Really Working Ways To Motivate

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 16:05

Not so long ago I studied in some coaching project. And here I am sitting in the chat of the project in the WhatsApp and I read how the participants complain that they did not complete the presenter's task: oh, I didn’t do anything … and yaaaaaa…. and yaaaaa toooooo ….

And then I get into the dialogue, a simple-minded creature: there was a task to do - I did it. And so cheerfully I report: they say, done! Look, how many centners of wheat per hectare were milked by the workers of the Moscow Watch Factory! And suddenly it turns out that I mowed down the most … milked … in general, I did. Without any special motivators, I just wanted to get the result, and I plowed. Yes, I myself was surprised that the others did not complete it - but there was a task? I had to do it - did I do it? Further in the group, a dialogue arose spontaneously about how to motivate and force yourself. And the members of the chat began to throw links at each other and gather for a training on motivation (“what prevents us from doing what we have planned?”).

And then I thought: what HELPS us to be motivated?

And this is what I will say. I know few methods in which motivation remains high for a long enough time, and not for one evening (I mean fiery vows: "I swear! From tomorrow I run in the morning and go on a diet!" from motivational speakers).

Truth, all methods of motivation that I know that work - some of them are not very kind. Judge for yourself:

• A keen desire. If it “burns directly” as you want (to get something, achieve something, prove something to someone). The very situation when you are engaged in a certain business "for love", the people call it "hunting more than bondage." It has long been known: if you really want to, you can fly into space, and nothing is impossible for someone who really wants. This, of course, is great, but there is a nuance: usually, when a person wants something, he simply scores on all other life goals. In life, there is almost no ideal situation, which is taught by lifestyle coaches: so that a beautiful wheel of life balance is formed and there is an even progress in all important areas of life. No, if someone wants to study historical fencing, he makes a costume all day long and sits on the forums. If someone really wants to go to Japan, he doesn’t part with the Japanese tutorial and has already monitored all the sites about Japanese culture, visa issues and forums “ours in Japan”. And who wants to go into space - he solders a rocket in the garage and arranges test launches on the weekend in a vacant lot. There is no balance here, there is a distinct bias towards the goal that you dream about, and everything else in life follows a residual principle.
• Anger and envy. The thought perfectly motivates: “he has this, and what am I worse? I want too!" Here a person is pushed forward by envy (you can't stand someone and really want to wipe your nose, like Ellochka the Cannibal, the daughter of a millionaire Vanderbilt) or outright anger (“I'll show you! How dare you !!!”). Anger and envy, of course, are negative emotions, but they are excellent motivators, make you get together and think and act very effectively in the direction of what you want. It is not accepted to admit this, but many achievements were obtained precisely out of envy of a colleague or out of anger at a classmate. That is, of course, you cannot stand your classmate, but you have to study feverishly and work hard in order to be no worse, and, preferably, surpass the bastard. And so professional and career growth happens to you, which, in general, is great.

With a strict boss, you will start to work well without an internal struggle. Guaranteed.

External pressure. The clearest example is when a strict boss promises to fire him from work if he doesn't do something. Many people work in such jobs for years, and they even do it well. Indeed, it is easier for a person to perform his professional duties perfectly, but so that the ghost of a harsh leader always looms on the horizon. And if there is no external pressure, then often a person is not able to get together. For example, I know people who are excellent professionals at work, but groan that they cannot lose weight: if someone MAKE them go to the gym and eat right, then I would do everything in the best possible way, and when I need it, and not to the chief, then…. uuuuuu ….. Eh, who would make me ?. By the way, a lot of coaches and coaches use external coercion techniques, saying to the wards: well, take on obligations, and if you do not fulfill it, a fine! And first lay out the money, if you do what is planned, you will get it back. And a person, fearing a fine, often not so big, begins to work hard and gets results. Because he could not force himself, and external pressure, whatever you say, helps. Again, there is a nuance: external pressure should be able to make a person unpleasant. To fine money, to arrange trouble at work or to infringe on pride. I read that once the President of France François Mitterrand quit smoking, simply declaring publicly that from that very moment he no longer smokes - and did not smoke. The ambitious man was the then French president, it was a shame for him not to keep his word, and even more so it would be a shame if he was caught smoking in secret. For those who are not so proud and are not ashamed of being caught smoking in garages, like a fifth grader, this method will not work. I say: a person is forced to act precisely by the threat of damage, which is threatened by someone from the outside. And here it is very important that the pressure is exactly external - you can always come to an agreement with yourself, and an external force that promises trouble really motivates.

Is Dynamo running? - Everybody is running

• Affiliation … "Everyone ran, and I ran." The sense of belonging (affiliation) is controlled by the neurohormone oxytocin. And, for that matter, fear is also sewn into "belonging" - this is the fear of being expelled from the group, "not like that", "not ours." All of our people do this - but he does not! Maybe he's not ours at all. Get out of here … And then people massively buy cars, phones of the latest model, get married when all friends are married, listen to the "right music" or lead the same lifestyle as "all ours", etc. Personally, a person would not try so hard for himself, but the inner fear of “becoming different from everyone else” prompts him to perform sometimes rather complex chains of actions. Here coaches often give advice to use the "pickled cucumber" technique: well, that is, if a fresh and green cucumber from a garden is placed in a saline solution, he will have no choice but to salt and become the same pickle as his other friends in the same bank. Therefore, if you want a certain way of life, just get into the environment where “everyone does it”. And you will be like everyone else: you will work and earn money, “like everyone else”, go to the same resorts, “like everyone else”, do the same sports and for the same amount of time, “like everyone else”. Simply because in that environment "everyone does it." The pressure of the group will be much softer than in point 3, but it will be constant and you will always be equal to this group of “friends”. The main thing is to choose the right group to belong to.
• Gamification … In situations where a person expects something useful or pleasant, the brain produces the neurohormone dopamine. Previously, it was mistakenly called the "pleasure hormone", but no, it is not responsible for pleasure, but precisely for the anticipation of something valuable (as discovered by Stanford neuroscientist Brian Knutson in 2001). So, dopamine makes people (and animals too - many experiments to study the effects of this neurohormone were performed on rats) imagine how we will feel when we receive something good or valuable. It is thanks to dopamine emissions into the brain that a person hangs up for hours on social networks, spends a lot of time and money on computer games, swears on forums about politics, photographs and uploads all his food to Instagram - that is, he actively interacts in the form of such a peculiar game. It is the element of the game that is called gamification, and it allows a person to be nonviolently involved in activities, sometimes very complex and lengthy. The use of playful techniques can keep a person in a certain job for a long time and make it subjectively exciting for a person.

Although gami cation is almost the only "carrot" method among other motivating approaches using the "stick", gamification also has its drawbacks. For example, such that dopamine stimulation of the brain can become uncontrollable and lead to addiction, that is, a painful addiction that destroys a person's life. So you need to be careful with the elements of gamification as well.

The principles of gamification are now being actively researched and developed, there is still no coherent exhaustive theory. We can only say that the following techniques are used to bring the element of play into the activity:

• The result as an assessment of the actions of the player (points, plus signs in karma, likes, bonuses, stickers, tokens, etc.). For those actions that are considered productive in our "game", the human player can gain a certain amount of positive reinforcements. But he is not immune from the negative (minuses in karma, fines, punishment) - otherwise it would not be interesting. Guaranteed achievements are not a game, they are boring accumulation of capital
• An element of surprise, experiment. Not all the rules should be clear from the very beginning: it is much more interesting for a person to discover patterns as a result of their actions than it is stupid to collect rewards according to previously known rules. The game should have a chance to find a "gold mine" - well, or lose everything, it will be even more entertaining. Predictability kills the element of the game, makes it a boring work routine
• Status social interactions. The result in the game should give some advantages. Or a higher gaming status (“my karma is higher than yours”), or bonuses (the ability to “cash out” the game currency, albeit not always in real money, but in some pleasantries). You can be proud of your status in front of other participants, bonuses can be converted into "buns" and get a bunch of pleasures, also demonstratively. Gamification is almost always tied to social interaction, without it it will not be so interesting at all!

These methods of motivation, as far as I know, only work for more or less a long time. One-off actions, like raising motivation after some great inspirational training, are a single rush of dopamine, depleting in a few hours. Alas, the desire to “figure it out and achieve” caused by the fiery speeches of the motivational coach does not last long. But really impressive results are achieved by long and gradual work, so motivation training is about nothing. You will not be able to give yourself enough "magic pendels" for long-distance flight - only in order to cover a certain, relatively short distance with a single jump. To get far, you need to build a working motivation system. All the systems of motivation that I know that work are built on something not very positive: fear, anger, envy, external pressure, or dependence on reinforcement.

Well, yes, we, people, are lazy creatures and there is no way with us in an amicable way. So I propose to use the knowledge of our shortcomings to achieve our goals.

Working methods - see above. Use