Motivation v. Inspiration

White flowers

I recently got measured as part of an annual physical examination and found I was a bit shorter than last year. I thought I stood up straight and tall, but maybe not! This motivated me to work on my core, to strengthen those muscles that maintain my posture. Today, I was inspired to share this with you!

In my transformation adventure, I have to continually separate my motivations from my inspirations and check their relationship with each other. Often, I find my motivations to be so closely aligned with those things I am “unbecoming” because they don’t fit me anymore that they threaten to choke out my inspiration. This is so easy to unknowingly allow. And my rule to remember is—if it can happen to an individual, it can happen to an organization! So true.

What kinds of motivation can push inspiration to the sidelines for both individuals and organizations? Many of course. The motivation to make more and more money is an example to which we can all relate. Keep in mind, motivations aren’t bad by themselves. They are responses to perceived problems—what is believed to be a problem. And because we humans are a fearful lot, we tend to overcompensate, a lot, to provide security against our fears. We spend so much time and focus on our defensive strategy, it becomes our offensive one, too. Soon we can no longer hear the inspiration to do, see, or act differently, because our motivations have consumed all our energy. We just don’t have the “bandwidth” to consider anything that isn’t directly aligned with our motivation. This renders us with a perpetual short-term focus in the guise of long-term protection, but in reality, just the opposite.

So, what’s the secret to transformation here? Have you heard the saying, “knowing it is half the battle”? Well, that…and…here is the crazy part: you can choose a new response to your motivation, whatever it is. I chose rowing to strengthen my core—just 30 minutes, a handful of days per week, that’s all. And I can change it up however I want. Same with the motivation for an individual or organization to earn money, it’s about taking care of people’s needs, not every want. What actually are the needs? I bet inspiration will show you that more money is not the choice response.