False Motivation

I learned about this reading about a story from the UK Army, which has become somewhat mythical. In keeping with the tone of the story, it’s value does not lie in whether or not it is true. But in what it can teach us that we can then apply in our lives. It goes like this.

In the UK Army they do a lot of training drills and exercises outside, many of them lasting for days. On one particular exercise, a set of young trainees were out in the countryside for several days. They got wet, were tired, sleep deprived and having to perform in very difficult conditions. Half way through the four day exercise, one of the trainees said to the instructor,
“Sarge, we’ve been out here for ages, we are struggling, how much longer?”
“You know I can’t tell you that,”
“Yeah but, can you at least tell us-“
“Ok I’ll let you into some intel,” the Sergeant
would say.
“You see that hill in the distance?” He would ask, pointing to a bright green hill in the near distance.”
“Yeah,”
“Well, when all this is over, there’s going to be a van waiting for you all. And inside it will be hot mugs of tea and mars bars for you all. How’s that sound?”
“Really Sarge??”
“Yeah, now crack on and stop moaning.”

The image of the hot tea and chocolate bars waiting for the trainees kept them highly motivated throughout the rest of the ordeal. So no matter how tired, or cold, or injured they got, they kept their eyes on the prize and the promise of a warm, delicious treat.

So the exercise would eventually end and the trainees would trudge up the bright green hill, exhausted, but excited for their reward. But there was nothing there. No van. No tea. No chocolates. And the trainees couldn’t believe it. “Sarge,” they would exclaim, “there nothing here!”
“That’s right, there isn’t,” he would state calmly.
“So you lied?”
“No. I motivated you.”
“But-“
“Listen. When you are out there for real, you need to be able to motivate yourselves. I won’t be there. You need to be able to keep going, when you don’t want to. And I’ve now shown you how to do it. Picture the van, the tea and chocolates, I don’t care, your missus or boyfriend, whatever you need to, and you imagine they are waiting for you at the end of it. Because that will get you through. Now quite complaining, because what you’ve just been given here is more than any tea or chocolates.”

The trainees would stand quite, stunned, letting the weight of what they had just learned sink in. They now had the capacity to motivate themselves no matter what was going on, by creating something in their own mind to get them through. Presently, there was a rumble in the near distance.
“Hey, what’s that?” one of them asked.
“It’s a van.” The Sarge replied. “You did a good job out there, I’m not totally heartless…” he said with a smirk.

So if you feel like you are out on an Army exercise at the moment, what would be waiting for you in the van? The best thing about false motivation is that you can use it any time, to motivate yourself and provide meaning for the suffering you may be going through. It is not like fleeting motivation, where we often expect to feel great and positive and top of the world. With false motivation, you can allow yourself to feel low, or rubbish, or whatever you need to in that moment. But you keep moving forward. Like the Army trainees did in their exercise.