meaning

1. Article: Meaning, the key to profound motivation
“Man is not mainly interested in seeking pleasure or ceasing pain, but in finding meaning to life, and this is
exactly what will give us the mental order to give priority to what really matters to us and it will allows us to
succeed” – Viktor Frankl
One day, John Fitzgerald Kennedy during an official visit to a NASA centre, he came across a man sweeping the
floor. To be polite, since it was evident that the man was a cleaning worker, he asked: “What do you do
here?” The man answered: “Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon”.
This famous story is an excellent way to introduce the concept of motivation. One of the main roles of a leader is
to know how to keep himself motivated and pass on that motivation to the team. To do this, there are a number
of tools that will serve not only to improve the way we work with our coworkers and attain better results in the
company, but also to live the present to the fullest and to produce emotions that open possibilities in our lives.

2. 1) Motivation and types of observer
Motivation is directly connected to the type of observer we are. Different focuses in our inner conversation
imply different degrees of personal motivation. We can work with three different kinds of observers:
The first type focuses on what he is doing. If this would have been the focus of the cleaning worker, his answer
would have probably been: “I’m sweeping the floor”. In our job, we do many things, such as sending emails,
participating in meetings, writing reports, etc. In all those cases, our level of motivation is low, because it comes
from a focus based on action. What level of motivation can we have if we are focused on sending an email?
A second kind of observer focuses on the role. This person is focused on his circumstantial role or position. In the
story about President Kennedy, the answer would have been: “I’m a cleaning worker”. The level of motivation is
a little higher than in the case of the first type of observer, but it proves insufficient to obtain a high
performance. These persons have their minds focused on the role they play, and they operate from there.
The third type focuses on meaning. This is the kind of motivation the cleaning worker had: sweeping the floor,
he was contributing to put a man on the moon. This motivated him to give the best of himself at his job, a lot
more than being merely a cleaning worker.
.