21.0 What Motivates Us?

21.1 What is "What Motivates Us?"?

Generally everyone has their own driving motivation. The question is: Do we realize how it motivates us? We will discuss on the motivation paradigm in the relationship of motivation strength and motivation longevity. The discussion will form the paradigm into four elements: goal, people, yourself and god.

21.2 The Four Elements

21.2.1 The Goal

Motivation driven upon one or more goals reflects low motivation strength and low motivation longevity. This motivation relates strongly to an individual's sense of materiality. For example, striving to own a car gives excitement, but the motivation will be lost shortly after the deed is done. The norm to renew this motivation is to have consequent actions to renew the goal.

21.2.2 The People

Motivation driven upon people reflects strong motivation strength and low motivation longevity. This is due to placing something - trust, emotion, devotion, etc. - on people gives a strong purpose, but the longevity is entirely dependent on the relationship between the individual and the people. For example, placing a sense of needing to earn money because the individual needs to support his/ her family is significantly a strong motivation, but it will be a lost cause once a family member has deceased. The norm to renew this motivation is to pass on his/ her sense of belonging to someone else.

21.2.3 The Individual

Motivation driven upon him/ herself reflects low motivation strength and strong motivation longevity. This is due to placing motivation on the sense of self-survival, but it will last for a very long time. For example, the individual loves his life for everything that he/ she is blessed with, but he/ she will be demotivated when misfortune meets him/ her. The norm to renew this is by having a self-reflection.

21.2.4 The God

Motivation driven upon god reflects strong motivation strength and strong motivation longevity. This is due to the individual acknowledging he/ she is a servant of god and understands the god's characteristics of infinity. For example, an individual works correctively throughout his/ her job as he/ she is mindful that all of his/ her deeds will be questioned on the judgement day. The possibility in losing this motivation occurs when the individual loses sight or is unmindful of the god. The norm to renew this is by understanding more about everything encompassing the god including the teachings.

A highly recommended book by Dr. Teh - CEO of Global Peace Foundation Malaysia - is Drive by Daniel H. Pink. It is a book that explains more on understanding motivation for achieving high performance and satisfaction.

I hope this article benefits you as much as it has benefited myself, wa la hawla wa la kuwatta ila billah. Insha'Allah, the next topic will be posted in the near future.