Why More Money Isn’t The Best Motivator For Success
More money isn’t the best motivator for success because having motivations based on deeper things deeper than money brings more success and more happiness. Find out what is a better motivator for success than money.
Dear Spirited Earthling,
For many people, the idea of having more money is a powerful motivator for success. After all, it’s only natural to associate financial success with personal achievement and fulfilment. However, the truth is that while money can certainly be a motivator, it’s often not the best one. In fact, studies have shown that focusing solely on financial incentives can actually hinder long-term success in both personal and professional pursuits.
Money Motivates Success Until It Doesn't
In an episode of the Hopecast, Jane Goodall tells of six families who enter Bhutan with the same circumstances:
they are immigrants,
they have nothing,
each family had a father, mother, and child.
The families were tracked over a decade, and within that time, the parents had jobs, the kids went to school, and each family had a home. The happiness index had increased in all families.
Two of the families stopped trying to achieve more because they had everything they needed – good education for their children, a nice home, and food to eat. Four of the families continued trying to achieve more. While these families got more, their happiness index decreased.
In How to Think Bigger (by Martin Meadows) you read of a study where life satisfaction (or the happiness index) increases until participants earned more than $75 000 per year. Thereafter, happiness stagnates or decreases.
So while there may not be a cap on money, there seems to be one on happiness. Although your income is increasing, money alone is bringing you the happiness it once did.
How do you motivate yourself when more money is no longer enough?
Important Questions to Ask Yourself about Your Motivations for Success
By answering these questions you are answering, how do I motivate myself when more money is no longer enough? Or rather, answering what motivates you more than money.
1. Why do you really want what you want?
What would you like to buy when you are rich? Maybe a house, or a sports car, or a boat.
When money motivates success, the goal can become hollow pretty quickly when times are harder and you need to be a little tougher. Don’t give up on the goal, expand on it! For example:
I want to buy a house - - > bring emotion to it - - > I want to buy a house and live in a loving home. I want to start a family and have a safe place for us to grow. I want a garden to picnic in and plant flowers.
I want to buy a boat - - > bring emotion to it - - > I want to smell the ocean every day. I want to enjoy the sunshine. I want to have adventures.
In these examples, money still motivates success. However, it’s not so much about what you want to buy, but what you will do with it and how you will feel having it. Lean into those hopes and dreams to grow your vision.
When you create a bigger picture around the house, your happiness will increase when you buy it because it is the beginning of this incredible vision you have for yourself in this house. Your focus on having the house lessens, but your focus on having a life within the house deepens.
2. Who are you doing this for?
Money can be considered an extrinsic motive for success. Passion and people are considered intrinsic motives and are incredibly more motivating.
In many ways, your relationship with money contributes to your feelings around having it and expecting more from it. What does this mean?
If your goal is to make money to show off and share an image of the Joneses - money won’t make you happy. Your foundation is based on a ‘hollow why’.
If your goal is to make money to be financially free and secure, support your family, help your parents, and donate - money will have a positive effect on your life. Your goal and relationship with money is based on a who - knowing you are financially secure brings peace, donating money brings happiness, affording holidays with your family creates beautiful life-long memories.
“Finding your who (the person for whom you’re striving to achieve a big goal) can be even better than finding your why.” ~ Martin Meadows
3. Are you playing to win or are you playing to not lose?
This is an interesting question because your perception of a situation influences how you act in it. Take this example on the football field: the two teams need to make penalty shots.
The soccer players taking the shots with a mindset to win the game had success rates of 92 %.
Conversely, the players taking shots with a mindset not to lose and to save their team from elimination had success rates of 62 % (read Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing by Ashley Merryman and Po Bronson).
“The first effect is when you’re playing to win. This attitude improves your performance. The second effect is when you’re playing not to lose – it leads to decreased performance.” ~ Martin Meadows
It may seem like playing to win and playing not to lose means the same thing, but words matter and your brain is going to focus on the words win or lose. Always try to write and say phrases in a positive way. Read examples of turns of phrases here.
Are you looking to provide the best service to your customers and win their business? Or are you looking at your competitors and hoping you aren’t being left behind? Learn from your competitors, but don’t let their successes determine what your successes are.
What motivates people more than money and success?
Having a expansive goal that shapes your life and fosters joy - not just the object.
Having a person or people or organisation beyond yourself to share in the benefits of being wealthy.
Wanting to become the best in the game - not hoping to be called off the bench and trying to play someone else’s role.
Remember that Hustle Culture isn't Worth it
Along with the topics of money and success often comes hustle life.
You have read that money and success becomes hollow when it comes at the expense of family, friends, and a life outside of your salary amount.
Happiness comes to you when you’re happy with yourself and with what you already have. Know your worth outside of your net worth.
In the YouTube video How toxic hustle culture is slowly killing you, Sorelle Amore talks about reduced creativity, productivity, health, and you lose sight of the important things in life. She also speaks about her experiences so give it a watch here.
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass.
If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same.” ~ Brian Dyson
By all means, go get your boat and buy your dream home. To be successful you often must go to extremes, just make sure you keep circling back to the people that matter. You can never buy more time.
Spirited Earthling is more than just a blog – it's a gathering place for kindred spirits drawn by an interest in self-discovery, the appeal of self-care, and a desire for a deeper connection to the world. Written and created for curious minds and spiritual hearts seeking meaning in everyday life, this blog aims to help you curate your wholesome personal growth with free weekly ideas and affordable resources for sale.
As you navigate your personal growth journey using the words and ideas shared here, consider sharing this blog with someone looking for inspiration or motivation on their own journey. We are all spirited earthlings, and can lift each other together with mindful, connected living.
Thank you for being part of this community.
Best wishes, warmest regards
Jordan
Affirmation: How my life feels is more important than how my life looks.
Journal prompts: Why do I really want what I want? Who am I doing this for?
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