Four Factors of Motivation: Jim Rohn

Introduction

Jim Rohn is the legend of the self-help industry and personal development. He, after going through a number of studies on motivation, found that there are four main factors that are the most powerful human motivators. You can use these four Factors to accomplish your goals. You can also use them to motivate people who are subordinate to you if you’re in a leadership position. These Four Factors of motivation given by Jim Rohn are the real factors that work when just the desire to do that task is not enough. They are the reasons behind the belief and action, that is, believing in something and doing it as well.

Four Factors of Motivation

1. Recognition from Peers
The first factor of the Four Factors of motivation given by Jim Rohn is recognition from peers. Soldiers give up their lives in wartime because they get motivated to fight well for the respect of the person fighting beside them. This feeling is more important for them rather than the medals and public recognition of any kind. Similarly, the same thing that motivates a soldier is analogous to the thing that motivates salesmen on the floor of a car dealership, a team of lawyers trying to win a case, or students in a classroom. 

Watch this biography of American Gandhi and his famous speech "I have a Dream" :

2. Recognition from Respected Experts or Authorities
In the opinion of Jim Rohn, the second factor of the Four Factors of motivation is recognition from respected experts or authorities. An expert need not be a person who is well-known in the world. It’s you who actually establish the qualifications, but generally, people who are impressive to us are equally impressive to others as well. Our relationship with a mentor can be so great and well-established that we can almost hear him/her advising us all the time even when he’s not there. That’s how close a bond can be between you and your mentor.
3. Family
The third factor of the Four Factors of motivation given by Jim Rohn is Family. It is the most important factor of the four factors of motivation. Your family has the biggest influence on your career and your life as a whole, even more than the approval of your peers and experts. Those who can feel a high level of emotions for other human beings are truly blessed people. In fact, the families who have that sort of man for a father, are truly blessed. The motivation that a family can give to a person is the highest form of motivation for a human being as it makes you very strong internally.

4. Benevolence
The fourth factor of the Four Factors of motivation is the impulse toward benevolence, toward sharing your wealth and wisdom with the world. He shared Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie’s story who founded the United States Steel Company. Carnegie, in his twenties, wrote a note that was found on his table after his death which read “I am going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money, and I am going to spend the last half of my life giving it all away.” During Carnegie’s lifetime, his fortune was around $450 million equivalent to $4.5 billion today that he gave away by building Carnegie Hall in New York City, founded libraries in small towns, and participating in many other philanthropic activities.

Summary

These four factors of motivation given by Jim Rohn involve other people including your peers, family members, mentors, or fellow members of the human race. If you want to be successful, you need motivation right from the beginning and stay motivated throughout the process. In order to develop this innermost quality, you need to understand that other people can leave such great influence in your lives and can be the reason to believe. Therefore, you need to pay attention to these 4 factors to stay motivated in life.