If you're reading this then motivation may be a challenge for you. Perhaps you feel you have no drive, perhaps you struggle to get excited about what you do each day, or perhaps you just want to unlock the mystery of your own motivation levels. Well taking an interest is the first step. Do the words "if then" mean anything to you? Do you know how it relates to your motivation?
"If then" rewards and punishments are simple to understand. If something happens, then something else happens as a result. For example, if you don't go to school, then your parents will ground you. If you help clean the backyard, then your parents will end the grounding. Makes sense doesn't it? There are punishments for "bad" behavior and "rewards" for good behavior. It's motivation 101!
Unfortunately, motivation 101 ("if then" motivation) doesn't always work. It also creates harmful long term problems. Why? Well how on earth do you become self-motivated and inspired by life when all you are doing is responding to threats of punishment or the delights of rewards? Your motivation levels are just being manipulated. In fact, it's not really addressing motivation at all it's just seeking to change behavior.
"If then" also has a tendency to promote harmful behavior. Behavior such as seeking only to achieve the objectives set out without worrying about how it will be achieved or how that may impact others (for example, you may need to cheat or lie to achieve the outcome), or taking action only based on being rewarded or punished with bigger and bigger items each time (which creates a loop of rewards or punishments that can't be sustained).
Your motivation is not, and should not, be about fear of punishment or the pleasure of a reward. You are not the family pet - you have a more sophisticated brain than that! Motivation is something that comes from within and compels you to action. Everyone knows what real motivation feels like - the feeling of being unstoppable in your ambition. But how do you find this?
Behavioural scientists Harry Harlow and Edward Deci identified the true formula for motivation. They found that the motivation formula is = Autonomy + Mastery + Purpose.
Harlow and Deci found that if you want to be high performer you need to be in an environment that promotes all three elements (or be striving to achieve it). The desire to be in charge and decide what you do and how you do it (autonomy), the desire to constantly improve our skills, abilities and knowledge (mastery), and the desire to act towards a project bigger than our own basic needs (purpose) are what gives us the feeling of true motivation. This is the environment where real motivation occurs.
Understanding these elements is vital if you want to feel the power of true motivation. To develop into a truly motivated person you must create an environment where you are in charge and in control, where you are always improving and developing and working towards something you really and truly want, and where what you are working towards is something that inspires you and calls you to action. Take what you are doing now and twist it within this framework (or finding something else to do if you can't) and you will become a highly energized and motivated person. Good luck!
"If then" rewards and punishments are simple to understand. If something happens, then something else happens as a result. For example, if you don't go to school, then your parents will ground you. If you help clean the backyard, then your parents will end the grounding. Makes sense doesn't it? There are punishments for "bad" behavior and "rewards" for good behavior. It's motivation 101!
Unfortunately, motivation 101 ("if then" motivation) doesn't always work. It also creates harmful long term problems. Why? Well how on earth do you become self-motivated and inspired by life when all you are doing is responding to threats of punishment or the delights of rewards? Your motivation levels are just being manipulated. In fact, it's not really addressing motivation at all it's just seeking to change behavior.
"If then" also has a tendency to promote harmful behavior. Behavior such as seeking only to achieve the objectives set out without worrying about how it will be achieved or how that may impact others (for example, you may need to cheat or lie to achieve the outcome), or taking action only based on being rewarded or punished with bigger and bigger items each time (which creates a loop of rewards or punishments that can't be sustained).
Your motivation is not, and should not, be about fear of punishment or the pleasure of a reward. You are not the family pet - you have a more sophisticated brain than that! Motivation is something that comes from within and compels you to action. Everyone knows what real motivation feels like - the feeling of being unstoppable in your ambition. But how do you find this?
Behavioural scientists Harry Harlow and Edward Deci identified the true formula for motivation. They found that the motivation formula is = Autonomy + Mastery + Purpose.
Harlow and Deci found that if you want to be high performer you need to be in an environment that promotes all three elements (or be striving to achieve it). The desire to be in charge and decide what you do and how you do it (autonomy), the desire to constantly improve our skills, abilities and knowledge (mastery), and the desire to act towards a project bigger than our own basic needs (purpose) are what gives us the feeling of true motivation. This is the environment where real motivation occurs.
Understanding these elements is vital if you want to feel the power of true motivation. To develop into a truly motivated person you must create an environment where you are in charge and in control, where you are always improving and developing and working towards something you really and truly want, and where what you are working towards is something that inspires you and calls you to action. Take what you are doing now and twist it within this framework (or finding something else to do if you can't) and you will become a highly energized and motivated person. Good luck!
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