Monday Motivators: Motivation Generation

How many times have you heard someone say—or said yourself, “I just can’t seem to get motivated” or “I just don’t have the motivation” or “If only I was more motivated”? According to Lambert Deckers, who teaches Motivation and Emotion, as well as the History and Systems of Psychology, at Ball State University, motivation is “the process by which a person is moved into action.” Other psychology-based definitions include “desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior” and “influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior.” But what if your motivation is a mere blip that only occurs “once in a blue moon”? How can you increase both its occurrence and subsequent influence upon your behavior?

In the September 1, 2013 issue of Influence, Donnie Thompson shares “5 Things That Motivate People.” I am using the items he listed but providing my own illustrations and applications. Though these motivators are applied from a corporate/employee standpoint, they can be generally applied as well. See if any of these rings true for you:

1)     Significant contributions – Basically, seeing value in what you are doing makes you want to keep doing it. Speaking for myself, when I’ve lost momentum in a task, hobby, or ministry, it’s been because I started losing sight of its value.

2)     Good participation – This one applies primarily to group processes, but it can apply to family life as well. The more your kids help out, for example, the more motivated you are to do your part around the house. The participation and enthusiasm of others feeds motivation.

3)     Positive dissatisfaction – Seeing the need for change can motivate people to want to do something about it…now. I call it my “limit” or “tolerance threshold,” usually for messiness or lack of organization. The situation (mess, disorder, etc.) will reach a point at which I can no longer stand it and must deal with it immediately.

4)     Recognition – When someone notices and expresses their satisfaction with or appreciation of something you’ve done, it breeds motivation. When I was teaching language arts and other teachers would commend me on teaching ideas or students would get excited about an activity, it made me want to find more great activities and generate more good ideas. I ended up putting more time into planning, in part, because of the positive recognition (reinforcement, if you will) that I received.

5)     Clear expectations – It makes sense, doesn’t it? But when it’s a task that requires one design his or her own expectations, it can become a stumbling block. To me “expectations” equals vision. What do you want to see happen? What change needs to take place? Seeing the goal clearly can help one more easily devise a way to get there…but not always.

Geoffrey James reports in his April, 2013 Inc. article, “The Deepest Source of Motivation,” that “organizational psychology strongly suggests that people are more innovative and more successful when motivated by a desire to help other people.” This helps me persevere at times when laundry or dishes need to be done. I know that it benefits my family to have clean dishes to use (not to mention a functional kitchen) and clean clothes to wear. Because I care about them, I can usually muster up the motivation to do these things I really don’t enjoy. And furthermore, helping others brings internal blessing, which is a form of motivation in itself because it’s proof that a difference was made—who wouldn’t want to experience that same joy again? Scripture puts it this way: “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ” (Acts 20:35). Perhaps “blessed” could be a synonym for “motivating” in this verse. Once you help someone, you want to find other ways to help people and look for other opportunities to be of service.

Another facet to this is if it’s important to someone else—someone close to me. Because I know it’s important to my husband to have a surplus roll of toilet paper placed in the bathroom each time one of two is depleted (so that no one experiences a “tissue issue”), I try harder to remember to go and grab one before becoming distracted and moving on to something else.

As we all know, motivation can be gained and lost quickly. It’s not a constant, unfortunately. Sometimes the promise (to myself) of doing something I enjoy once I complete a less desirable task will motivate me to get it done. If I know I get to go somewhere fun (like on a movie date), I am more motivated to “finish up” some things around the house cheerfully. Charts and lists can be short-term motivators (though they work longer for some). For some of us, numbers are strong motivators—reaching a running goal of x minutes, an SAT score of such-and-such, a number of pounds lost.

Whatever keeps us going, we need to find it and run with it. Life’s too short to waste time—in essence, not using our time wisely is wasting it. Ephesians 5:15-16 admonishes us, “Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” This is followed by a warning to not be foolish, but instead to understand what the Lord’s will is (vs. 17). When we lack motivation, Jesus really is our source. He completed the ultimate task and all the hard work leading up to it. Therefore, we need to fix our eyes on “Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Sometimes we must look to the goal, remember the purpose. And if we’re not sure what that is, we can ask the Lord. He wants to teach is, so that our motivation to do good doesn’t wear out. We can pray, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Your motivation is just a prayer away…well, sometimes more than one…but it’s accessible. We can be moved to action.

The first step is to be willing to be moved. He who lacks motivation, let him (or her) ask for it! Ask God to provide incentives or nudges to keep you going. And don’t be too much of a whiner—I’ve found they don’t get much done. If you have motivation, you are in good company with other –ations (a suffix which means “the action or process of doing something”), such as revelation, celebration, improvisation, collaboration. It’s an active word—waiting for activation, implementation, and demonstration. May it be yours today, in ever-increasing generation…and last for generations to come.