Tag: motivation
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To Complete Goals, Concentrate on ‘The Big Picture’ (Not Subgoals)
To help control and manage progress on a difficult or long-term goal, we often split that goal into many individual subgoals. Once we begin to complete these subgoals, our continued motivation and progress toward the main, or superordinate, goal can be compromised. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2006…
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For Motivation, Keep Goals Secret
Conventional wisdom for setting goals and following through on intentions is to make a public statement of intent in order to bring about some accountability. However the research on the theory is mixed. Derek Sivers summarises a number of studies that suggest we should keep our goals private if we want to remain motivated (especially…
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The Ideas of Frank Chimero
Designer Frank Chimero presents his ‘Ideas’: his manifesto of sorts principles on creativity, motivation and innovation. Chimero briefly covers seven topics, entitled: Why is Greater Than How Not More. Instead, Better. Surprise + Clarity = Delight Sincire, Authentic & Honest No Silver Bullets, No Secrets Quality + Sincerity = Enthusiasm Everything is Something or Other I’m…
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Motivation and the Cognitive Surplus
This short discussion between Clay Shirky and Daniel Pink on cognitive surplus and motivation is full of little insights and allusions to interesting pieces of research. This, from Dan Pink, is a wonderful overview of the research into motivation, presented in typical Pink clarity: We have a biological drive. We eat when we’re hungry, drink when we’re…
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Task Perception (Serious vs. Fun) and Performance
When a task is described as being a serious test of skill or proficiency, high achievers perform significantly better on the task than low achievers (as one would predict). When the same task is described as ‘fun’, however, the opposite is seen: low achievers outperform high achievers. Obviously, how we perceive tasks (or describe them…
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Questioning (Not Telling) Ourselves is the Best Call-to-Action
Thinking about whether we will do a task or not (“Will I…?”) rather than focusing on actually performing the task (“I will….”) has been shown to increase both the probability of us eventually undertaking the task and how successfully we will perform it. The idea seems that “interrogative self-talk”, rather than declarative statements, leads to…
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Olympic Motivation
Coming into the 400m semi-final at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Derek Redmond was the favourite to win the gold medal. However 150m into the race, Redmond’s hamstring snapped and his Olympic dream was shattered… but Redmond was determined to finish the race. The Guardian takes us through the emotional race, with commentary from…