I like analyzing people’s characteristics. Partly it is because I’m trained to be a teacher and it is useful to understand students’ characteristics to help them find the most suitable learning strategies. Partly it is because it serves me a purpose of getting them to ‘work’ or of getting something from them.
Of my experiences, I can safely categorize people’s motivation in doing something into four categories: money, personal glory, network, and altruism. Of course, one cannot be categorized into only one box. The characteristics may be a combination of some categories, but with one category to be more dominant. I even found that a person can wear different masks at a time, being in one category for certain occasions and/or purposes.
Let’s discuss the first motivation: money. I personally think this is the crudest form of motivation, as money can be a means to survive living. It is a useful and even primary tool to get things for us to live. But a proverb also states that money is the root of all evils, so one needs to be aware of this motivation.
Secondly, there are those who seeks for personal glory. When doing things, people in this category tend to find ways to become more famous, more important, more recognizable in public. Anything for fame! In the age of social media, the needs to become recognizable is even eased and amplified to the supersonic jet level of efforts.
The next one, network, is when one is doing things to get to know famous or ‘useful’ people, whose friendship or acquaintances can land him/her into the next big things. Having the right friends or being in the right circle has its perks and can somehow ease things to be achieved. It’s about doing favors and returning favors. However, being in the right circle but doing unfavorable or even illegal acts can land someone to serious consequences, even to jail time?
The last one is the altruistic kinds, those who aim to improve human kinds, to solve a problem of the many, to help people out of their hardships. In short, they are the saints of the world. Of course, this motivation can be viewed as a very positive one, but one downside of this, one can end up serving others all the time, but neglecting his/her personal needs.
So which characteristics are you inclined to? The money seeker, the fame junkie, the friend for benefits, or the unselfish altruist?
Wandering Wondering Mind 