Bad Hygiene

​This week, I was reading a book summary by Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School in which he spoke about the things in our lives that “make us tick”.  He describes the difference between a hygiene factor and a motivation factor.  Examples of hygiene factors include status, pay, job security, work conditions, company policies and supervisory practices.  The problem that he proposes with hygiene factors is that in time- they fade out and must be reapplied (sort of like deodorant I think😊).  In other words, a pay raise is not enough motivation to keep you doing what your doing. 

I remember when I was in High School, there were kids that worked fast food and retail stores for minimum wage and then there were a group of kids that worked in telemarketing.  The starting pay for telemarketing was almost double what you could make in any other job as a high school student- but the turnover was unbelievable.  No one ever stayed in the “outbound” telemarketing sales departments for more than a few months.  Why?  Because even though you could earn double or triple what you could make in another job, it wasn’t worth getting rejected 150x a day.
 
So what does motivate?  We have to ask different questions.  Is the work meaningful to me?   Am I going to learn new things?  Will I have an opportunity for recognition and achievement?  Am I going to be given responsibility?    This is what truly motivates and once we achieve this the more measurable aspects of our job will fade.  Things like pay, security and work conditions will often become less important. 

I think that is where I am today.  Yes, I fear what I have gotten myself into with this church planting endeavor- but the motivating factors far outweigh everything else.  In other words, my reduction in salary, the potential lifestyle change and even the possibility of failure that comes with it are worth the risks!
   
When you think about it… is it really failure if you are doing the will of God and He asks you to do something and yet it is not everything you had hoped it would be?  That is where our faith comes in.  I once heard a pastor say, “Anyone can count the numbers of seeds in one apple- but only God knows the number of apples in just one seed.” 
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We stay obedient to His plan and let Him take care of the rest.