I wrote yesterday that motivation is not a substitute for training. My friend Ray Bandi, a conversation with whom sparked that blog in the first place, responded:
Based on your blog, it occurs to me that what I think to be “motivation” is really only “words” if a person never takes “a step of action.” Common definitions for “motivate” are “incite, impel” – training for action. – Ray Bandi, New Hampshire, July 2020
It reminds me a bit of the physics definition of “work.”
Work, in physics, is the measure of energy transfer that occurs when an object is moved over a distance by an external force at least part of which is applied in the direction of the displacement…Work = force x distance. – Encyclopaedia Britannica
In other words, in physics, if there’s no movement, there’s no work. According to Ray, if there’s no action, there was no motivation – only words. It’s all another way of stating my last sentence from yesterday:
I’m just trying to remember that any time I encourage someone to do something, that I provide them with enough specifics that they can at least take the first step. – The Ewellogy, July 11, 2019
My measure of success when I attempt to motivate or encourage someone is whether or not the person actually takes that first step. That’s why Ray and I work at making our discipleship instruction accessible. He and I have discussed, and I’ve written, about instant participation, instant success.
- Instant participation, instant success, March 22, 2019
- An example of instant participation, instant success, March 25, 2019
- Accessible ministry, March 29, 2019
Yes, I keep circling back to the same concepts, don’t I?
Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. (2 Peter 3.1, NIV)
For you know that our coming to you was not in vain…For you became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. (1 Thessalonians 2.1, 14, ESV)
But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” (Isaiah 28.13, NKJV)