proper effort, and luck with culminate to fuel us on our life’s journey. Now, this is not to say, don’t have a plan and simply jump. No, we can develop a goal, a clear vision, and a sense of direction and then begin acting toward that end in small and calculated steps. We must recalculate each new phase as we arrive at our current location. As we arrive at each unique point, we gain a slightly different perspective on the world; this helps to fine-tune the way we might approach our final objective.
So What?
“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” - Abraham Maslow
Motivation is something that can be garnered from both our environment and internally. We become motivated by means and ends that align with our value system. We forge values based on principles and meanings that we create for ourselves as long as we are well self-differentiated. We as humans have fundamental needs (bio, psycho, social) that will continually compete for our immediate attention. Those drive our short term goals. We are propelled toward those goals when we either see a potential reward or are directly compensated. We create a complex system based on the motivational structure to ensure that we properly orient toward our goals and that we maintain a sufficient level of motivation to survive. When this system fails to produce the expected outcome, our emotions overwhelm us in the means of anxiety and fear, and we flea. This scenario leaves the goal failed, and we must try again. We can fail here from external stimuli or internal self-doubt and fear of both failure and success. If we are not careful, diligent, and persevering at this crux, we can fall into a lifelong pattern of responsibility abdication. Living a life of distraction and entertainment might be the ultimate waste of something so special, vibrant, and filled with potential.
“Every human being has both sets of forces within him. One set clings to safety and defensiveness out of fear, tending to regress backward, hanging on to the past, afraid to grow away from the primitive communication with the mother’s uterus and breast, afraid to take chances, afraid to jeopardize what he already has, afraid of independence, freedom, and separateness. The other set of forces impels him forward toward wholeness of Self and uniqueness of Self, toward full functioning of all his capacities, toward confidence in the face of the external world at the same time that he can accept his deepest, real, unconscious Self.” - Abraham Harold Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
The Hero’s Journey articles for further contemplation: