What Moves You?

What keeps you moving - what motivates you? I believe that motivation is powered by two very different engines, and that each of us develops a unique collaboration between the two.

The reliable standbys for personal motivation - passion, purpose, goals - have always worked well for many people. They have never worked for me.

Although I can become passionate about some things some of the time, I have never identified a personal passion that has enough staying power to sustain a major initiative.

Some people believe that they arrive here with a built in “life purpose” and others find that they can create a purpose that keeps them going.

Similar to my experience with passion, I have never articulated a purpose that has enough power to keep me going.

When tied to an underlying passion or sense of purpose, goals are an ideal vehicle to keep you focused and moving in the right direction at the right pace.

However, without the meaning of passion or purpose to contain them, goals can become dangerous and tenacious beasts.

Whether or not it is inspired by passion or purpose, I suspect that motivation comes in two distinct forms, and that most, if not all, of us are driven by a uniquely personal blend of the two.

First, we are motivated by what we value. We tend to move toward what we value and away from what we do not value. We develop our capacity to discern the potential and the limitations of the people and things we allow into our lives, whether to add value or to take value away from our experience. We learn to prefer those people and things that promise to add more value and to avoid those that take value away or just promise less.

Similar to those at ease with a named passion, purpose or goals, some people can articulate specific values and point to concrete or abstract ideals that matter to them. Others are satisfied to simply gauge “this is better than that” without naming an underlying value that informs the measure.

Second, we are motivated by what we need. We move to satisfy specific needs, or to avoid dissatisfaction. We learn what is necessary and sufficient, and take action to get at least that on a regular basis. We learn what is unnecessary or insufficient, and learn to ignore it, to not waste our precious time, energy or attention on it.

Values tend to be consistent and persistent – you can never have too much of what you value and getting more does not diminish its power to motivate. Needs tend to be insistent and volatile – you must act to get what you need and as you get your needs met, they can become less demanding and thus less powerful as motivators. Due to their insistence, needs must be satisfied and we sometimes lose sight of what we value while we focus on what we need. You may satisfy some needs so well that they disappear entirely, perhaps revealing a new need or an underlying value.

In any situation, we are motivated both by what we value and by what we need. The strength of the motivation and the actions we take in response to it result from the mix of our values and needs that are relevant to the situation.

The relevant values and needs may be concordant, that is, satisfying the need also serves the value; or, they may be discordant such that the value is set aside to pursue the need. A typical example of this is someone who values time freedom and sells some of their time to meet their needs. Of course, concordant values and needs generate more powerful motivation.

Consider a situation where you have a clear sense of how motivated you are, and reflect on what values and needs may be powering the motivation. If you have named a passion or a purpose for yourself, or have laid out goals to achieve, reflect on what values and needs may be powering your motivation to pursue them. Name the relevant values and needs as well as you can; or, at least, get a sense of what is necessary (needs) versus what is important to you (values) in the situation, passion, purpose or goal.

Try to place your motivation in one of these eight states, according to the extent to which it is powered by needs or values, and whether the needs and values are concordant:

1. Low Need / Low Value / Discordant – you are motivated by needs that are nearly satisfied or are overshadowed by stronger needs, and by values that are not well served. The Discordance leaves you with little or no motivation.

2. Low Need / Low Value / Concordant – you are motivated by needs that are nearly satisfied or are overshadowed by stronger needs, and by values that are not well served. The Concordance strengthens the motivation, but it is still relatively weak.

3. High Need / Low Value / Discordant – you are motivated by needs that are strong and demanding, and by values that are not well served. The Discordance weakens the motivation, and its power to move you depends on the strength of the need.

4. High Need / Low Value / Concordant – you are motivated by needs that are strong and demanding, and by values that are well served. The Concordance strengthens the motivation.

5. Low Need / High Value / Discordant – you are motivated by needs that are nearly satisfied or are overshadowed by stronger needs, and by values that are well served. The Discordance weakens the motivation, and its power to move you depends on the importance of the value.

6. Low Need / High Value / Concordant – you are motivated by needs that are nearly satisfied or are overshadowed by stronger needs, and by values that are well served. The Concordance strengthens the motivation.

7. High Need / High Value / Discordant – you are motivated by needs that are strong and demanding, and by values that are well served. The Discordance weakens the motivation, and may even reduce it to little or none. Any available motivation results from the strength of the need or the importance of the value.

8. High Need / High Value / Concordant – you are motivated by needs that are strong and demanding, and by values that are well served. The Concordance strengthens the motivation.

Anyone would be strongly motivated by a situation, passion, purpose or goal that serves Concordant High Needs and High Values.

If you find yourself facing a situation, passion, purpose or goal for which you do not feel strongly motivated, consider which of the other seven states might best characterize the motivation you do feel. Can you strengthen your motivation by aligning the situation, passion, purpose or goal to stronger needs and/or to more important values and/or by reframing the relevant needs and values to increase their concordance?

What moves you? What keeps you going?

Perhaps, your motivation is your own unique and personal blend of what you need and what you value.