Prompt:
A sense of happiness and fulfillment, not
personal gain, is the best motivation and
reward for one’s achievements. Expecting a
reward of wealth or recognition for achieving
a goal can lead to disappointment and
frustration. If we want to be happy in what
we do in life, we should not seek achievement
for the sake of winning wealth and
fame. The personal satisfaction of a job well
done is its own reward.
Assignment: Are people motivated to achieve by personal
satisfaction rather than by money or fame? Plan and
write an essay in which you develop your point of view
on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and
examples taken from your reading, studies, experience,
or observations.
People are motivated to achieve something by personal satisfaction. Sure you can’t buy anything with personal satisfaction, but money and fame are ephemeral while the sense of accomplishment sticks with you throughout your entire life.
Once I was in a school bus and we were headed to University of Surabaya for an English competition. It was my first English competition and I was nervous. However, none of my friends seemed to help me overcome my nerve, they just laughed and underestimated me. Sitting there inside the bus and watching my friends laughed at me, I was determined to prove them wrong. As a matter of fact, I did end up winning first place for the competition. I got money, certificate, and a trophy, but none of those things mattered to me. I was elated by my sense of fulfillment, I managed to prove to my friends and for the rest of my junior year I was never underestimated again.
On a more serious matter, Indonesia’s independence serves as a great example as well. After being colonized, forced to build roads, buildings, and plant crops by the Netherlands for more than 350 years, on 17 of August 1945, Indonesia finally managed to claim its independence. As I’ve read in my history books, Indonesia didn’t gain any money from its independence, in fact the Indonesians were forced to pay for the Netherlands’ millions of euro debt. However, the sense of freedom roared the Indonesians. They played the independence speech for days and even weeks in the radio. One of the generals, Sudirman, even said, “I can finally die in peace now that Indonesia is independent. Our goal has been fulfilled and I am satisfied.” If Indonesia had relied on money as the reward of its independence, then Indonesians would never be jovial.
These two examples show that our motivations to achieve something shouldn’t be about being wealthy and famous, they should be about being happy and content. We will be much more driven to achieve something if we know that the remuneration of the achievement is enjoyment.