As promised, the second post on the Lessons of Life.
It is said in books of marketing and organizational behavior that motivation is a great boost for the best performance. In psychology, motivation can either excite or flatten one's determination (as in, positive or negative motivation). The most common of motivation, in the case of organizations, are bonuses, raises, job security, promotions, various benefits, and almost all things material. Psychologists usually prefer mental motivation, with examples such as praises, encouragements, morality, warnings, and others, aimed to stimulate the mental state of a person to increase his or her performance. Combined, both physical and mental motivations are crucial in order to keep an employee, or more generally, a person, in working order. I'm rather sure that your parents have "motivated" you to toe the line for your studies before by promising gifts if you score well in your examinations. Therefore, it isn't hard to understand why motivation is important.
Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, developed a hierarchy commonly cited in most books of organizational behavior that is known as the Hierarchy of Human Needs. In this simple, but extremely insightful, pyramid-shaped hierarchy, a normal person (usually in organizations) become motivated in a series of steps. There are five steps involved, starting from the physiological stage, then safety, sense of belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization. I find it fascinating and applicable in our life, for such a hierarchy has a soundness to it that is hard to deny.
You see, a person's first basic need is the fulfillment of the physiological wants: air for breathing, food and water for survival, sex for procreation, and sleep and homeostasis to maintain bodily functions. In most ways that not, this is the true basic need. Without these, a person simply doesn't exist. After that, it moves to safety, the need for the sense of security for the body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, and property. Once the most primitive physiological needs are fulfilled, safety is simply the expansion of them to encompass a larger section of one's life. When your life is adequately secure, you begin to long for love and belonging, a feeling that you're needed and therefore should be around. The third stage is the affirmation of your existence, from which you build relationships, make friends, marry and have a family, and desire sexual intimacy. Then, you need to have esteem: having people around you does not make you desirable if you do not have confidence in yourself. Self-esteem and personal achievements become the ruler to measure one's self-worth, through which dignity and respect for and by others naturally blossom. To translate your self-worth, you need to show that you can do what others could not: morality, creativity, spontaneity, the ability to solve problems, unbiased, factual. That is self-actualization. Once this has been achieved, you've become a "true" person. Simple, no?
Well, yes, it seems complete, but personally, there seems to be a missing piece. If human progression through life is measured by these five aspects, and that life comprises more than these five steps, what will happen, then? Take for example, in a company, you start off as an office-boy and wish to be at the highest position, say, the CEO. From an office-boy, you have your physiological desires fulfilled, and you're promoted to a clerk. Then, your security is ensured, and you move on to become the assistant branch officer. After that, sense of belonging for branch officer, and esteem for branch manager, and finally self-actualization merits you the position of the regional manager.
Well, that's still a long way to go to become the CEO, no? You still have to become the managing director, the director/president, the shareholder, and finally the CEO. What, then, will drive you from a regional manager to become what your first ambition is, after you've exhausted all the fulfillment of your needs? You're basically well-to-do being a regional manager, but you still desire to become the CEO of the company. That is when another crucial and most quintessential motivation comes in: self-motivation.
Self-actualization is the ability to do what others could not, whereas self-motivation is the ability to persuade yourself to continue doing what others could not. In the most basic sense, even if you're able to do what others others couldn't have done, without the stimulation for you to continue doing so, you end up back in the fourth stage of the human needs. But, what is self-motivation, and how do people understand how it works?
Let me share with you a personal experience. Obviously, like most parents, mine are no less masters of the psychological motivation. Whenever an (important) examination approaches, my parents, especially my mother, would persuade me to do well (and by this, it means surpassing other classmates) in the examination. When I procrastinate, she will start offering tempting "presents" in order to bind me to my promise. I was once offered a new handphone, a Playstation 2, a new computer, a bicycle, an MP3 player, cash money; almost anything imaginable that I desire to have. But, surprise, surprise, none of them are in my possession. The only one that they fulfilled was the gift of the handphone, because I would be staying outside and they need me to have a means to communicate with them in case of troubles. Even then, it had been only a cheap Nokia 3310 (which, astoundingly, I'm still fond of), which, in most people, would have been to trivial a gift for all those sweat and effort and sleepless nights poring over lines of miniscule writing describing anatomy, physics, chemical reactions, proses, poems, etc.
True, like most people also, I felt cheated. The promises had been empty, unfulfilled, and my high hopes of acquiring something that I actually wanted were dashed. Yes, at times, I felt angry, too; angry at the lack of commitment to do what they had so sweetly said. Who wouldn't?
You see, I'm like most ordinary boys, with the exception that my study has always been above average (though never a genius) and I detest sports that are rough (soccer, rugby, basketball, etc.). As such, it is always in my (childhood) perception that whatever I achieve should be rewarded with things of equal value, and given my progress, those promises should have been attained. I'd reached the fifth stage of the Hierarchy of Human Needs. Thus, my dissatisfaction at their broken promises. Until one day. In Standard Four, something unexpected happened. My results plummeted drastically, which was something so alien to me that I felt stunned, because I've always had this notion that nothing can trouble me much in studies.
When I showed the results to my mother, instead of words of encouragement and counsel, I was scolded, big time. That was the first time I've ever shed any tears for a bad result. My mother's words had been stinging, scalding even. That was when I realize reality is not always what you wish them to be. She told me that I had been arrogant with my achievements, derelicting my studies because I believed that I'd always achieve fantastic results. In a sense, yes, that was true, though not directly a result of my personal desire. I abandoned my studies because I do not see a need in obtaining something when it's not rewarded sufficiently. Hence, my downfall. I had so wanted to rebuke that my results had been a consequence of my dissatisfaction.
But then, another thought struck me, a truth that drove hard into me like the drill of a red-hot iron spike. It had been very easy to shift blames onto others, when whatever has happened had been a ramification for my own failure to see the bigger picture. Yes, my parents had been unable to give me what I wanted, but was it the truth that my result came from them? No, for they were not the teachers who taught me. Even then, my teachers had divulged whatever knowledge they had in classes, so it wasn't their fault, either. It had been mine, and mine alone. My sense of security that my brain functions better than others had given me a false sanctuary. For some time, even though my parents had been reticent in their promises, my report card had been reasonably good. So, what happened then?
Lack of motivation? Perhaps. But, whose motivation did I lack? My parents'? No, they did "motivate" me, though fulfillment was an entirely different matter. It was then I realize what they had been doing all along, giving promises that they didn't keep. Motivation is meant to boost and inspire confidence, a tangible something that we cling on to in order to improve our performance. We fervently hope that we can improve in order to receive the promised benefit. But, that is naturally the wrong perception of motivation. Whether or not motivation is in place, you've always known what you're capable of doing, the boundary of your talents. Motivation merely spurs you to work harder, achieving something more with the ready set of talents that you've always have with you. If you attain something, it has always been the product of your effort in utilizing your capabilities to the fullest; motivation, whether fulfilled or not, acts only as the catalyst.
Realizing that, you'll come to understand that you are able to do something because you have the ability to do so, and not because the motivation unlocks hidden talents within you (though, in some cases, this might be true). It means that you need to believe in yourself (self-actualization), that you can do so, and that motivation, whether present or not, does not guarantee anything if you do not believe in your abilities. Understand that external motivation is important but not necessary for grand achievements. The necessary and vital form of motivation has always been the faith in yourself.
It might also be good to take into account the people around you when you are promised something, because those promises are not meant to be empty, but rather a circumstantial action. My family does not earn ten thousand every month, so to buy a Playstation 2 then would have cost a bomb. Indeed, my parents made those promises because they fear that I would not do well (the circumstance), and in that, they took into account my future, something which I realize later. I've been ashamed of thinking that they had been breaking promises on purpose. Most people do not realize this, and that's why their relationships with their family deteriorated. In fact, after I realize what my parents could and could not do, I've never asked them to promise me anything, save for a treat in a restaurant. That much, they could fulfill without faking a smile, and something that everyone can share with.
In Blueserver, motivation usually comes in the form of promotions, and naturally, those include new abilities and power to the wielder of the position. Those that got stuck below usually feel abandoned, unappreciated, and so, they normally resign soonafter. It is a common sight with the current recruitments; the people come and go. Well, I've joined Blueserver's internal circle only three years ago, if I'm not mistaken, beginning as a small Moderator. At that time, the administration was still central. Being a Moderator was, truthfully, like being an underachiever: the smallest and least significant group in the entire organization. Yes, that was what I initially felt also, though the impact had not been any greater after my realization of the more important things. I realized that with or without promotions, with whatever I was capable of doing (as a Moderator), it should be to the fullest of my ability, and that I joined to help, not to grapple for power.
Suffice to say that those years had been filled with a great deal of achievements, both big and small. From an outsider, I've become an integral part in Blueserver. Also, it would be an understatement to say that I do not grow in the circle. Well, perhaps I do not rise in position (I've remained a Moderator for quite some time), but I grow in influence, so to say. Maybe it's my nature, but being the most junior among the team then, I've gone up against seniors, something that newcomers wouldn't dare to do. And yes, I've also expected to be presented with a letter of expulsion one of those days, but incredibly, it did not come. Instead, I was offered a position as a Game Master (GM), a position of power and prestige (from the viewpoint of users), a position of burden and responsibilities (from my viewpoint, and I believe, some of the GMs themselves). But, I've kindly rejected the offer, not because I've turned arrogant and disjointed from the circle, but rather, because of something else that I'll reveal in future posts. In any way, the offer had been tempting, and most people would have wanted it, but I decline to have it. It did show something else, though: the offer was a recognition of my contributions and trustworthiness, the fifth stage of the hierarchy—self-actualization.
However, my driving force has never been these positions, these promotions. Even being given the position of a Global Moderator had not been something I had openly wanted (rather, Denster forced it on me :P). The motivation had and has been my own; these external ones merely fortify the innate faith. Therefore, those who understand the true meaning of motivation can truly progress without a significant promise being made to them.
So, I quote Aristotle: "I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is victory over self".
