#7 — Think about your motivations

The last few weeks I’ve read a lot about free diving. I also connected with a few professional free divers on Instagram. One of them is a record holder and I told him: “I wish I could do that”. He asks, “Do you wish you could do that, or do you wish you could learn to do that?” “What do you mean” I asked.

Think about your motivations. Do you want to dive to 60+ meters, or do you want the experience of having trained for it? In the first, all you want is the outcome. In the second, you are curious about what you might learn from the process.

Desiring an outcome, to work towards a goal was always what I believed to be the reason we get up and start working. He was telling me to question why I wanted to do what was necessary to reach that outcome.

We all have plans, dreams for the future and things we hope to accomplish this day, month or year. Something motivates every one of these outcomes — from building a huge company to pay the rent at the end of the month. Bhaktivinoda Thakura (Hindu philosopher) describes four fundamental motivations.

Fear — driven by a negative outcome such as poverty, sickness or even death.

Desire — driven by personal gratification through success, wealth, and pleasure.

Duty — motivated by gratitude, responsibility, and the desire to do the right thing.

Love — compelled by care for others and the urge to help them.

These drive everything we do. We make choices for approval from our peers and friends, fear of losing our job, expectations of parents, or wanting to help others. In the next four essays, I’m going to talk about these four motivations and how they shape our choices. Stay tuned.