Susie Steiner writes: Raj Persaud's talk was packed to the rafters - 600 people, some standing at the back, who were in at 9am sharp for his lecture on motivation, drive and ambition. Looking around the tent, you couldn't help wondering how many of them had been up since 6am worrying about their success in life.
Persaud's new book, A Motivated Mind, comes after the publication of Alain de Botton's Status Anxiety – proof that self-help for over achievers is big business.
Persaud does research at the Maudsley Hospital, but is better known for his appearances on telly. He told the Hay audience that people were divided into two groups (aren't they always?): internals and externals.
Externals are people who believe external forces shape their lives. Internals believe the biggest determinant is within themselves: i.e. their power to shape their own lives. According to Persaud, externals are substantially less motivated than internals, and the population as a whole is becoming more external than it was in the 1960s.
"People are going to be less motivated," Persaud said. "Being more external has a dramatic impact on our life. Externals tend not to vote because they feel they can make no impact on their world. Externals tend to commit more crime. Externals are more likely to suffer mental illness."
Why is there this massive shift towards externality in our society, he asked. Some blame it on lawyers and the compensation culture, which leads to passivity. Or psychologists, who contribute to a trend for feeling a tough childhood or bad parenting are to blame. Or politicians, who scapegoat asylum seekers for society's ills.
These factors, said Persaud, are "squeezing out personal responsibility". (Tsk, always looking for someone else to blame, eh.)
The audience couldn't get enough. They gazed up at him, enraptured. The next factor in being motivated, said Persaud, is "orientation to time".
People fall into three groups here (wouldn't you know it): present oriented, future oriented or past oriented. And the more motivated you are, the more future oriented you are, because you are constantly looking ahead and worrying about what's about to happen. The fact that you're probably more miserable, too, is by the by. "Those with the best mental health," admitted Persaud, "are people who can flex between the three."
At question time, the hands shot into the air. One man asked Persaud what percentages he would give to motivation, luck and talent when it comes to success. His answer was a quote from Einstein: 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration.
Which just about sums the whole thing up.
Susie Steiner
