Motivation

I came across this article about motivation...not too much about inspiring nor motivating oneself, but more towards the defintion of "motive" = WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS/THAT?

Many times in life, we never thought deeply on the reason we are doing something or maybe never held on to that reason long enough... Taking working for instance, many people started off with great passion and energy like revving up and having a good pickup...aspiring to be the best in whatever they do, going the extra mile....But as time moved on, one started to feel exhausted like running low on fuel...work seemed mundane and purposeless...well, work is just another thing to get over with another day...

It's like why people just can't be disciplined enough to blog more frequently? *Talking about myself*...I think the word "discipline" is fictitious! Woot...that's quite a statement...getting philosophical...Think about it, how many times have you said to yourself, "I want to be more disciplined.", but still failed? Discipline is just a word to describe a character/behaviour of someone consistently doing something or not doing something...but how do they actually do that? You have to find what motivates him/her to do that...that's the key...

After digressing so much, back to topic...

"Dan Ariely, a professor at Duke University, and James Heyman, a professor at the University of St. Thomas, explored this idea of motivation. They set up a computer with a circle on the left side of the screen and a square on the right side, and asked participants to use the mouse to drag the circle into the square. Once they did, a new circle appeared on the left. The task was to drag as many circles as they could within five minutes.

Some participants received five dollars, some fifty cents, and some were asked to do it as a favor. How hard did each group work? The five dollar group dragged, on average, 159 circles. The fifty cents group dragged 101 circles. And the group that was paid nothing but asked to do it as a favor? They dragged 168 circles."

Another example...

"The AARP asked some lawyers if they would reduce their fee to $30 an hour to help needy retirees. The lawyers' answer was no. Then AARP had a counterintuitive brainstorm: they asked the lawyers if they would do it for free. The answer was overwhelmingly yes.

Because when we consider whether to do something, we subconsciously ask ourselves a simple question: "Am I the kind of person who . . ?" And money changes the question. When the lawyers were offered $30 an hour their question was "Am I the kind of person who works for $30 an hour?" The answer was clearly no. But when they were asked to do it as a favor? Their new question was "Am I the kind of person who helps people in need?" And then their answer was yes."

I remembered another story by SK about how to persuade his little brother to eat more vegetables...If you asked him to eat more of his own plate, he won't eat it because he doesn't like it. You tried to tell him the "story" about how healthy vegetables are...but still he does not give into that idea...But telling a different "story", if you asked him to help you to eat it because you felt too full (even if you made it up)...he will just happily finish everything on your plate!

This is the story about motivation! People tend to think of themselves as stories. When you interact with someone, you're playing a role in her story. And whatever you do, or whatever she does, or whatever you want her to do, needs to fit into that story in some satisfying way. When you want something from someone, ask yourself what story that person is trying to tell about himself, and then make sure that your role and actions are enhancing that story in the right way.

We can stoke another person's internal motivation not with more money, but by understanding, and supporting, his story. Taking the story of the little brother eating vege, one can say "Hey bro, I know you don't have to eat these vegetables, but the fact that you help me eat that -that's a great thing. I appreciate it" which reinforces the little brother's self-concept — his story — that he's the kind of person who despite hating vegetables, but still sacrifice and help his elder brother to eat it because he was too full...

I think you get the idea...If you feel worn out at work, think about what was the initial story that you were supposed to tell...If you have a bad habit to curb, think about what story you are going to tell in the future...

Start right now! Be it thinking about your own story or help other people tell their story...

Now I started to wonder what my "story" is behind writing this blog...