Articles on Personal Motivation

The most common approach employed to motivate a person is by way of carrot-and-stick. A reward is given when the person performs accordingly and achieves the objective. On the other hand, punishment is executed when the person does not perform accordingly and does not achieve the objective.

Motivation by reward can be very effective - as long as that reward is needed or desired. As soon as that reward is not needed, or does not matter anymore, the motivation stops. When I was young, I was motivated by the reward of one cent for every housefly that I killed. When I was in school, I was motivated by the reward of $10 for every distinction that I obtained. Now, such a one-time payment as reward for efforts extended over a period of time may not motivate me much, except when it is a very big amount. Instead, what will motivate me are the many rewards over extended period of many years for a one-time effort. ... more

2. Impact of extrinsic motivation on intrinsic motivation

Motivation can be simply defined as the things that induce us to take certain actions or behave in a certain way. It is the why or the reason that drives a person towards a desired goal. The reasons can be categorized into something that is within us i.e. intrinsic / internal motivation, or something that is external to us i.e. extrinsic / external motivation.

Internal motivation in performing a task occurs when the task in itself is experienced as rewarding and there is no need for any external reward before it is performed. Examples are love of the task, self-satisfaction, sense of achievement, relaxation purpose, etc. ... more

3. Why advice giving is not advisable

Often in our interactions with other people such as our family members and friends, they would inevitably bring up problems that they are facing. Just as inevitably, we often respond by providing advice on how these problems can be solved, thinking that we are being helpful.

Unfortunately, such well-intended actions often result in creating more harm than good.

Hence, such advice giving is generally not advisable as illustrated below.

Without even listen to the other person in sufficient details and carefully, we already assume we know the problem well. We also do not find out the other person's point of view on the issue at hand. ... more

Brought to you by Jacob gan, PhD (Mich)

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