Drug abuse and drug addiction has become a major menace in our world today. A careful study of addiction will almost definitely lead us to the issue of hopelessness and lack of motivation. When we see people using drugs, drinking, smoking and addicted to pornography, it is simply because they are bored, they have little interest in life. They are not motivated. Drugs, alcohol and pornography therefore become a means by which people try to get themselves motivated. People try to get some form of excitement out of drugs, alcohol and pornography.

Everyone wants to be excited. Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to be inspired and motivated. The tricky aspect of motivation though is that you need energy to be motivated and excited. You need some form of energy to keep yourself happy. When that energy is lacking, that is where the crisis comes in. When we lack the energy for life, depression steps in, frustration steps in, anger and mood swings step in. In an attempt to overcome these negative tendencies, men do desperate things.

Apart from the extreme things like drugs and alcohol, there are other subtle ways that our generation tries to find energy for living. Some overeat, leading to gluttony. Others rather refrain from eating, leading to anorexia. Some eat and try to get rid of it, leading to bulimia. Yet others find solace in sex, leading to sex addiction.

The quest for energy leads to all forms of sins and malpractices. All these, on the other hand, take us into the dungeon of darkness, more darkness leading into even more depression; losing even more energy in the process. So how do we get ourselves motivated all the time? I would like to start this my article by first giving a list of the popular and more contemporary methods of motivation that we all are familiar with.

THE FEAR FACTOR

Fear is one of the most common and probably the greatest motivating factor in the world. It is fear that makes people to wake up in the morning to go to work – not because they love their jobs so much, but because they are afraid of getting fired or being jobless. On the other hand, most people, especially in the developed countries, are motivated to work and go to jobs because they have to pay their bills. Many people in the Western nations would be homeless if they try to stay out of work for a year. That fear of being a social outcast gets people motivated to go to work to do the things they would not normally do.

In most cultures, the fear of public opinion keeps people straight. Many people don’t want to be social outcasts or ostracised from the society. Most of us want to be accepted by our peers and countrymen. We want to fit into society. That fear of falling out of societal expectation motivates us to keep on largely doing the things expected of us.

So fear is a powerful factor of motivation. This is probably the most widespread factor of motivation for people. In most countries of the world, children in their millions wake up the morning to go to school. We all know it is not because they want to. Most of them probably don’t want to go, but the fear and the perception of the society keeps them coming back to those classes. The parents make sure their kids go to school because they are driven by societal expectations, while the kids oblige to the requirements of the parents and go to school because of fear of punishment. So fear is a factor everywhere.

“Fear sells. Fear makes money. The countless companies and consultants in the business of protecting the fearful from whatever they may fear know it only too well. The more fear, the better the sales.” — DANIEL GARDNER

When kids refuse to do their assignments and home works, the teachers use the fear factor to keep them straight. The students are told they will not get money, they would not get promoted and all kinds of things. Unfortunately, with the modern world of social media, and information age, people are getting themselves breaking free of the fear factor. So we need to look for other ways of keeping people motivated apart from a more traditional reason like fear.

“Fear begins and ends with the desire to be secure; inward and outward security, with the desire to be certain, to have permanency. The continuity of permanence is sought in every direction, in virtue, in relationship, in action, in experience, in knowledge, in outward and inward things. To find security and be secure is the everlasting cry. It is this insistent demand that breeds fear.” — JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI

THE MONEY FACTOR

Money is another big factor of motivation in all generations of human history. In fact, many would argue that money is the number one motivating factor for human endeavours. The grip of money over the souls of men is so undeniable that even the Lord Jesus Christ gave it recognition through his teaching.

According to Jesus, everyone either worships God Almighty or the god of mammon, which is the god of money. Jesus therefore elevates the role and the influence of money to equal that of a deity. The influence and power that money exacts over people is almost as strong as that of a religious deity. Just like with God, money demands obedience. Just as with God, money demands worship. Just as with God, money demands supremacy. All these reasons contribute to why Jesus equates the power of money to that of a deity.

“You can be motivated by fear, and you can be motivated reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation.” ― Homer Rice

Money and the desire to possess it drive people to do and undo. Money causes people to give themselves up to an eight-hour of daily labour just to be able to take something home at the end of the day. People basically sell themselves into temporary slavery just to be able to take something home. Money is a powerful force of motivation. For money, men and women agree to abandon their families if they would be sure to come up with an amount of money that satisfies their desires.

Money and the desire to make it compel people to abandon their children in the pursuit of financial gains. Money is so powerful that generations after generations of people have abandoned their native countries and family lineages just to be able to gain some more money in other lands. On daily basis, people lose their lives in pursuit of money. We read stories constantly of drug pushers who are on a regular basis sentenced to death in some countries. Yet, people keep engaging in drug pushing, in spite of the threat of death! What is the motivation? MONEY!

“Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.” ― Tim O'Reilly

What this tells us is that even the fear of death retreats where there is motivation for money. The motivation of money, in this case, supersedes the fear of death. There is nothing people don’t do for money. People have the motivation to do the most unconceivable things if they know there is a possibility of receiving monetary rewards, at the end of the day. The motivation of money is so strong that some people are willing to go take the lives of other men just for the reward of money. So money is one of the most powerful motivating factors on the earth.

Life however keeps on proving to us that after money is gained, it is still possible to remain unsatisfied, leading to another quest and other means of motivation. The disillusionment of money tells us that there is a need to look for other means of self-motivation other than money. Today individuals have more money than ever before in history, yet we have not been happier and we have not been less depressed. So apart from money, we still need to teach people how to be self-motivated.

•Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, Transformation Strategist, Pastor and innovator who lives in Kieve Ukraine. He can be contacted at sundayadelajablog@gmail.com

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