Why am I doing this?

"I have come to the conclusion that my subjective account of my motivation is largely mythical on almost all occasions. I don't know why I do things."

J. B. S. Haldane

"Despite how certainty feels, it is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process. Certainty and similar states of “knowing what we know” are sensations that feel like thoughts, but arise out of involuntary brain mechanisms that function independently of reason."

Robert A. Burton

In order to get what I want, I have to know what I want. Duh! But I have to admit that on numerous, perhaps countless, occasions I have carefully considered all the options, scientifically selected my wants, and set out to possess them - only to find that I almost immediately take actions that are clearly at cross-purposes with reaching my meticulously selected targets.

Is this a character flaw? Surely not. I'm perfect, right? Good news. It's not a character flaw - even though I'm far from perfect. According to Dr. Robert Burton, it's a physiological attribute shared by all humans. Certainty, says Burton, is really a sensation, like anger. In his provocative book, ON BEING CERTAIN: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, he explores all sorts of interesting and troublesome issues that arise from this phenomenon.

Another angle on this conundrum is offered by Chip and Dan Heath in their new book, Switch. Shawn Callahan of Anecdote, explains it this way -

When we are making a decision we're often torn between our rational, logical reasons and our emotional, intuitive feelings. Chip and Dan ask us to imagine an Elephant and its Rider (the mahout). The Rider represents the rational and logical. Tell the Rider what to do, provide a good argument and the Rider will do it. The Elephant, on the other hand, represents our emotions, our gut response. The Rider might like to avoid that hamburger and chips but there is very little the Rider can do if the Elephant really wants it (OK, so I'm telling you what happened last night). To complete their analogy they include the Path they are traveling along. If the Rider can direct the Elephant down a well prepared Path then there is a good chance for change.

So, there is a difference between what I think is true and what I feel is true - and at decision time feel generally wins. In fact, says Burton, the immense power of feel quite regularly makes us certain that our felt opinion is actually fact. We just think we are thinking. (At least I think that's what he was thinking when he thought he was writing this stuff.) There is also a difference between what we think we want and what we really want - like when I think I want to lose weight, but I really want potato chips in large quantities.

When I ask a prospective entrepreneur why she is "doing this," and she says "it's a cool idea," I immediately begin to question her Moxie. If she says "because it really needs to be done," I start to pay closer attention. If she says "because I can't not do it," the interchange gets serious.

Two of the four primary ingredients in Moxie are Motivation and Meaning. In some sense they roughly correspond to the Rider and the Elephant, to the thinking and the feeling.

In my experience, if these two are not both powerful and well-aligned, the start-up is seriously at risk from the outset. The founder is likely to lose interest and find another, more engaging way to invest energy, time, and money.

So, a really good question for every wannabee business founder is "Why, when I boil it all down, am I really, truly doing this?"