What is motivation?

Yesterday, I wrote this blog on the Theorem of Minimum Potential Energy. Of course, it was a actually a blog about people. While writing it, I came to the conclusion that this discussion of Minimum Potential Energy is the primal form of motivation. It’s the one that is deep-wired in us.

That means that it’s powerful. Think about the saying, “Sex sells.” It’s true because sex is primal, instinctual. I once wrote that a presentation I listened to laid out some compelling evidence that Engagement = Competence + Motivation. With this in mind, a better framework for how to lay out the opening lines to a presentation, article or sales pitch is available. All you need to do is answer the question, “How does this minimize the effort of the audience?” Clearly articulate that in your intro and throughout your arguments and you have half the engagement formula down pat.

Motivation is minimizing energy and effort, but when I think about it is probably subject to the following constraint:

P.S. If energy required to learn your info is greater than the energy saved by knowing it, the audience won’t bother. You have to consider that it takes energy to learn into consideration as well.