Winfried Dressler <winfried.dressler@voith.de> writes:
Snip....
>Yet, I like the picture of a "button of intrinsic motivation". My question
>is: How can I find my button? - Did anyone of you found your button? How
>did you find it? Where was it? Really inside of you - or somewhere between
>you and the world you are living in? We discussed about "personal mission
>statements" before - if you have one, do you experience your statement as
>a button for motivation?
When I think of missions and visions in relationship to the why of doing
things, I often chuckle. (not snicker, chuckle) I am an incurable
altruist (is that the same as being intrinsically motivated??) and give
away things I'm supposed to be selling (I am a consultant, after all).
Consequently, I make less money as a consultant that I did as a manager,
but I feel much better about the work. My vision is to be omniscient (no
this isn't blasphemy, it's analogous to the concept of half-life or
asymtosis) and my mission is simply to teach and to learn in all phases of
my existence (the trout don't listen). When I overhear a problem, I ask
if I can help and proceed to ask questions and listen carefully and make
suggestions, rather than handing out a business card and saying "call me".
I even do it on paying jobs!! If I encounter something outside of the
scope of work, I'll often spend an hour or two of what should be "billable
hours" in trying to help. Part of the button is the notion of someone in
trouble (I often say the only time I really swim is to save someone else
from drowning). Another part of it is the learning that comes from
solving (or just understanding the nature of...) a problem.
>I think finding the button is closely related to the meaning of my life,
>the task for which I am here on earth - a specific insight which only I
>can have from my point of view and which I ought to express as clear and
>enlightening as possible. I think it is not so much a matter of decision
>(beliefs, values...) but a matter of finding the button. May be I am
>wrong.
I don't have anyway to understand the meaning of life, the universe, and
everything, other than my relationship to them. I think much of that
which satisfies me is a sense of "being there" or actively participating
in the eternal now rather than ruminating on the notion of past or future
failures, successes, etc.. My partner likes to say that by taking care of
the present, we assure our future.
--jzavacki@wolff.com John Zavacki The Wolff Group 800-282-1218 http://www.wolff.com/
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>