Post #24 Extra Credit #4

When reading the text, I forget which chapter of course, the idea of motivation really stuck to me. It didn't go much into depth about how to solve a lack of motivation or any science behind it, so I took it upon myself to understand it and hopefully better my own internal drive. 

I say to better myself, because the motivation in my life is not complete nor very strong if you will, to help me accomplish near anything on a timely basis. This is especially true when it comes to my school work. I find myself knowing and planning everything I have to do, in order to be in a well position, but I cannot consistently bring myself to actually do any of it. Doing my school work, will get me good grades, which in turn will get me scholarships for college and teach me good study habits for next year. Yes, I do understand that complete connection but again, I am just lacking in the motivation to even start the cycle. 

And as is so prevalent in class, I searched out a Ted talk on motivation. Through watching this talk I hoped to cure my short of desire in motivation and better myself in the coming months and years. 

Dan Pink gave a talk on 'The Puzzle of Motivation.' He was a very entertaining speaker and was able to keep my attention most of the eighteen minutes. At the beginning Pink actually presented the candle problem, which I already knew about because we had reviewed it in class. Then, he began talking about incentives. Incentives in the work area were proven to block creativity, or just not work. His basis off of how a work place works, made the extrinsic and intrinsic incentives/ motivators very applicable to my own way of thinking. Rewards narrow our focus and specializes our way of thinking, which is where the blocking creativity comes in. This idea is actually very surprising to myself because while searching on Pinterest one day, I saw a post of tricks to studying in college. One of these tricks was to reward yourself with an M&M after reading each paragraph in a college textbook. For myself, to read and study the Psychology textbook I use the same idea with modifications After each page I would eat an M&M, and soon enough I would be more interested in the text and forgot to reward myself.

So, Pink wasn't able to give specifics on how to better my study habits or improve my motivation, but some the broad spect ideas were really wonderful. Such as, he presented examples from Australia's work force and how they process, which makes them more productive. The country has days where they do not have to be at work at specific time, nor do they have any deadlines. The data showed their productivity actually went up. Taking this thought into consideration, my motivation could be improved by not worrying so much about when something needs to be done, and more on when I have time to do it. By doing so, I will probably be less stressed and find it easier to sit down and do work.