When I was a child I had a model railway set. As I drove my train around the track I used to set myself instant, almost subconscious goals: "keep the train at a constant speed", "travel as quickly as you can". This was fun and stimulating, so much so that the goals of constancy and speed became ever stronger. After a little while they took on a life of their own and superseded all other considerations, including stopping at stations. Finally, I was amazed to find myself driving the train around bends at break neck speed. Almost invariably the train would go off the rails, but this did not stop me from pursuing my goals.

The few successes I had at negotiating the bends only served to reassure me that it was possible. My mind conveniently discounted the majority of failures (although I am sure my subconscious was keeping count). I just kept trying to repeat the minority of successes.

It was only when my father saw what I was doing and physically stopped me that I started to think about what I was doing. Interestingly my father had to work really hard at getting the train controls out of my hands. I had not realised that I had been holding them so tightly. I was also, I realised, sweating rather a lot. For the first time in my life I recognised my own heart beating rapidly in my chest.

I had not realised that I had been playing with my train set for more than two hours. The time had just flown by.

I use this example to illustrate what I call driven motivation; motivation that surges up unbidden from within us and takes us over for a time. This type of motivation can help us achieve great things over the short term, but if unmanaged it can cause us to lose touch with the reality within and around us and act as a catalyst for unhelpful, negative behaviour and stress. If not identified and positively managed it can lead to us being ultimately ineffective and unsatisfied in our lives and work.

This short article explores the concept of driven motivation. It identifies its causes and how it can either help us achieve things in our lives, or lead us into unhelpful negative stress and behaviour. It gives guidance as to how driven motivation can be identified in our behaviour, and then goes on to offer ideas for maximising its positive effects and minimising the negative ones.

Imagine someone being given the task of preparing and delivering a presentation. They are given this task at the last moment. They feel a little anxious but they start by approaching it all very methodically. They do their research and prepare their structure and slides. However, their background anxiety increases as the time of the presentation approaches. They continue to be methodical but there is now an added edge to their activity and behaviour. They seem to have had a boost of adrenalin. They can work for long periods and their rate of activity has noticeably speeded up. It is as if they have accessed hidden reserves of power, which in a way they have.

The final few hours before the presentation have now arrived and our presenter’s behaviour will go one of two ways. Hopefully they will be able to keep control of their motivational energies, do their final preparations in a structured and logical way, and deliver the presentation effectively.

Alternatively, as the final few hours before the presentation arrive, they will lose control of the powers that are motivating them. Instead of simmering along nicely they will boil up over the rim and not make best use of their final preparation time. Their behaviour will come across as illogical and out of control. Perhaps they will start to obsessively check small details that have been gone over already, or perhaps their behaviour will speed up to such an extent that they start making careless mistakes. As a result the presentation, despite all their hard work, will not be as successful as it ought to have been.

The energy comes from the memories and experiences we have built up over the course of our lives. It emanates from strong values we have almost subconsciously imported from people who have had a strong influence on our development and view of the world: parents, teachers, close friends etc.

We have swallowed these imported values wholesale, without almost any conscious awareness or choice. Most commonly they involve strong feelings and needs around:

Getting things right

Putting others before ourselves

Being strong in difficult circumstances

Getting things done quickly and not wasting time

Always trying to do our best

Whatever they are, these imported values are like a source of reserve power that we carry around with us and that we tend to habitually tap into at times of need - perhaps when we are challenged in someway in our lives or work.

When we access these values their powers are unleashed. If we are able to manage and control them they can give us the added energy and focus to overcome our difficulties.

But as these imported values are usually just beyond our conscious awareness, and so not always under our control, they can very easily cause us to overheat - to boil over the rim. They can become stronger and stronger within us until it is the values themselves, not us, that control our behaviour and overall ways of thinking. We give the reigns of our minds and bodies over to the memories of other people and the values we believe they held dear.

When these imported values are out of control we are in effect acting from memory, habit and conditioning. We end up applying old, inappropriate, generalised and unfocused values to new, specific challenges and problems. It is not surprising, therefore, that our performance can very quickly deteriorate and become ineffective, despite all our clearly demonstrable energy and motivation.

In order to access the power of these imported values effectively and gain benefit from them, we have to first recognise how they currently affect our behaviour. We then have to take control of them; assertively choose when we want to use them and how we want them to affect our behaviour.

Usually, we become most aware of the influence of our imported values when we have accessed them out of habit and they have started to adversely affect our behaviour. The types of behaviour exhibited will vary from individual to individual, but here are some common examples:

Habitual checking and rereading

Generally speeding up and flitting from one task to another without achievement

Apologising over - frequently

Taking back tasks that have been delegated and doing them ourselves

Putting in longer and longer hours for less and less return

Not being able to stop working on something or always coming back to it

Thinking that you have to have all the answers straight away

Not being able to leave a task unfinished

Reacting to a small mistake in a big way e.g. checking an entire piece of work because you find one small insignificant error within it.

Asking for less and less help

Becoming less aware of your surroundings and what people are saying to you

Treating rest breaks as waste of time or not taking them at all

 

Once we have learned how to recognise the habitual influence of our imported values on our current behaviour, the next step is to learn how to access these values out of choice, and identify and utilise those behaviours associated with them that most meets our needs. By doing this we will begin to use their energy and motivation to enhance rather than hinder our performance.

Knowing about the concepts of Over Stretch and Moderate Stretch can help us achieve this type of controlled choice when accessing an imported value.

If we access our imported values out of habit we are likely experience the negative outcome given in the above ‘preparing for a presentation’ example. We feel anxiety as a result of the task we have been given. This anxiety increases until an imported value, perhaps around getting things right and perfect, is accessed, and because it is accessed habitually, without conscious choice, the value is likely to lead to inappropriate, ineffective behaviour.

In this case we would perhaps exhibit a strong, compulsive need to check and recheck our work, to a degree out of all proportion to the needs of the task. As a result of this excessive checking, deadlines could be missed and even additional errors made.

We have involuntarily allowed the imported value to distort or ‘overstretch’ our motivation in an unhelpful direction.

We can, however, make our imported values work for us, and the answer lies in avoiding Over Stretch and utilising what may be called Moderate Stretch. Moderate Stretch is where we develop the ability to access our imported values at a time and place of our choosing and apply those behaviours associated with them that are most appropriate to the task or situation.

If we again take the example of preparing for a presentation, when we employ Moderate Stretch we will still feel an initial anxiety concerning the task, and this anxiety will still increase as the presentation time approaches, but when the ultimate pressure occurs we will not just habitually access the first imported value that threatens to surge through us. We will instead choose one that is most appropriate to the situation, and select an associated behaviour that best meets our needs.

For some of us it could still mean accessing a value around getting things right, but this time a conscious choice would have been made to access it and use it for a limited time in a particular way. For example, the need to check and revise could be used positively by setting a review time, running through the presentation in front of a practise audience, gaining helpful feedback and making the necessary amendments.

Here, we have chosen to allow one of our imported values to moderately stretch our motivation in a specified and helpful direction.

In order to get the most out of our imported values the important thing is to give ourselves the choice as to which ones we use, how we use them and when.

We can achieve Moderate Stretch and avoid Over Stretch by:

Physically slowing down and noticing what we are thinking and doing

Accepting feedback and help

Clearly identifying the situations where we want our motivation driven by our imported values

Making sure that the situations are ones that can gain positive benefit from the imported value we choose to access

Being sure that the outcome of the situation is one that we can positively influence to our satisfaction

Ensuring that the situation only requires us to access the imported value for a defined time period (Ensuring that the situation has a clear end point)

Ensuring that the outcome of the situation is recognisable, definable and desirable

Breaking large tasks down into smaller chunks

Giving ourselves scheduled timeouts and making sure that we take them

Getting into the habit of analysing one moment of driven motivation each day. What is the imported value we habitually access? How does it affect our behaviour? What could we choose to do differently?

Choosing a specific behaviour associated with an imported value and then applying it in the most appropriate way.

For example, if we access a value concerned with putting others needs before our own and we feel the need to help someone with their work load, we can either just do the first thing that occurs to us (usually this would be to do it for them), or we can choose another more appropriate and effective behaviour, such as asking them if they need help and if so pointing them in the direction of some helpful resources.

Asking ourselves a specific question such as "What is the best thing I can do right now", when we feel stress and anxiety that might cause us to access an imported value out of habit and consequently do the first thing that comes to mind

 

This point is perhaps the most important one. Once we are able to recognise when we are accessing imported values and able to choose when we wish to utilise them to bolster our energy and motivation, they start to make the transition from imported values to integrated values; values that are truly part of our own unique character, working style and approach to life.

They become values that we cherish and use not because we feel compelled to by the memories of what others would want us to do, but because we feel that they have a place within our lives and actions that we have chosen for them.

The values, rather than being generalised ideals about how to behave, become values specific to us and the situations we have decided we need them for. Once these values become a conscious and accepted part of us, we are able access them at will and gain the immense benefits of their added energy and drive.

However, if these imported values are not accessed in a conscious and managed way they can lead to us overheating, boiling over the rim and exhibiting behaviour that is ineffective in helping us achieve our tasks or deal with our challenges.

Most of us have imported values that are about:

Getting things right

Putting others before ourselves

Being strong in difficult circumstances

Getting things done quickly and not wasting time

Always trying to do our best

To manage the influence of our imported values we first have to be able to recognise how they affect our current behaviour (see the examples given above).

Having recognised how our imported values currently affect our behaviour, we then have to proactively manage them in order to gain their benefits rather than their drawbacks. Knowledge of the concepts of ‘Over Stretch’ and ‘Medium Stretch’ can help us achieve this:

Over Stretch occurs when we access our imported values out of habit and allow them to influence our behaviour in unhelpful ways. (For example, giving in to the urge to compulsively check small details when it is not necessary to do so.)

Medium Stretch occurs when we choose to access certain imported values at times of our choice and in ways that are helpful to us. (For example, when we choose to put the needs of the audience first when reviewing the content of a presentation, so ensuring that the information and style of presentation is precisely targeted to their needs rather than our own.)

Avoiding Over Stretch and achieving Moderate Stretch can be achieved by utilising the suggestions given above.

Finally, once we become aware of our imported values and begin to manage them to our advantage, they become not just imported values but values integrated into our character, ways of working and approach to life. The values become ones that we consciously choose to use in specific situations and in specific ways. Once we have achieved this we are able to gain maximum benefit from their motivational energy.

Transactional Analysis For Trainers: Julie Hay

TA Today: Ian Stewart and Vann Joinnes

Management And Organisational Behaviour: Laurie Mullins (McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory)