Are You Motivated or Inspired?

I fell in love with the Motivational Speaker role when I was laid off the first of 3 times in my professional career (so far). Motivational Speakers provided me the spark needed to go after my next.

My attraction was deep. I could listen to Zig Ziglar, Jim Rhone or Tony Robbins for hours and be pumped up, ready to conquer the world. Low and behold, I’d wake up the next day, or at best a couple of days later, with the essence of motivation still lingering. But I would have zero understanding of what I should attach the motivation to. In the end, what developed within me was anxiety. I had a solid understanding of how to accomplish goals, but I was lacking my life’s direction.

Inspired vs. Motivated

Any good debate must have a common, agreed upon premise. So, we’re together on this, let’s start with definitions. A quick look at Dictionary.com provides the following

Inspire (adjective)

aroused, animated, or imbued with the spirit to do something, by or as if by supernatural or divine influence:

Motivate (adjective)

to provide with a motive (causing, or tending to cause motion), or a cause or reason to act; incite; impel.

In short, inspiration is a burning within you, motivation is a fire getting lit under your bum. And, both elicit feeling which means it can sometimes be unclear as to whether you are motivated or inspired. To sort that out, here are four ways to differentiate them.

Inspiration is Intangible

What inspires cannot be held in your hand. If what is eliciting action in your life can be hoisted above your head in victory at the end, you’re being motivated. This is not to say they cannot work together. Motivation can enhance the efforts toward what inspires you.

Take sports. We’ve all seen the images of Michael Jordan, Tom Brady or Serena Williams hoisting trophies above their heads to symbolize they’ve won. That trophy is not what drove these athletes to greatness, greatness itself is what they wanted. To be their greatest self, to feel like the greatest in the world. Winning that series, that game or that tournament matters. It’s a step toward their goal, and a validation they are moving in the right direction. It is not, of itself, the goal.

Inspiration Pulls

Inspiration pulls at you, where motivation pushes you. When you are being pulled toward something desirable, you can know you are moving in the right direction. The “pull” is from a singular point. If you are being pushed toward something, you are still steering, increasing the likelihood of getting off track.

If we simply look at vehicular drivetrains, we can see this analogy play out. A front wheel drive vehicle is much easier to keep on the road, regardless of conditions. The car is pulled along and naturally follow the front wheels that give direction. Rear-wheel drive vehicles tend to have more power, can move a larger load, but can easily get squirrely. (Here’s the problem with analogies… how does this apply with so many all-wheel drive / 4-wheel steering vehicles? I guess that’s what happens when inspiration and motivation work in unison!)

Inspiration is Perpetual

I shared what motivation was like for me, in a word, fleeting. Inspiration, on the other hand, is self-perpetuating, expending inspired energy fills up your tank which provides the necessary fuel to continue tomorrow, and the next day and eventually for a lifetime. You’ve probably experienced this on some level, a project or assignment that kicked your butt daily. Even with less sleep, even with competing priorities, you were excited each morning to wake and get started again. You find yourself solving problems in the shower, you’re drawn to posts and articles that educated you on the topic and you invest your personal time and energy into the work at hand. This is what inspired work feels like.

The other side of this coin is where reward and recognition programs (as well as performance improvement plans and other disciplinary actions) come into play. If your performance is being driven by a bonus, quarterly earnings or saving your job, at best, your work is motivated.

Inspiration is Personal

The personal side of inspiration reflects squarely back on the definitions provided earlier. Inspiration is a burning within you, and as such is personal to you. Inspiration cannot come from someone else, although their ideas, their experiences and story may inspire you on some level. The best they can do for you is to motivate you by validating your path or your desires.

This is the area where business tends to fall short when looking at the employee experience. Companies create movements around their goals (e.g., quarterly revenue goals, hiring goals or market share). These goals, once achieved, result in bonuses or advancement within the company, but fall short of inspiring employees. They are missing a personal connection, an aspect of the goal that resonates within the individuals on the team.

Continuing with this line of thought, motivation is situational, tangible and pushes you with a force outside yourself. Inspiration is perpetual, intangible and a personal force that pulls you from within.

LET’S BE INSPIRED!