Book Review: Book that could help anyone to harness their own motivation

Starting may be easier than finishing, or the other way round, but one way and another there are plenty of obstacles that can get in the way of doing the things we want to do.

Finding it hard to do the things we don’t want to do has a certain logic, but not doing what we want to do – where’s the sense in that? Why do some people find it so much harder to plough through a to do list than others?

These are the questions at the heart of The Four Tendencies, which is an enquiry into motivation.

As the title suggests, Rubin outlines four categories of personality: Obliger, Upholder, Questioner, Rebel.

Her premise is that an individual’s response to inner and outer expectations will be different, depending on their type.

By understanding this, she says, “we can create circumstances and messages that will work best for us” – and for other people.

For example, an Obliger will be more motivated by outer expectations – the things that other people lay upon them, whether that’s an invitation or a request for help.

An Upholder holds their own inner expectations in balance with those they get from others and will press on with their private New Year’s resolutions no matter what.

As might be expected, Questioners’ question, resisting either kind of expectation until they have established whether they choose to accept it.

And don’t try insisting that a Rebel do anything, because “the harder the push, the greater the Rebel push-back.”

Rubin herself is a self-confessed Upholder, which is likely the reason she’s got a healthy list of published books to her name.

In this one, she’s giving insight to personality tendencies that could help anyone to harness their own motivation.

And whether meeting a creative deadline or achieving better health, it’s not just motivation that counts, but being able to act on it.