How to stay motivated

Leaning into what makes you human

My labrador retriever, Scout, is not subtle. When she’s hungry, you’ll hear her groan by her doggy bowl, or she’ll paw at your leg until you listen. With a slice of raw beef in hand, I can get her to sit, spin, lie down, or roll over — whatever it takes for one little bite.

Scout is motivated by pleasure.

In many ways, humans are no different. Flash an ad that tempts the stomach or the sex drive, and you might win an easy customer.

Psychological giants like Freud, Adler, and Skinner built whole systems of therapy based on the belief that humans were mere animals that could be reduced to predictable compulsions.

But there was one psychologist who wanted to hold on to our humanness. He would not accept the idea that our motivations could be reduced to basic desires. That man was the Jewish psychologist Viktor Frankl.

Frankl believed that we were driven by something more profound than mere pleasure. He thought that we are purpose-driven, meaning-seeking creatures. He summarized his view of human psychology with this simple phrase: “Whoever has a why can endure any how.”

Such thoughts were mere theory until they were tested in the fires of the Holocaust. Frankl, along with his Jewish neighbors, were rounded up and crammed in cattle cars, stripped of everything that belonged to them, facing isolation, starvation, and impending death.

It was there that Frankl saw the essence of human motivation. Even in suffering, they had one choice left to make — their attitude. They could still decide how they would respond to their suffering. And those who believed that even in such horror their life had meaning, found lasting motivation. For some, this motivation gave them the courage to face death; for others, it led to survival.

Sure, we could rely on our most beastly urges for motivation. But no one admires the person whose “god” is their stomach. Instead, we can tap into a much more honorable and durable source of strength: our sense of meaning. (And for Christians, everlasting meaning.)

So, how does this work?

Well, if you are bored or unmotivated at your job, it means you have lost a sense of meaning and purpose in the work you do. And that leads you to a choice: Either you respond to your work with courage and reignite the sense of meaning that drove you to this job, or you look elsewhere to a more meaningful occupation.

If you find yourself avoiding your responsibility to your family, take time to rediscover your unique role in providing, serving, and loving the people who are uniquely yours.

If you have given up on your health, remind yourself of the great responsibility that God has entrusted to you to care for the one body He has given you.

Your most carnal desires are not the most human thing about you. God made you to be driven by a deep sense of meaning.

Pursue a meaningful life of love and action.

Respond to the challenges that you face with courage and creativity.

Believe that your life is brimming with meaning even until that last moment.

And, in the end, you’ll discover what truly makes you human: to engage fully in the life God has given you.