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Proven Rituals That Will Make You Motivated
You know what you’re supposed to be doing… but you’ve come down with a really bad case of “I-don’t-feel-like-it.” You just don’t have any motivation. Ever feel like that? Well, you’re not alone…
Research shows lack of motivation is at a
record high. Today more than 50% of American workers feel disengaged at their
jobs.
According to Gallup, which has been
collecting data on employee engagement for many years, American workers are
generally unmotivated in their jobs — a problem that has risen steadily by
about 2 percent a year since Gallup began examining this issue in 2000. Today,
more than 50 percent of employees are disengaged…
But is
motivation really that important? Don’t
people blow it out of proportion?
No,
actually. No, they don’t. It is that
important. Research shows being motivated predicts career success
better than intelligence, ability, or salary.
When tested in national surveys against such
seemingly crucial factors as intelligence, ability, and salary, level of
motivation proves to be a more significant component in predicting career
success. While level of motivation is highly correlated with success,
importantly, the source of motivation varies greatly among individuals and is
unrelated to success. – Bashaw and Grant 1994
Alright, so you and I really need to get motivated. But, um… where does motivation come from? And how can you and I get more of it? I decided to call a guy who has some answers…Dan Ariely is
a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University and the New York Times
bestselling author of Predictably Irrational. His latest book is Payoff:
The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations.
Let’s get to it…
1) Focus On The Meaning In What You Do
How much would I have to pay you to handle
poop multiple times a day, every day, for a couple years? An awful lot, right?
And
how much would I have to pay you to literally risk your life? To get shot
at on a semi-regular basis? You might say there isn’t any amount
of money that would make that worth it.
And yet new parents handle a lot of poop for
free. (In fact, they spend a lot of money to support the pooper.) And
soldiers risk being killed every day to serve their country — but they
don’t make millions for it.
Neither
of those activities is pleasant. But they’re both meaningful.
And so people are motivated to do them. Here’s Dan:
The things that give us deep happiness are
inherently things that take longer and have a big element of meaning in them.
Running a marathon, writing a book, doing a start-up, climbing a mountain,
being successful in some project… Whatever it is, the things that people report
as important parts of their lives are ones that don’t fit with our pleasure
principle. If you ask yourself what is it that all of those things have, it is
meaning. It is something that transcends the moment and it’s really about
something much bigger. But often when we pursue happiness, we don’t think about
meaning, we think about momentary joy. Which I think is actually counter to
meaning.
Another
very smart guy named Dan — Dan Pink,
author of the bestseller Drive: The Surprising Truth About What
Motivates Us — says these meaningful things
give us purpose. And research shows purpose is one of the most
powerful motivators there is. Here’s Dan Pink:
Purpose is, “Am I doing something in service
of a cause larger than myself, or, at the very least, am I making a
contribution in my own world?”
So
you don’t have trouble finding motivation when something is meaningful…
But what if the task you have to do doesn’t seem meaningful?
Dan
Ariely suggests “reframing your experience.” You might not be able to
change what you have to do but you can change how you
see it. And when you look at it through the lens of how it can help others,
you’ll often find more motivation.
…if we are feeling bored and unmotivated, we
can ask ourselves: “How is the work I’m doing helping someone down the road?
What meaning can I find here?” With this type of mind-set, chances are that we
will be able to find a positive answer.
The
work won’t change. Your perspective can. You’re not
“filling out boring paperwork.” You’re “helping people get insurance that could
save their life.”
When we reframe experience so that we focus
on the meaning, so that we see how it helps others, dull activities
can give us purpose and even be inspiring.
My grandmom, Rita, used
to slave for hours in the kitchen to make dinner for us. But god
forbid you tried to help. She wouldn’t allow that. No, no, no. That little
100-pound Italian woman would sternly wag a finger at you — or give you a whack
on the tush with a wooden spoon.
Her frame was not “I’m slaving over a hot
stove.” In her mind she wasn’t “forced to cook all this food for these
rambunctious kids.” Her frame was “I’m showing my grandchildren
I love them.” And she never lacked for motivation.
Alright, so meaning is motivating
and it’s often tough things that are meaningful. But isn’t there a way to
find motivation that makes things more fun? Yup…
2) Take Ownership
When instant cake mix was first marketed in
the 1950’s it was even easier to use than it is today… And nobody bought it.
Here’s Dan:
When cake mixes first came on the market,
they tried to make them as efficient as possible. They provided the
powder, you added water, poured it into a pan and voilà! You had a cake.
But these cake mixes were not successful. They looked into it and it
wasn’t the flavor.
What
was the problem? By making it so incredibly simple, moms couldn’t feel
ownership. It didn’t feel like their cake. So
the cake mix producers had to do the most ironic thing imaginable…
The
companies needed to make the cakes less easy to make. The moms
needed to feel they contributed more so that it was their cake. And once instant cake mix was
made less instant, sales exploded. Here’s Dan:
It was impossible for a housewife to take
credit for the cake. It was just mixing and adding water, and there was nothing
to that. What they did was take away the eggs and take away the milk
powder. Now people had to put more effort into it. It was not a lot of effort
but it was enough that the moms could take credit for it.
This
principle isn’t only true for baking. You’re not willing to pay college
tuition for any kid — but you’ll do it for your kid.
When
we feel connected to what we’re doing, when we make something our own, we’re
much more motivated. The other Dan, Dan
Pink, refers to this powerful motivator
as autonomy:
Autonomy is simply self-direction. Giving
people some sovereignty over what they do, when they do it, how they do it,
where they do it, who they do it with.
So how do you turn some task you’re
handed at the office into something you feel ownership of? Just by
making small tweaks that customize what you have to do, that allow
you to do it your way, can create that motivating feeling of autonomy.
Dan Ariely had a conversation with a
Broadway actor. Dan could not understand how the guy could say the same lines
over and over every night and not be bored to death. But the actor had
solved that problem by taking ownership. Here’s Dan:
He said, “I make small variations in the way
I talk.” He said, “I pause in different ways. I stand in different places.
By doing so, I try to improve on what I’m doing. I experiment.” The
lesson from this guy was how you take something that seems to be all about
repetition and you add to it your own sense of progress and learning.
The
actor couldn’t change the lines but he made the performance his
own. He challenged himself to experiment and improve. Doing it his way and
trying to get better motivated him and so despite saying the same
exact lines night after night, he never got bored.
So by
tailoring your approach you can gain a feeling of ownership and find
motivation for otherwise dull tasks. But there’s still this mystery of why
you feel so unmotivated to get started on many things in the first
place. What can you do about it?
3)
Don’t Forget “The Inside View”
Ever start telling someone about a great
experience you had and realize they just aren’t getting it?
Your facts and details can’t get the emotions across. So you say, “I guess
you just had to be there…”
This
is the difference between the “inside view” and the “outside view.” But very
often when you look at a task — even one you’ve done before — you take the
outside view. You forget the emotional component. And so something you may
actually enjoy seems like a chore.
I
often have to read a few books to prepare for an interview. And sometimes
my knee-jerk reaction is the outside view: “I have to read 450 pages before
I talk to this person?!? Ugh.” The irony is I love reading when I’m in the midst of it. It’s a
total “flow”
experience for me.
If I don’t remind myself of those positive
emotions I feel while reading, I procrastinate because from the outside
view it’s “yet another chore I have to do.” Here’s Dan:
If I say, “Please describe to me what it’s like
to lie down next to your loved one and feel their body next to you, to hear
their breath and feel the warmth of their skin.” You can feel some of the
mechanics of it, but to truly understand the internal joy, it’s very hard. The
same thing is true for tasks. When you’re taking the outside view, one of the
things you don’t get is what we call “flow.” You don’t get the experience of
being truly immersed, truly engaged, truly connected to something. That
internal feeling of joy is not something that we predict from the outside view.
So how can you avoid the outside view on
tasks that won’t be that bad once you’re immersed in them?
Often it’s
just a matter of what part of the activity you focus on
before you start. Research shows
exercise is one of the activities that makes people happiest, and yet
so many of us avoid going to the gym. Why?
Studies show
that’s because we focus on the beginning of the workout —
the most unpleasant part:
People underestimate how much they enjoy
exercise because of a myopic focus on the unpleasant beginning of exercise, but
this tendency can be harnessed or overcome, potentially increasing intention to
exercise.
If you think about the middle of the
workout when you’re breaking a good sweat, you get the advantage of the inside
view and you’re more motivated.
Now I
know what some people are thinking: “What about tasks where the inside
view is actually worse than the outside view, Mr. Smarty
Pants? Some things just suck.”
No
doubt. So think about that awesome feeling of accomplishment you’ll
have after it’s done. I hate doing my taxes but it feels
amazing to cross something awful like that off my to-do list.
Alright, we’ve learned a lot. Let’s round it
up and learn the difference motivation can make in your life…
Sum
Up
Here’s what Dan Ariely says will get you
motivated:
·
Focus on meaning: Poopy diapers aren’t fun. But parenthood is
meaningful. Focus on how what you do helps others, especially those you care
about.
·
Take ownership: If I had to write these blog posts all formal and
serious, I wouldn’t write them at all. I have fun with them. I write them
my way. And that’s why there will be another one next week.
·
Don’t forget the “inside
view”: What looks dreadful on a to-do list
usually isn’t that bad when you’re in the middle of it. Focus on the good
feelings in the moment.
You’re not a machine, but when it comes to
getting things done we often use machine metaphors. Motivation is a feeling,
something machines don’t have. So don’t neglect your feelings.
From Payoff:
The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations:
We have also learned that we’re much more
driven by all kinds of intangible, emotional forces: the need to be recognized
and to feel ownership; to feel a sense of accomplishment; to find the security
of a long-term commitment and a sense of shared purpose. We want to feel as if
our labor and lives matter in some way, even after death. To motivate ourselves
and others successfully, we need to provide a sense of connection and meaning —
remembering that meaning is not always synonymous with personal happiness.
Arguably, the most powerful motivator in the world is our connection to others.
Motivation is an issue of perspective. The
task doesn’t change, but how you see it does.
Reframe it so you focus on the meaning. See
the task as something you own, versus something shoved on you. Take the inside
view so you remember the good feelings, not the boring details.
Grandmom Rita — may she rest in peace — knew
all that intuitively.
She wasn’t “slaving over a hot stove.” She
was “bringing a family together.” And that’s motivating.
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