Speeches of Hyo Jin Moon 2006-2008
Delivered Sunday at Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, New York
Hyo Jin Moon Speaks on Keeping Yourself Motivated, Page 242

Some episodes may contain explicit language. Listener discretion is advised.

Keeping Yourself Motivated

January 14, 2007

How are you all doing? Happy New Year!

Is it easy to keep yourself motivated? It's very difficult isn't it? How do you keep people motivated? How do you keep yourself motivated? Before you talk about how you can affect others, how do you keep yourself motivated?

First of all you have to have some kind of purpose in life, right? And you have to have some kind of belief in yourself that you can achieve what you set out to achieve. The purpose you seek has to have a certain value to you. One way or the other, I have to see the end of that course that I've chosen for myself, and I have to believe in myself. It has to be important to me that it happens, and I have to believe that I achieved that in my lifetime.

So, having said that, how do you keep yourself motivated? Sometimes you will face the ups and downs of life. It's very difficult. It's impossible to think that it's just going to be a smooth ride all the way through, that you're going to sail through without any kind of problem whatsoever, and reach your goals. There will always be obstacles. Why? Just because you think that you can do it doesn't mean that you understand the process, because you will face the process for the first time. And you will face the challenge of growth after growth and all the variables that happen.

Then you will learn as you travel through the journey that you have chosen for yourself. All the challenges that you will face one way or the other, you will somehow resolve. You might have some guide book from someone who has prior experience, and who was capable of assisting you or helping you to ease that ride in a proper manner. You need something or someone who  can ease that wave, otherwise, sometimes it can be overwhelming. It can be like a tidal wave at times, but those are the steep hills and valleys that you have to cross.

Every step of the way is a learning process. You have to accept that challenge because that is inevitable. You will not have all the answers as you move forward. I know that you don't want to stagnate. I know that you want to move forward. Moving forward in itself is difficult because the nature of growth itself is so challenging. Just facing a new experience is so challenging that often it is difficult to keep yourself motivated. Just that in itself, something as simple as a new experience.

So, having said that, that's your individual challenge. That's what you have to face, everyone, whatever goals you have. I don't know you or what you are trying to achieve. There are a lot of young people here. You go to school because you want to learn something—a trade or whatever. You will face challenges in learning, but going to school is just the preparation stage. After you come out of school that's when everything begins in terms of work, because you have to weave it into society. You can't just be at an experimental stage, like in a laboratory setting all your life. It has to be real. How do you connect something that you have understood basically in theory and practiced in a laboratory setting to a more tangible reality, a reality that actually affects the social fiber and society in general?

You first have to answer that question—how can I keep myself motivated? What do I need? What do you look for when you're looking for motivation? It's a simple point. If you look at society in general they use two things, a reward system and a sacrifice system. If you're the central figure and you see a very talented person, you can't really use the reward system because we don't have so much money, so you take them out to dinner or whatever. What you have to do is do it literally with your physical effort. Do it with what you have. "I'll sleep less than that guy—I'll work harder than that guy. I'll do whatever it takes to provide more creativity, more productivity. I'll do something,­ something by sacrificing myself to motivate that guy, to inspire that guy, to hold him." If you do this, you can hold that person for a while as long as you keep on doing stuff that he can recognize. That's the only way.

When you try to reach something, what you have to do is, you have to sacrifice more. Let's say you're on equal terms with another person in terms of what you have physically so you say, "I'll take less and I'll give that guy more than I have." That sacrificial act alone, a very simple sacrificial act, becomes a point of inspiration to the recipient—and that is a motivating factor. 

To keep people motivated you either reward them, like, by giving them money, or you inspire them by your sacrifice. The business world is becoming more specialized and you need a specific target to begin with and based on that you have to be purpose driven. Stop making noise and start getting name recognition. Based on that your product can get known out there. You start making money and you have to spread that wealth around. With that you can take care of the guys who are specialists by giving them a lot of financial incentives to keep them motivated, to hold their dedication to the job. Otherwise, they will go to your competitor who is offering a greater financial incentive.

Either you do it with money, or you do it with sacrifice. The stuff that comes from sacrifice is more long term. Trust me. People remember that longer. Money is a short cut. It still works, but you have to keep it coming. They're always looking, "Where is my bonus?" and that kind of stuff. "How come it's not as big as last year? What's going on?" That kind of stuff. 

Sacrificial stuff works, and since you don't live that long, if you just keep it up for several decades you can establish something. That's pretty much how it's done. If you're trying to change the world, which one is the better model? Which is the better way to motivate people?

Sometimes you have to consider yourself a crusader, right? To me a crusader is a person who forces himself to be an optimist. Otherwise you see the glass half empty. That sucks. You think, "I don't think we're going to make it." You've got the wrong attitude for the job. You have to look at things differently than other people would, and you have to do that on your own.

It would be nice if you always had people that you can depend on, that would encourage you and each other. But sometimes you might be alone. What if you got locked up somewhere? What if you have nowhere to go, no one to rely on or depend on to kind of pat you on your shoulder and help you find solace? You have to try and find something that you can use to motivate yourself on your own. That is the key. For me, motivating oneself is the most important thing. How do you do it? How do you motivate yourself?

Like I said, it's up to you to like being a crusader. For that you have to look at things a little bit differently. Then you can find value in them. It doesn't take much, just a thought sometimes, that's all it takes. You don't need to ask somebody's permission—you don't need someone else's validation if you can find through that just a small thought alone that you give yourself. That one small thought, even for the moment, can help you see that light—even for just a moment.

It doesn't matter if it's just a jolt, or like, caffeine high. It doesn't matter if it is just a little jolt if you can find some use for it. That's something because sometimes that's all it takes to make something great. That's how you get started. You were just an invisible little tadpole in the womb and then you became you.

Life begins not just from humongous things that come in the size of a King Kong or something. The beginning can be very small too. It's easy to see something that's big. You get more something, I guess, confidence, maybe, if it comes in a humongous size, but it's not always like that. 

If you are always ready for that kind of moment when you are alone, find that small thought, just that little thing, those kinds of moments will happen more than the moments when you feel tremendously confident because of some giant thing that is so obvious to see.

You can find it in all sorts of different things. It depends on personality types too. Perhaps there are some things that little girls might fancy, I have no idea about those. It happens in that way. If you can value those moments for that reason then it's just like being the crusader. It's in your head.

Just because you formulate something and someone gives you a badge and goes through the ritual of knighting you or whatever it doesn't necessarily mean that much. That might be just some symbol, but for the person it has to start with this kind of thinking.

Obviously we're trying to do this not because of glory and stuff. If it comes, so be it. There are a lot of people who do things because of winning awards and accolades, but more important are the people who do it because they want to do it.

People want things for all sorts of different reasons, but we must find what is meaningful for what you want to be, for what you have chosen to be. In the end, that's how you will be judged by God. That is the most important judgment in my mind. Anything else, oh so what. Judge me as much as you want because that is not the final judgment. I can tell myself that I practice being judged. Judge me more! But that's not the judgment that I'm looking for. It doesn't matter to me.

So, if you have something that you want to achieve because you have chosen a life of faith, then make sure that you get good at motivating other people. I know that you don't have a lot of money, so what else can you do then? The other way, the way of leading by sacrifice.

Those things can happen after 2012 because it's going to start all over again from the bottom up. It's a tall order to find a nation by that time. Who knows what's going to happen? But it's a different time. We're going to do it the right way, the 21st century way, doing 21st century ecumenical work. There is a way to do it. We won't have to knock on doors. We'll already be in the living room through multimedia.

There is a lot of talent necessary to keep our movement working and moving forward 24/7/365 days. If they can do it, we can do it too. I'll try to do my best to support the way it is. At the same time, we have to prepare for the next phase.

It's difficult to find the way. We have problems fundraising, witnessing, and maintaining ourselves. Five years? Are you kidding me? I know what Father needs. In my mind it will take about 10 generations, but he's going to do whatever he's got to do. Okay, my hat is off to you old man!

What can I do? Father will do what he has to do. By that time he will be 92. Maybe he will postpone it eight more years until he is 100 years old.

We will keep on going right. It's crazy, but in five years I will be 50 years old. And you guys will be WHAT? (Laughter.)

Another year. God bless you this year.