Monday, February 1, 2016

Motivation, Recognition, & Appreciation

Much like my last post and many of the others before that, this one is stemming from one of my random midday thoughts that keeps me thinking for a large portion of the day. Today, I got to thinking about the motivation for why I do things and why we all do things. Maybe I'm just sensitive to it, but it seems like the topic of my religious beliefs has been coming up a lot lately. It's been pretty organic, but it occurred to me that a lot of people are probably good people because of the expectation of divine reward (whether in the afterlife, or in more favorable circumstances on earth). That's an interesting concept to me. Cat's out of the bag that I don't necessarily identify as religious, but I think there's something to be said for doing good things just for the sake of doing them, without any expectation of reward or recognition. I'm not saying that's something that I'm about all the time, but it's a nice thought, isn't it?

Everyone likes positive reinforcement. A pat on the back and a friendly recognition are always welcome. My question is, to what extent are we really doing things for ourself? We live in a culture where we post photos for the sake of getting likes. We alter our personalities online and offline to get noticed, and I'm just as guilty as the next person. However, I think it needs to be good enough to do things just because they should be done. Mature adults realize what's right and what's wrong, what has to be done and what doesn't. The best piece of advice I was ever given was from my high school athletic director. He said something to the effect of: "You can be the president or the janitor. If it's a Saturday and the toilet needs plunging, you should just do it." That's not necessarily something you're going to get recognition for, but there's something to be said for just doing it, for not being above any job, and not expecting that pat on the back afterward.

That said, it really sucks to do something that probably deserves a thank you, and then, you don't get it. If you hold a door for someone and they walk through without a word, you'll probably think them a rather rude person. So, is generosity a two-way street? Is it really a generous thing to do if you expect something in return? I think there's intrinsic value in generosity and in being generous with putting your time and efforts towards things. It feels really good to make someone else's day. That's value enough in a lot of cases.

I've been asked by a handful of students why I wanted to be an SLA, and I think that got my brain turning about why I do the things I do. Why am I here in Italy? I think it's a mix of selfish and unselfish reasons. I really do care about the students and their experience. However, Italy is personally rewarding right now, too. I can't pinpoint one reason why I'm here, and I think that motivations are generally a lot more complicated than one factor. It's interesting to try to dissect why I am where I am from an intrinsic point-of-view, though. It's something I think I'll be thinking about a lot in the future.

I think I've figured out a good balance of selfish and generosity. I think I do enjoy recognition as much as the next person, but I also do sometimes do things just for the sake of doing them. Sometimes I fish for likes or for the pat on the back, but sometimes, I do things just because they need to be done. It's a complex thought for me for some reason. Is doing things for the sake of the recognition wrong? I don't think it's wrong to be a good person because you expect divine reward; however, the idea of doing things selflessly to the point of not about rewards seems very noble to me. The best people I know are people who just give without expectation. They don't hold a debt in front of your face; they sneak attack you with donuts during the middle of your work day (that happened today, so it's a concrete example).

Anyway, I don't have much of a conclusion from all of these thoughts. It's more of a lingering question about why I do what I do, and why other people do what they do. If the end is the same (a good deed, or a beautiful photo online, or generosity of time and effort), do I need to question why I'm doing what I'm doing or why other people are? I'm willing to pat everyone on the back and recognize their good deeds if they do more of them. Those stories don't make the news though these days. Alas, I digress.

Kudos to you if you managed to make sense of any of that. Have a good one, pals.

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