deepstash
Beta
Deepstash brings you key ideas from the most inspiring articles like this one:
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
What does it take to motivate you?
4
Key Ideas
Save all ideas
Money doesn't always motivate
We may think of money as a great motivator, but it is a very poor one.
Money is a good motivator only for boring jobs. For creativity or problem-solving activities, money reduces our natural motivation.
328 SAVES
1.13k READS
Feeling the importance of our actions
If we really want to be motivated, having a goal is not enough. We need to feel something. When we feel that what we do has meaning, we will feel motivated.
Workers who fail to live up to their potential have lost sight of the importance and meaningfulness of their own jobs. If you could remind employees of the importance of their jobs, they might become highly motivated and productive.
347 SAVES
1.01k READS
Giving mundane jobs meaning
We can find meaning when we tell ourselves stories. Reflecting on ourselves and how we see ourselves creates an almost instant change in behavior. Self-awareness involves comparing the self to the ideas of what we should or could be.
When people are told that their actions are being filmed, they consistently change their behavior. They work harder and are more consistent in their actions and values.
287 SAVES
808 READS
The best motivator
Progress is what makes stories feel real. And just as the stories don't need to be real, neither does the progress. The illusion of progress is enough to inspire you to action.
389 SAVES
1.10k READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
14
Key Ideas
Motivation is a complex process
Motivation is a complex process to explain or to realize fully.
Motives are internal experiences that can be categorized into needs, cognitions, and emotions that are influenced by envi...
Motivational strategies that show success
- Teachers that plan lessons to be interesting, curiosity-provoking, and personally inspiring have better success in motivating their students to read.
- Leaders have better success in motivating their employees when they take the employees' perspective and invite them to create their own self-endorsed work goals.
- Parents are more successful when they try to truly understand why their children don't want to do something and then take the time to explain to them the benefits of the activity.
Most successful interventions do not try to change another person's motivation or emotion directly. Instead, they make changes to the person's environmental conditions and the quality of his or her relationships to encourage them to leave behind neglectful or abusive ones.
The basic psychological needs
According to Self-Determination Theory, there are three basic psychological needs which we want to satisfy:
- Autonomy (self-determination). We are motivated when we have a choice in terms of tasks, time, team, and technique.
- Competence (capability and effectiveness). Mastery is a mindset. When we strive toward something greater than ourselves, it demands effort.
- Affiliation needs (association and belonging). We are motivated to form long-lasting positive relationships with others.
External rewards do not work because we don't do rule-based routine tasks. Instead, we need to create environments where intrinsic motivation thrives, where we can gain satisfaction from the activities themselves.
6
Key Ideas
Knowing isn't doing
Learning about improvement is very easy, but actually improving is really hard.
Most any change that requires a lot of consistent mental effort is going to fail because you spend most of th...
Changing your context
Your context influences your decisions. If you make an effort to control your environment, you won't have to exert self-control.
If you don't have cookies in your house, you won't be able to eat cookies.
The 20-second rule
Make the things you want to do take 20 seconds less time to start and let the things you want to keep away from take 20 seconds longer to get going.
4
Key Ideas
Avoid the "all or nothing" mindset
Exercise doesn't have to be complicated. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Don't let optimal be the enemy of good enough. Do what you can do consistently and worry about o...
Wellness is a personal science
Accept advice, but remember you're in this for you—no one else, and you're the only one who'll know what really works. Having an abundance of options isn't a bad thing, but remember who you're in this for.
Whatever you do, enjoy it
Choose something rewarding enough to make you feel good about doing it. If you're having a good time, mistakes feel like learning experiences and challenges to be overcome, not throw-up-your-hands-and-give-up moments.