We need all the motivational help we can get. But of course, different people are motivated by different things.
I (Jim Rohn) have read a number of studies on motivation, and the ones that I’ve found most convincing have isolated four main factors as the most powerful human motivators. I’ll go through them one by one, and I urge you to read them carefully. Think about how you can put them to use to help you accomplish your goals. If you’re in a managerial or leadership position, think also about how you can use them to help motivate the people you’re supervising. These are the real factors that make people get off their behinds and do things. These are the things that work when “wanting to” just isn’t enough. These are the true reasons for believing something is worth doing and then actually doing it.
The first great motivator is recognition from peers. When soldiers in wartime give up their lives during combat, why do they do it? Is it because of patriotism, a belief in the cause they’re fighting for, or a fear of court-material if they do otherwise? Perhaps all those things play a part, but extensive research has shown that what really motivates a soldier to fight well in combat is the desire for the respect of the person who’s fighting right beside him. This is much more important than medals or other forms of public recognition, which in the confusion of wartime are often given to the wrong people, anyway. What motivates soldiers in combat is analogous to what motivates salesmen on the floor of a car dealership, students in a classroom, or a team of lawyers trying to win a case.
I don’t know if this is still done, but for many years the players in the National Football League used to select their own All-Star team at the end of each season. I was always interested and rather amused by the differences between the players’ selections and the All-Star teams picked by fans or sportswriters.
I’m also certain that the honor of being selected by one’s fellow players meant a lot more than any sort of recognition from someone sitting up in the grandstand with a hot dog in his mouth. Quite simply, recognition from peers is a truly powerful motivating force in any human activity.
The second important motivator is recognition from respected experts or authorities. I can tell you that, in my own life, this has been an extremely important factor. Mr. Shoaff was someone whom I respected from the first moment we met, and he was also someone whose respect I desperately wanted to earn.
Has there ever been someone like that in your life? It’s important to realize that a respected expert doesn’t have to be a person who’s known far and wide throughout the world. You are the one who establishes the qualifications, though very often people whom you find impressive will be equally impressive to others.
Once you’ve met such a person, or even if you’ve just seen him from a distance or perhaps read an article about him in the paper, don’t hesitate to politely approach him and introduce yourself. Unless you happen to catch them at a particularly difficult moment, most successful people are eager to help others and to pass on what they’ve learned. Sure, I was apprehensive about meeting Mr. Shoaff, but I shudder to think what my life would be like if I hadn’t introduced myself.
From a motivational point of view, the great thing about establishing a relationship with a mentor is that you eventually become so close to that person that you can almost hear him advising you even when he’s not really there. Earl Shoaff passed on years ago, but I still feel like he’s talking to me every day. I also feel that I still want to earn his approval and respect. It will probably always be that way.
Family is the third great motivator, and in many ways it’s the most powerful. Although the approval of peers and experts may be most important in your career, in your life as a whole, nothing can compare with the influence of your family.
An experience I had a number of years ago is a good illustration of that principle. I had just finished giving a talk before a group of entrepreneurs up in Minneapolis when a young man approached me and asked for some advice about achieving financial success. As I always do when asked for that sort of advice, I began with a couple of standard, straightforward questions. The first one was, “How much money would you like to make annually?”
When I ask this question, I want to see whether the person has given enough thought to his goals that he can come up with a specific figure. That’s a much better sign than someone who just says, “I want to make a whole lot.” But this fellow was even more specific and focused than I could possibly have expected.
“I need to make at least a quarter of a million dollars a year for the next ten years,” he said without a second’s hesitation.
“And why do you want to make that amount?” I now inquired. This was another standard question of mine, and once again he answered immediately.
“Mr. Rohn,” he said, “ten years from now, when my kids are old enough to enjoy it, I want to take my family on a trip around the world that they’ll remember all their lives. The trip will last for twelve full months, with no expenses spared, and in order to save enough money to make it happen, I will need an annual income of a quarter million dollars for the next decades.”
There were literally tears in his eyes as he said this, and although I haven’t heard from him since then, I have no doubt that he will achieve his goal. In my mind’s eye I could picture him over the coming years, working long hours, meeting deadlines, overcoming obstacles, doing everything it takes to be successful–and doing it gladly! After all, he was motivated by something more than the simple desire for financial success and the material rewards that come with it. This man was working hard because he desired to give his wife and children a lifetime’s worth of priceless memories, and if that isn’t a reason to believe, I don’t know what is. A person who can feel that level of emotion for other human beings is truly blessed, and a family who can have that sort of man for a father is truly blessed as well.
The fourth and last achievement-motivating factor I want to mention is closely related to the desire to do something for your family. In fact, you could say it’s the desire to help the whole family of man. Let’s call it the impulse toward benevolence, toward sharing your wealth and wisdom with the world.
I’m fond of a story about Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish immigrant who founded the United States Steel Company in the early nineteen hundreds. When Carnegie died, a yellowed sheet of paper was found in his desk on which he’d written a note to himself when he was still in his twenties. This note set forth the main purpose of his life. It read: “I am going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money, and I am going to spend the last half of my life giving it all away.”
Did this impulse toward benevolence prove to be a strong motivator for success? Well, during his lifetime, Carnegie’s fortune was estimated at four hundred fifty million dollars–the equivalent of four-and-a-half billion dollars today. And he did have the joy of giving it away. In addition to building Carnegie Hall in New York City, he founded libraries in hundreds of small towns all across America and participated in dozens of other philanthropic activities as well.
When we look at these four important motivators, what do we really see? The thing that I immediately notice is that they all involve other people, whether they are peers, mentors, family members, or simply fellow members of the human race. It’s ironic, isn’t it? To be successful, you need this very internal, very personal, very unique thing called motivation. And to acquire that innermost quality and set it to work, you need to recognize other people as reasons to believe.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn