Confucius said, ‘A healthy man wants a thousand things. A sick man only wants one thing’.
A sick person only wants to turn healthy again. Sickness has an asymmetric relationship with satisfaction. The presence of sickness leaves us dissatisfied, but the absence of sickness doesn’t lead to satisfaction. Instead, we look for satisfaction in a thousand other things.
In our workplaces, Frederick Herzberg’s theory on hygiene and motivation factors illustrates this principles. It concludes that the factors for job dissatisfaction (hygiene factors) need to be addressed before those that lead to job satisfaction (motivation factors).
Ergo, first, heal the sickness. Then, seek satisfaction.
Observations 