The Motivation Multiplier
One of my mentors, Bill Britt, explained motivation using a simple formula-
NEEDS X FAITH = MOTIVATION
Joe has needs – to pay the bills, to put food on the table. He also has faith (belief in something that is yet to happen) that he will reach his workplace safely each day, and that he will get a paycheck every two weeks. Without faith, he wouldn’t leave his house. With faith, he is motivated to act.
Faith can be further explained as a cross product of different kinds of faith. Joe’s needs are normal. His faith formula could be as follows-
FAITH = FAITH IN THE JOB X FAITH IN THE PROCESS X FAITH IN SELF
Mary has just founded a tech startup. Her passion has created an intense need to succeed. She has to fight against all odds, put a team together, raise seed money , develop a proof of concept, get customers, and get angel investors and venture capitalists down the road. She has to summon all the faith she can muster.
Mary’s motivation multiplier is more demanding. She needs to be HIGHLY motivated-
BIG NEEDS X BIG FAITH = BIG MOTIVATION.
Her faith formula could be something like this-
FAITH = FAITH IN A HIGHER POWER X FAITH IN HER COUNTRY’S SYSTEM X FAITH IN A COACH/MENTOR X FAITH IN HER PRODUCT X FAITH IN PEOPLE X FAITH IN SELF.
In my experience, the trickiest one is faith in self. This is particularly significant while pursuing a dream or a goal that is out of the ordinary. Mary has to work much harder than Joe to keep this up. This is what is going to show when she is making presentations to prospective investors and customers. This is the light that shines through, assuming everything else is in order.
We call it self-esteem.
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Dreams remain fantasies until they become needs. There is a difference between “I want to be debt-free” versus “I need to be debt-free”. Big needs and zero faith lead to zero motivation. This explains why some people with big dreams often end up doing nothing about them.
I believe that there is an epidemic today in the world called lack of self-esteem. Schools and colleges do not have any courses on this subject. I have touched upon this in my earlier post titled What Happened to Jack? I will dedicate a future post to this important topic. For now, it will suffice to say that building self-esteem is one of the most important needs in today’s society.
Speaking positive words, reading positive material, listening to uplifting and meaningful teachings and anecdotes, and associating with people that empower us with positive affirmations are all great ways to increase faith in self.