Where your interests lie.

What is it that really motivates you? Have you ever stopped to think about what it is that really gets your attention? What are you passionate about? What one thing in your life could you absolutely not give up?

If you're like me, you aren't sure either. You're sitting there, reading this, with sort of a blank look on your face. I suspect the truth of the matter is that very few of us really know the answer to the question.

Further, we tend to resent those around us who do know the answer.

We have all different names for those people don't we? Most of them end in "holic" Somebody who is really passionate about whatever it is that they do for a living, is a workaholic. You get the idea. The oddball part about the fact is that most of the time, when you are some sort of a holic, you put that particular prefix ahead of everything else in your life. Why? Because it is the thing in your life that makes everything ok, gives you personal value, builds your ego, etc.

But at the core of the behavior is motivation.

I believe that there are only a few personality types. All of our motivators bend to our ego, but do so in different fashions. My makeshift list of motivators is as follows. If my list is good, you should be able to pretty much categorize most of the people you know, with the exception that I also suspect most people share two of these categories in one fashion or another, as if they are a combination of the two types. The stuff I'm about to run through is my best recollection, or maybe interpretation, of some things that we went through at a seminar i attended a while back, just that you don't think that it is my own original idea completely. I have extrapolated it some however.

1. There are people who are motivated by being in control. These folks find the greatest satisfaction in being the expert, the boss, the answer man, and so on. The ones in this group will never admit fault. They will generally be pretty authoritarian, in other words, they tell you how it should be done, not ask you. Their best days are when they get to be "in charge" of all of their surroundings. These people are usually very financially savvy, but don't like eBay auctions, because the final price is not something they can negotiate, only something they can say yes or no to. They are very self-actualized, and believe that their way is right no matter what.

2. There are some folks who are set off by pleasing others. These guys get their kicks by helping people, or by praise from others. These are the people who own things not because they like them but because others do. These people tend to be peer driven. They do whatever they can to earn the admiration of others. The best day for this person is when the boss told them they did a nice job, the lady at the bank liked their car, and the old guy at the store said thank you for opening the door for him.

3. Some of the people I have met are motivated by comfort. This group is maybe the coolest one in my humble opinion. This is the guy you know who will find the number one easiest, least time consuming, lowest energy way to accomplish something possible. These people don't want to do anything more than they have to. They might even look lazy. They never seem to work very hard, yet they seem to get more done than the rest does. They don't want to put themselves out there in the public eye, because the idea of other people judging them is not comfortable. They will tend to be quiet and reserved. You will never know what they are thinking, because they don't want your feedback.

4. Still yet, there are the perfectionists. These people are never satisfied. They will exhaust you with details. Their motivation is supplied by the idea that anything can be improved. They can do a better job with the Christmas lights, the dinner, the music choice, on and on and on and on. These guys have the best day when they have spent it practicing whatever craft to the point that they don't believe it can be done to any higher standard, and then finding a way to do so.

5. One more group of folks out their I would call the defined. These people are the ones who love to have set rules and ways of doing things. They will seem almost obsessive compulsive. If the dollar bills in the till are supposed to point to the west, don't point them to the east or else. If the steps in some process go a b c d e f , don't try to get the d in front of the b. This is the way it is done and there are no exceptions. There will be a place for everything, and everything will be in its place.

6. Finally, I believe that there is a group out there that I would call the encyclopedias. This is the guy who knows every brewers game score and stat for the last 34 years. Or can tell you which fishing lure will work in what depth of water, according to the pH and the length of the small-mouth bass you are trying to catch. or the guy who knows both. These folks get off on specific details about everything that they encounter. History teachers, for example, who can tell you all those goofy tidbits about some battle. Or maybe they can tell you the year, artist and albums sold for any song in the jukebox. Possibly an engineer who can sort out the tensile strength of an I-beam based on its material makeup and dimensions. These folks study, and memorize, and recite. It might be one small genre, or many. These folks will dot every i and cross every t every time, and be able to tell you every detail. Accountant-types are great encyclopedias.

But back to the holic's. Take a look around you, pick out a few people. find out what their vices are. Then look at these motivators and see if you understand them better. It really gets to be fun.

My boss ( we'll call him "the man" here) is a work"aholic" I don't think that he spends a lot of waking hours thinking about much other than the company that he runs. To put things in perspective, he should not be too concerned for the company itself from a financially stable perspective, either for his own finances or the business. ( he is a multi-millionaire at this point I am sure) He isn't a workaholic because the place cant run without him or because he needs the money.

The Man is a workaholic because it is what motivates him. He is in my estimation, a Control-Pleaser. He loves to be in charge of every situation. He loves to be right. He loves to know what to do. He loves to "get the job done" control.

But at the same time, He is also motivated by taking care of his employees ( i suspect that in his mind he provides a living for all of our families by employing us, but we'll get to that thought of earning a living some other time) He is motivated by meeting his customers, seeing the happy looks on their faces at a purchase. I think his favorite thing to do is pass out the profit sharing checks each year, because he feels as though he has made his dedicated people's lives a little better, and rightly so.

So he is a control-pleaser.

The thing, the point of interest if you will, is that each person who makes this classification will undoubtedly find value in the motivators that most reflect themselves, and at the same time will try not to classify themselves with "those people" who do not match up to their own interests.

For instance, I believe that I am a Pleaser-Encyclopedia. I love to do favors for people. I love to help folks in need, I get a lot of satisfaction from spending time with my family, and being daddy to my kids. This is the pleaser side. But I also want to know everything about everything. I have yet to find a craft that I don't want to master. I have not found a book that I don't feel like reading. I watch everything I can find to learn from, spanning the history channel to nitro circus. I not only want to know how to build the motorcycle from scratch, but how to wheelie it as well. encyclopedia.

In my self-evaluation, I don't want to be a control. And I definitely don't want to be a defined. When I look at those two definitions, I see things that grate on me. I see things that although I may admire, I find no interest in emulating whatsoever. I don't want to be one of those particular "holics."

So in closing, Try and sort yourself into this, what kind of holic are you? What gets you out of bed in the morning, what are you passionate about? You might be surprised how hard it is to define.

Learning more every day....
Greg