Motivation comes from pleasure and pain. Psychology as a science looks at archetypes, social conditioning and many other factors. Abraham Maslow wrote about where our needs sit. Survival needs sit at the top of his triangle; death is quite some motivation. Passion fuelled ambition has motivated many great success stories. Revenge tends to get things done as doe’s financial incentive.
Pain: If enough pain is being experienced or perceived as likely; motivation will manifest. Often motivation is achieved with the threat of pain as a consequence. Consequence has been well understood as a motivation tool for all of recorded history. In ancient roman times if legend was accused of cowardice a percentage was crawly tortured and killed. Most animals us included teach with pain levelled for extreme behaviours.
Pleasure: If pleasure is experienced very little motivation is required to keep things happening. Pleasure is a big driver that can bring fantastic rewards however also leads to excesses and additions. Enjoying life research has shown is right up at the top of the triangle as well.
Understanding the science of motivation means many things and often different things to different people. Individual motivation needs to be constantly evolving to keep pace with life’s ever changing needs; life is never static. Areas worth consideration are: focusing on the rewards, increasing motivation through others, giving yourself or others incentives, financial rewards and so the list goes on. History is also a great place to reflect upon; what worked last time.
Governments study comprehensively what will motivating change, then they poll the predicted outcome to make sure it won’t motivate them to get another job. Policy decisions and strategies are all put together with the science of motivation as a key player. Makings sure you sell the positives while not answering question around the negatives.
The marketing and advertising fraternity are ruthless, they will exploit any angle when motivating people to spend. Like is low fat in or low sugar, what time the target audience are tuned in, who do people want to look like. The science of motivating people to spend is very well funded.
Teachers are some of the best qualified in the field of motivating others. Some motivate with grades, while others motivate by embarrassing students or offering reward. The truly great teachers make the study heaps of fun meaning that students enjoy and excel in the learning process. This is truly inspirational motivation.
Science is about attributing and improving on successes based on structured research. Double blind studies, controls, placebos, evaluating and understanding successes and failures. Why are the rules round science so robust? Because educated understanding greatly improves our capacity to grow. Understanding broadly why change is necessary makes motivating clearer and easier. Educated understanding affords more arrows in the quiver or more tools in the tool box. It’s all about questions; why won’t it work, what might work, who can I ask about what’s working best.
“The quality of the life we lead can be directly attributed to the calibre of the questions we ask of ourselves and others” T Robbins.
Motivational science as an individual thing is about, belief, positive thinking and understanding what’s worth getting motivated for. The science round motivating others is about, respectful trusted relationships, honest communication and understanding your audience.
