The concept of “intrinsic motivation”

Failing to embrace your demons will pave your journey with sorrow.

Starting my agency 14 years ago, my recruitment process was based on one key framework:

I kept a list of the top 3 desires and priorities for every new hire.

Whatever happens, as life is a roller coaster in itself, I tried to respect the three things that mattered the most.

Revenue opportunities. Family time. Options to learn. Career progress. Professional branding. Work-life balance.

Everyone is ruled by their own drivers.

The core principles of “intrinsic motivation”.

The 4 idols concept stuck with me since Sahil Bloom covered it in a lengthy guide (and a mention in an interview with Arjun Mahadevan).

St. Thomas Aquinas outlined the origins of the model in Summa Theologica in the 14th and 15th centuries. He was dubbed as one of the most impactful philosophers of the Western world at the time and “the most influential thinker of the medieval period”.

Summa Theologica is a 5-volume read, 3,020 pages in total. It’s an insightful summary of “all human knowledge”, challenging core human and theological principles such as the existence of God, divine powers, angels and bodies, intellect and material things, the circumstances of human acts, the soul’s passions, the effects of love, pleasure, pain and sorrow, moral and intellectual virtues, and hundreds of deep questions in our lifetime.

I closely relate this to Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and his memoir from AD 161 to 180, and modern authors like Nietzsche and his work in the late 1800s.

St. Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy can be boiled down to these four idols ruling the predominant majority of the humankind:

1. Money
2. Fame
3. Power
4. Pleasure

Understanding ourselves, our motives, our driving force is a key component of defining our goals and principles.

Understanding the four idols provides an effective medium for understanding people: staff, partners, customers, family members, friends.

Diving deep into our foundational values is our strength.

This weekend, ask yourself: which idol keeps your flame alive?

Is your mission and current journey aligned with it?

Seek the answers within.