Motivation is Not Enough
Since the dawn of civilization, motivation has been used to urge people to learn something or do something. For the majority of our existence on this planet, Mother Nature was all the motivation any of our ancestors ever needed. It was really simple, “Learn and change, or die.” So, we learned, and kept on learning until now, when many of us have the luxury of never having been hungry or without shelter.
As a species, we have succeeded in becoming so materially prosperous that our physical wealth has given rise to even greater problems. We have learned that full stomachs, comfortable beds, and an infinite variety of toys and distractions will not bring us the relationships, peace, contentment, or security we are actually seeking.
Today we are even more motivated than ever before because we realize that material wealth is a disappointingly small part of the overall path to fulfillment. We must look elsewhere for the answers. Motivation is still the method most used to try to inspire us to change, but motivation is not enough because Motivation is not a skill for change; it is only the reason for change. If we truly need to do something different so our life can be better, wanting to is not enough. We must learn HOW to do it.
We are living in times of incredible change. We are evolving from an industrial society to an informational society. What it will look like when we get there is not known at this time, but most of us realize we must acquire some new skills if we are to survive the shift in good shape.
What we need right now is to understand what we need and help developing the skills to live in an informational age. Actually, they are the very same mental skills that have been used by all successful people since man became man. They are thinking skills.
The skills we need to know for the future have to do with how to process the information we need to move our lives forward. We need to learn to see our thoughts and experiences as information, experiences, and emotions. Then we can see the skills and processes become more important than the information itself.
The workplace has changed and will continue to change. Personal security is not to be found in a job and we will be changing careers multiple times in our working life so our ability to keep our work skills relevant will become even more important. We must learn the thinking skills that will keep us current no matter what happens. We don’t need more motivation, we need more, and better, skills.
© 2017 Douglas McKee