The question of money as a motivator in the workplace is not a new one. Years of research and countless books and articles on motivation include references to money. However, much of the focus on money and motivation targets people’s superficial needs or targets the immediate gratification that money seems to provide. The inquiry into money as a motivator must be explored further if the nature of the so-called relationship between money and motivation is to be truly understood.

There are a number of perspectives related to money and motivation. Some of them are:

1. “I’m not making as much money as I’d like (the ‘starving artist’ concept), but I absolutely love my job, or the flexibility, or the control I have, or the opportunity for creativity, etc.”

2. “I need to be in this salary range, earn this much money, because I need to be seen as ‘somebody’ rather than ‘nobody’ in my circle of friends, acquaintances, family members, etc. who see ‘money’ as a badge.” to merit of some kind.”

3. “It is not money per se, but what money ‘gets’ me… that is, possessions, things, materialism, etc., pointing again, for some, to ‘being someone’ and being recognized, and gaining self-recognition, based on their material things”.

4. “I need more and more money because I will never have enough of it, reflecting the ‘your expenses are always increasing to meet your income’ syndrome…as I told a lawyer client of mine: ‘If you feel you can’t live on 2 million dollars a year, what makes you think you can live on 3 million?”

5. Unconsciously filling the psycho-emotional “hole” of lack and deficiency…which subsumes one or more of the above…and is the driver of the obsession with having money and needing more money, and what money “gets” one to feel (even if fleetingly) whole and complete. The illusion that money provides a sense of self, or a sense of one’s worth or worth.

At the end of the day, I for one subscribe to the intrinsic notion of motivation, that motivation is driven by one’s values ​​and therefore it is important to explore one’s values ​​and where the values ​​emanate from. one’s True and Real Self, one’s Inner Core or ego-driven needs for control, recognition and security… misguided values, the relentless pursuit of which almost always leads to a lifetime (certainly not a life) stuck in oneself -Sabotage thinking and behaviors that reflect frustration, resentment, anger, hate, rage, entitlement, wrong choices and the feeling of never having or being enough.

When one comes from one’s core values, one’s internal sense of what is important in life and living, then intrinsic or self-motivation is at the heart of a life well lived, at work, at home. and in the game… and it is at the heart of creativity, self-management, self-responsibility, healthy behavior (mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, financial). Money, in this sense, has a different emotional and psychological energy around it, a softer energy, not unlike the energy reflected in someone who says, “I love my job and I can’t believe I get paid to do this.” .

Many people, in the relentless pursuit of “money”, actually lose sight of what got their juices flowing… having the corner office occludes the initial love for the job, getting the degree interferes with the initial love one’s. from advising and supporting others… that the relentless pressure to make and have more money becomes more important than the joy one used to experience when focused on the love of work itself. Get lost on the way. The mid-life crisis… which now starts at 30.

Money as a driver obscures the clarity of one’s choices, and one often makes unfortunate and self-sabotaging decisions when controlled by money. I, for one, see this all the time in my work with clients…some who have made self-defeating decisions in their work, social, and spiritual lives because the lens through which they viewed their world and their place in the world had shifted. turned “green”.

For many of those who believe that “money” is a sign of success, or that money is what it takes to be “somebody”, etc., long-term success is often unattainable; it is the “Sisyphus approach to living”.

For many people, it is when they have experienced enough anger, anxiety, feelings of inadequacy, terror, and loneliness, which reflect their need for money, and more money, and more money, that they then have the true motivation to change and adapt their life and style. of life that is true Based on Values, values ​​that emanate from your True and Real Being, where money is important, but not an obsession (conscious or unconscious).

The motivation of this place is very different. The motivation of this place is not constrained by internalized pressures to have more, by rigid internal structures or beliefs, by crippling self-criticism that one is not (fill in the blank) for lack of enough money (whatever that is). That one’s true value and value is not financially driven. That one’s purpose in life and the meaning one derives from work is intrinsically driven by one’s inner core values.

From this place, one enters the world of work or play from the perspective of a whole person, as someone whose choices, volitions, motivations, and intentions are driven by a freedom hitherto restricted and constrained by the “value” of money. .

Finally, I have come across people who feel that money allows them to be autonomous. I see the opposite. That money has forced many of these people to live in an emotional and psychological prison whose bars are the counterproductive, self-sabotaging, and controlling beliefs and behaviors that drive these people to do, be, and have in a way that compels them to style life (again, not a life) mimicking the lifestyles of the people who live in their prisons on either side of them… the illusion of autonomy, not the actions of someone living from the place of oneself True and Real.

From this Innermost sprouts the energy of “I am”, “I can”, “I want”, “I have”, “I choose”, “I love”, “I believe” and “I enjoy”, that is, motivation and intention, you flow with a sense of determination, ease, grace, calmness, and grounding that doesn’t have a “price tag.”

(c) 2005, Peter G. Vajda, Ph. D. All rights in all media reserved.