Motivation and Values
June 29th, 2005I’ve been thinking a little bit about motivation these past few days, which has also led me to do some noodling on values. This horrible train wreck of a thought process started because I’ve been re-reading Covey’s 7 Habits, and I’ve noticed one big difference between his and Allen’s approach: Covey wants us to start our self improvement with “the end in mind” whereas Allen just wants us to start.
On the surface of it, Covey’s approach feels right, but in reality, Allen’s approach is much more practical: how can you really know what your end you want unless you clear away all of the clutter in your life and better manage the many demands on your time? You can’t.
But why would you start any kind of self improvement program if you didn’t have a goal you wanted to achieve? My answer: motivation. It’s not as solid as a goal or as daunting as defining a goal. It’s squishy. Nebulous. Abstract. Motivations are the desires that spur us to better or worsen our situation. Some examples:
- I want to be happier
- I need to get better organized
- I need to spend more time with my family
- I want to be a better person
A motivation alone is a great deal of sound and fury that amounts to nothing, but it’s enough to get us started. People who start a diet or exercise program are motivated: They want to lose weight or be healthy. But what happens when that motivation is gone and they haven’t built any self-discipline on top of that motivation? They fall of their diet, stop going to the gym, and gain back the three pounds that they just lost.
Unless you build on your motivation, you will fail because motivation means nothing: You want to be healthy? Great, but it takes more than desire.
This is where I began 6 months ago: I wanted to better manage my time. I didn’t have any real goals in mind. I just wanted to be more productive at work so that I would have more time to spend with my family and do other things that I was passionate about.
But then, of course, I had to ask myself: what drove me to be motivated? (Tell me you saw that question coming.) That’s when I started thinking about values. (Told you it was a bit of a train wreck ;))
Values are the qualities or traits and beliefs that we prize in ourselves. They determine how we perceive reality. Some values we hold at the core of our being and changing them would be like making the sun rise in the west. Other values change on a daily basis. Some even on an hourly basis.
Our values determine our motivation. If we see ourselves as a victim, our values limit our motivation. Nothing we do will matter, so why bother. But, if we view the world as a “ours for the taking”, we will be motivated to improve our current situation. Our values may severly limit us, but they also set us free.
As you can see, Values and Motivations are closely tied together. If I believe that I can become rich, then I may be motivated to become rich—if becoming rich is something I would want based on my other values. However, if I think that I am not someone who could ever be rich, I will never be motivated to act on becoming rich.
I’m not sure how this fits in with my doodle from a couple weeks ago, but I am certainly noodling on it. 
July 8th, 2005 at 9:38 pm
Good stuff in what you call your “noodling” Rick. This post of yours is pretty delicious conversation me, for as you know my own 7 Habits-GTD playground is driving my own motivation through the roof these days, and joyfully so!
I just did a bit more re-reading myself today, but on the Allen side of it, and I’m finding more and more parallels between these two gurus. For while it is true that Allen encourages us “just to start” he’s also dangling the carrots he calls the 40,000 and 50,000 foot levels of Vision and Life: I like that Covey’s Begin with the End in Mind gives me much better focus with those goals.
And this you wrote is spot on: Values are the qualities or traits and beliefs that we prize in ourselves. They determine how we perceive reality. So so true.
Rosa
July 9th, 2005 at 3:31 am
You teach me, and you make me smile
One of the self-indulgent pleasures I mi
July 9th, 2005 at 7:36 am
Great thinking!
Values are the basis for ALL motivation. How can you put time or energy into anything you don’t value (unless someone is standing over you with a Kalashnikov, which is another kind of motivation altogether)?
I’m amazed how little attention people pay to understanding and paying attention to their values, when they’re really a fundamental part of who you are and how you relate to the world.
A friend of mine has a business and web site devoted to coaching people to understand their values better and live from them. You might like to check it out (http://www.ipsativecoaching.com).
July 9th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
Why is it that so many people miss the point that Covey makes concerning Principles.
Values? The MAFIA has values!
Let’s talk principles.
Values are subjective and they spring forth from the person who is doing the valuing. But Principles are Objective and exist whether we value them or not.
You can change values, but you can not change Principles. You can conform to Principles, you can try to resist Principles, you can ignore a principle, you can even be ignorant of a principle - but in spite of your attitude (positive or negative) concerning a Principle - that Principle still exists.
Not so with values. If you are ignorant of a value that value ceases to exist. If you oppose a value - then it becomes an anti-value.
We live in a society that has adapted a philosophy of RELATIVISM. At the core of relativism is the idea that Values are reality and that principles do not exist. The relativist says that everyone has a different reality or that each person has their own truth.
But relativism is wrong. Reality is objective and principles do exist. The amount of Calories in food is both objective and real. The consequences of eating high calorie foods occur regardless of my values or attitudes.
Motivation requires more than Values. It requires a willingness to accept the reality AND the embracing of values which conform to the reality.
This is why the AA organization speaks of “the serenity to accept the things that I can not change.” You can not change the amount of Calories which are in a chocolate candy bar. But you can have the courage and the wisdom to change what you can change. Since you can’t change the amount of Calories in chocolate, you can change what you choose to eat.
Yet people continue to treat what Covey wrote about the difference between Values and Principles as esoteric nonsense.
July 14th, 2005 at 7:05 am
Of course the Mafia has values. Everyone has values. We don’t exist without them.
When we approve of someone’s values, we give them a positive name (like Principles). When we disapprove, we claim they aren’t “real” values at all and talk about relativism.
Yet the values of organizations like the Mafia — or terrorist cells — aren’t any less strong FOR THOSE PEOPLE than the values we hold or wish to see triumph in the world.
They want their values to be the ones that prevail. We want ours to be the ones people follow. Clashes of values are the very stuff of how societies — and organizations — live and compete.
July 14th, 2005 at 7:43 am
Understanding Values
I’m finding a great deal of confusion about Values in some of the blogs I read and enjoy. Everyone has values. Humans don’t exist without them. When we approve, we give the values a positive name. When we disapprove, we dismiss them as values at all…
July 14th, 2005 at 10:08 am
James, I remember this Stephen Covey lesson plan you present here very well: I’ve been a Covey fan for so long now that these things become assumptions for me and I forget that we can benefit by talking through them again in our values discussions.
One small point in which I differ with you, is that many who seem to be self-proclaimed relativists DO believe that principles exist; for instance they will agree wholeheartedly with most of Covey’s habits of effectiveness fully knowing those habits are based on timeless principles. Where their insistence lies is in that axiom that perception is reality — no matter what that perception is based on.
People may be wrong, but as long as they believe they are right they will pursue that path to their ‘righteousness.’
The other big assumption many make when speaking of values - and I readily count myself in this group - is that values, in the true sense of the word, are supposed to be good: your parents pass on their values to you because they sincerely believe the good values they offer will help shape you into a good person. Is that always true? Unfortunately not.
Now self-motivation is required whether you are going to pursue timeless principles or self-redeeming values, and I applaud Rick’s efforts at self-reflection in his efforts to be honest with himself about his own motivations. Because of the irrefutable connection, I always think of motivation as going hand in hand with one’s personal sense of responsibility. I wrote a post about it on Talking Story back in June: http://www.sayleadershipcoaching.com/talkingstory/2005/06/3by3onmotivat.html
This is the other thing that Covey is big on: Proactive choice. He coaches (and so do I) that we have the power to choose and in doing so we can create our own destiny - not be a victim of happenstance, living in the world of reactivity. Thus the big reason we talk about values so much more than principles: As timeless - and yes, objective - as they are, principles become more black and white, take ‘em or leave ‘em with people. On the other hand, values become more appealing because they offer more choices. And though those choices can potentially spill over into the ‘bad for you’ category, as a whole they are much more liberating to our very human nature. The empower us.
I lvoe this discussion: The whole affair certainly keeps me busy as a management coach whose passion is connecting values to business ethically and with integrity!
Adrian, mahalo nui for your kind compliments in your article today, and Rick, mahalo for being such a gracious host to our lively discussion!
July 14th, 2005 at 7:44 pm
The Customer is NOT always right
When I was a resort operations exec, tha
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
I am working on an exercise to help people develop their own value systems - in beta at the moment. One struggle I am having over this is not the difference between Allen and Covey. Allen helps us organize and Covey helps us if we want to follow his view of the world. It is my belief that we must establish our own value system that we clearly state as our own including our own definitions. The confusion for me comes from Lawrence and Nohria work “Driven - How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices” The issue is if there are these four core drivers that are innately part of human evolution that motivate us. What then comes first these four core drivers or motivators or values. Most of what is written assumes that motivation follows values. This assumes that their our not core drivers hard wired into us. The core drivers are to Acquire, Bond, Learn, and Defend. If you cross these with values you will find each value fits nicely into each category. Therefore, perhaps it goes drivers, values, motivation, goals, behaviors. And yet I am not sure at all. Any thoughts?
July 11th, 2006 at 3:25 am
Gary,
I am not familiar with the work of Lawrence and Nohria, however their work seems very interesting. I would guess that this list varies in person-to-person. Certainly, a logical — dare I even say, healthy — progression would be drivers > values > motivation > goals > behaviors, but we are not logical creatures — we are emotional creatures. I might also add another component: reward. This could fall under motivation, but I always see motivation as self-motivation — and think it’s important to distinguish between internal and external factors when talking about motivation. Reward could be the deciding factor in how we develop.
For example, as children which behaviors are rewarded? As a result of those behaviors that are rewarded, what values do we develop? In that sense, value follow behavior. But as we mature — and recognizing that a lot of people never really mature — we can start exercising more internal control over our behaviors rather than looking for external reward for our behavior (though, most never really get past the need for extra and reward).
Anyway, just some thoughts on your topic. It’s very interesting and I’m curious to hear what you come up with. Be happy to discuss it more with you. And definitely plan to read the Lawrence and Nohria book.