On Motivational Content

 

It is yet another Friday and after a lot of writing and deleting I am hoping that this article will actually get to the full length.

Earlier today I saw a post from one of the meme lords on WhatsApp. This one was about a comment on a Facebook post about Henry Kachaje’s 50^th birthday. The comment stated that it was not right for people to buy him a birthday cake because with the amount one could spend on a cake could be used to buy a goat which could give us two kids in about 6 months. The rest of the comment went on to give a detailed business plan which would later give millions of kwachas following the multiplication of the goats and diversification.

Rather unusually, I did not take an interest strong enough for me to go to Facebook and look for the post. Ideally, I would do that just to look at the comments. I can imagine what the rest of the comments look like, though. Many in the comments are presenting overly ambitious business plans with estimated capitals being the money that one can spend on a birthday party, dinner or cake. This is because of the image that Mr Kachaje along with other motivational speakers have given to Malawians; that motivational speakers like to sell unrealistic visions and business plans to their clients. All this had me wondering as to whether these perceptions are justified.

My date first date with motivational speakers came when the man we started with, Mr Kachaje, came to speak to the College of Medicine 2010 intake on our orientation. I cannot remember much of the content but he talked about how we needed to be moneywise. In his talk, he mentioned how other people are trained to make money while others are trained to manage money. He urged us to do both if we were to do well in life. From the talk, I could notice that the man possessed a certain type of wisdom that many in the land do not have. This enticed me to follow him on social media and to patronize his events for some time until I later stopped some time in 2015.

Having gone through motivational speeches by Kachaje and other people, I can confirm that I learnt many things that I could not have if I had not attended such. Planning is one of such things. If you have ever listened to Kachaje or any other motivational speaker talk about how you need to have a vision and a plan, you can agree with me that life turns out to be different once you begin applying such wisdom. When you follow such things, you try to align the choices you make in short and intermediate term with your long term plan and vision and to be honest, that has proven to be more helpful than not. Then there are issues on managing finances which prove to be vital when followed. As I mentioned, at some point I stopped attending talks by motivational speakers and watching motivational speakers on YouTube. I will explain the reasons.

While many people stop listening to motivational speakers because of the business ideas and trajectories they advance, I stopped because I strongly felt like I had heard enough of what I needed to hear from motivational speakers. It is my belief that the best knowledge is the one that you put into use and that if one does not apply what they learn, then they are better off not learning at all. I had learnt a lot from motivational speakers and books and I thought it was time to cut the dose of motivational speeches and concentrate on applying what I had already learnt. I can point out two things that I have learnt in my quest for self-development; planning and money management. While I have managed to apply the former well, I have not done so well on the latter and until I master it, I will consider myself as a person who has no right to sit under another motivational speaker. Eetu.

The time around the one I was introduced to motivational speakers was interesting because there was a boom in the people of the kind. A lot of people seemed to be keen on telling people how to succeed in life. We saw a lot of posters on life and business coaches who wanted to share their knowledge on how we could join them in the ladder of success. With time, such people started to attract a lot of public scrutiny as people wanted to understand how much of financial success that the motivators themselves had achieved. Whether this was the right move by the populace is something I will leave you to debate but that is what happened. The result? Many were not satisfied with what they saw when it came to the net worth of the motivational speakers and success coaches who were making us pay to attend their events. As a result, there was a social media movement against motivational speakers and of late we have not seen many of those.

One main issue that people have had with motivational speakers is the issue of degrading others who are not doing what they do. At the time when motivational speeches and seminars were just becoming a thing, there seemed to be one message that was coming out of the speakers; being employed is a scam and business is the way to go. Motivationists created an impression that people who were formally employed were going about it wrong and business people were “the ones” as they were the ones who had the freedom to manage their own affairs and pay themselves and others. Success was equated to having more money. The result was the enhancement of the culture of striving to appear successful by certain standards instead of working to be successful in line with personal goals. Some people ended up using money they did not have on things they did not need to live up to certain standards. We could partly blame the social media for that but motivational speakers had their part in making us take and post photos of our meals before eating in restaurants.

So what should we conclude about motivational speakers? Are they useful guides who can take us to success or are they underrated money-hunters who would like to make a living off our hard earned money? Does what they teach really transform lives? To what extent? These are question we have to reflect on before we engage in any form of self-help, whether it is attending a motivational seminar, watching a motivational video or reading a self-development book.

Having gone through motivational material, I have a feeling that some of it is relevant and helpful. If one were to ask me about the best bit about having been involved with motivational speakers, videos and tools, I would say that they contributed to how I handle my career and that I would not have been where I am if I had not listened to some practical lessons on planning and having a vision. On the other hand, I feel like some of the content is vague and not tailored to the audiences. In some of the motivational seminars I attended, success in business was touted as the only measure of doing well in life. Having lived through 10 years after getting such messages, I have personally come to conclude that there is more to success than having a lot of money and that business is not for everyone. Not everyone can be a CEO and we all need to run our own race in our own lanes. The point? Some of the things that motivational speakers say need to be taken with a pinch of salt because not all of them apply to you. Being an academic, I have realized that I need to resist the temptation of judging everyone by whether they have a PhD or how many publications they have because for some success means having a fat account while to some it means having a stable marriage. We are fighting different battles and no one should be allowed to hammer our goals and visions into synchrony with theirs.

Have a lovely weekend, dear reader.