I chose to be a podiatric physician. I spent years of my life working to attain an advanced degree, spent more time in residency, and then began working. Others have chosen different life paths, of course. The question, though, is why chose your particular path?

Some time ago I was talking with a physician colleague who argued her motivation was for money. She related that her goal was to make as much money as possible. She measured her level of success off of how many material objects she was able to acquire. Is money a legitimate motivator?

To some extent, we are all motivated by the desire to make money. Each of us reasonably wants a nice house, a car, clothes, various diversions in our off time, etc. What we’re really talking about here is economic security. How much “security” we have is a personal opinion. I wouldn’t mind being mega-rich (one of the one percenters), but that is not a motivating factor in my life. When it comes to money, my motivation for it ends after being economically secure, comfortable, and able to provide for my family (and maybe have a few luxuries).

The problem with using money as a motivator is twofold. First, once you’ve achieved that large amount of income you had been working toward, then theoretically you no longer have any other motivation to work. Second, the pursuit of wealth is actually a bottomless pit in which the pursuer can never truly reach their goal (unless you’re the richest person in the world and maybe not even then).

Take a look at the figure below, which describes Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.¹ Maslow described this relationship of human motivation in 1943, which is very well known today.² Economic security, which covers survival needs at its most basic level, leads one only to the second level of his hierarchy. It seems there is so much more than simple greed.

If not money, then what is an effective motivator? I often wonder about this topic when I review applicant files to the podiatry college and the residency program. When I see a virtually empty residency application file, I ask, “What was this person thinking, doing nothing during his four years in school other than taking classes?” If you think about it from a purely utilitarian approach, the purpose of podiatry school is to get into the best residency possible, so as to have the best chance to obtain a successful job. If this were truly the thought process, the applicant would have done everything possible to demonstrate leadership experience, research, community involvement, and a pursuit of knowledge above the level of one’s peers, in addition to strong clinical acumen. What could explain the empty application phenomenon? If logic doesn’t play a role, then it must be an emotional component (for example, laziness or fear).

Could emotional or behavior issues be the true motivator?

If you look again at Maslow’s hierarchy, you’ll see the glaringly obvious factor that the top three levels are all emotional components to a person’s psyche. This speaks to the answer to my question above. Emotion and behavior are, in fact, the true motivators for working as a physician.

True, I work to make money, but I could likely have made more money working as a Wall Street tycoon. Beyond this basic need, I work because of the emotional satisfaction of my job. I love when a challenging patient’s wound has healed or when a patient walks in to my office in pain and leaves painless. I’m emotionally satisfied when I see one of my residents or students succeed where they had failed before. I’m warmed to the heart during an academic session, looking at my residents and feeling the community of interested and interesting young people.

Simply put, these are examples of situations where what I do achieves something special, has value (emotional, situational, and intellectual value), improves the lives of others, and has a measure of longevity. In addition to these emotional positives there is the component of recognition. We all want to be recognized for the good we do, for a job well done, and for the betterment of ourselves and those around us.

Do I want money? Sure. What I want more is validity and value. I’ll leave you with the words of Kevin Kruse, New York Times best-selling author: “Life is about making an impact, not making an income.”

Best wishes,

Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT Practice Perfect Editor
[email protected]

1. Image obtained from wikipedia.org/wiki/Work... Last accessed 27 Sept. 2015.
2. Maslow AH., A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 1943;50:370-396. Accessed from https://psychclassics.yorku.ca... Accessed 27 Sept, 2015.