Interplay between influence and motivation

The story of how a small shackle tying down a baby elephant forcing it to never break it even into its adulthood wouldn’t be lost on us. An adult elephant has the strength to uproot everything on its way. But then, why doesn’t it break the small shackle? It turns out that it’s all in the influences that it had while growing up. It believed that it couldn’t break the shackle and it so happens that when it grows up, it doesn’t even try. That influence has a huge ramification on its mindset which bogs it down right through his adulthood.

---

Human psychology doesn’t operate much different. Our early influences go a long way in shaping our personality. But trying to claim influence as a be-all and end-all of one’s life would be too simplistic a conclusion. There is one more element, and that is motivation. The fulcrum of life balances on the fine interplay between these factors: influences and motivations.

Influence as the dictionary would reveal means anything that has the power to affect, change or control somebody/something. So, for somebody, it could be the kind of upbringing that their parents gave it to them. I was born in a conservative Kayastha family and I heard during my childhood that running a business/venture wasn’t for us simply because we didn’t know how to do it. I was also told that a baniya child would be better at it since he would’ve seen how it works since his early days. My grown up baniya friends also corroborate the fact that sitting on the galla of their father’s shop gave them a good insight on handling the dukaan (dealing with customers and employees) and being quick with numbers. On the other hand, in my family, while I was growing up, joining bureaucracy was the in thing. Being an engineer or doctor was the next big thing. Only the good-for-nothing of the family went for their own businesses – because they couldn’t be good in studies, they had no option but to go for their own venture.

The thought that you become the average of the five people that you move around with is a profound one. So apart from cultural norms and biases, more often than not, a good company, a supportive family are the positive influences that can create a perfect incubating ground for a person to succeed in life.

So, influences matter, one way or the other.

Now let’s turn our attention to motivation. Referring to dictionary again - motivation is the force acting on a person that arouses goal directed voluntary effect. What really motivates a person – a chance travel, reading a good book, watching a good movie, meeting a person who has attained success in life - it could be anything. For some, leading an autonomous life could be a motivation (high chance that an entrepreneur might have it), for some – prestige (high chance of finding it in people who want to move quickly ahead in corporate ladder) could be a motivation. Security as a motivation could be found in people who stay put in one company for long. Affiliation could be found in people working in companies with strong brand names/recalls whereas altruism would guide individuals with social impact in mind. It is ultimately these motivations that push people to do what they do in life. At the end of the day, these motivations unrest a person and pushes her to achieve what motivates her in the first place.

But how does this interplay in between influence and motivation play out? What about a person who has negative influences in life, but is highly motivated? And how about a person who has positive influences, but hasn’t found his true motivation? I’ve tried to put one framework in place and place people on two axis of influences and motivation. Let’s see how it looks.

(Low) on Positive Influences

a) Low motivation

A person with no/low positive influences in life and with lower motivation would find herself at the bottom of the hierarchy. You would find such people at every street corner, whiling away their time and life, waiting for some good luck or quick trick to do the work for them. They, as I would like to call them are the slouches.

They don’t do much in life, they just hang around.

b) High motivation

These are the most interesting lot – whom I would call fallen angels. These are the ones with high motivation but low positive influences. Karna, the famous mythological character from Mahabharat would fall into this category. Negative influences plagued his life. He was born out of wedlock, could’ve been heir to the throne but was raised as son of a charioteer. As he grew up, he became friend with a person with negative influence – Duryodhana. He tried to gain archery skills from the ultimate warrior Parshuram but deceit and hard luck landed him with a curse. All his life, he struggles, and dies in battlefield not fulfilling his ultimate motivation – that to find validation and be considered a better archer than Arjun.

Bad influences kill.

(High) on Positive Influences

a) Low motivation

These are the lazy bums, the sloths. They have positive influences in life, but are not motivated enough to do something substantial in life. A quick example that comes to mind is Will Hunting’s character from Gus Van Sant’s 1997 flick Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon’s character is a maths wizard, has poor but good South Boston friends and is not motivated enough to do anything substantial in life. People like Will Hunting are aplenty in life, some of them may be even brilliant enough to achieve whatever they set their eyes on, but sadly, due to low motivation, they are never able to set themselves apart from slouches.

Motivation goes a long way.

b) High motivation

Well, they are the chosen ones. Arjuna, the legendary warrior from Mahabharata, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Amitabh Bachchan – they are all achievers in life, people with positive upbringing, positive influences from early childhood, good mentors and motivation high enough to be the best in their field.

---

Life ultimately turns out to be an interplay between motivation and influences. One can do little to change influences early on in life. Children growing up with parents in troubled marriages, selection of wrong friends might lead to negative influences early on in life. Societal compulsions and biases (this works - this doesn’t) too go a long way in setting up one’s mindsets for life.

Motivation works in a different way. It is the cool breeze that enters one’s room when one least expects. But for that, one need to keep windows of one’s room open. People trying to figure out what motivates them need to keep on exploring – meet new people, read, watch and reflect.

Absence of one entity out of motivation or influence would hinder a person in reaching her true potential. But a combination of positive influences and high motivation is a heady combination.

As individuals, it’s our duty to break the shackles of negative influences and try to get positive influences and motivation from every nook and corner of life.

It’s no fun being a slouch or a sloth. But it’s a crime to be a fallen angel.

It would’ve been difficult for a Karna to be an Arjun, but he could’ve tried better. And not doing that was his biggest folly.