10 myths about motivation that only get in your way

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sometimes money, awards, innate abilities and strong will are not enough to force yourself to move forward.

1. Money is the main motivator

Money can certainly be a great motivating factor. But some people attach too much importance to them, overlooking other, equally important things. If you go to a job that pays well, but has a lot of flaws - an office with the devil on the horns, an inconvenient schedule, toxic colleagues - think about it, is the game worth the candle?

2. If you are smart, you are guaranteed success

People often believe that in order to achieve heights, it is enough to be just smart. But scientists argue that high intelligence does not necessarily guarantee great achievement. American psychologist Lewis Theremin, who studied gifted children, found that most of them grew up into completely ordinary people who were not famous for any outstanding deeds. You may be very smart, but without motivation and hard work, you will not see success.

3. To achieve the goal, you need to visualize it

Psychological training gurus and other business coaches extol the "power of visualization." They claim that simply imagining a picture of success will help you achieve your goals. Imagine yourself rich and famous every day - this way you set yourself up for victory, and everything will come true. The main thing is positive thinking.

However, scientists do not agree with this. Experts at New York University conducted a study and concluded that visualizing success not only does not help you achieve it - it, on the contrary, reduces your chances. Positive fantasies about a bright future motivate you less than thoughts of potential failure.

Nevertheless, you can visualize goals, only you need to do it correctly. Imagine not the result of your efforts, but the steps you need to take to achieve it - this motivates much better. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, you do not need to imagine your future self to be fit and slender - rather, imagine how you eat healthy food and exercise.

4. An increase in reward leads to an increase in motivation

If you want to incentivize someone (including yourself) to do something, you may be thinking about increasing the reward for the effort. However, researchers have found that sometimes overrewarding leads, contrary to expectations, to weakened motivation.

Rewards can inspire a person to act, but when you give them to someone who is already motivated enough, they will not be more stimulated. This is called an effect.

5. Fear is a good motivator

The threat of punishment, fine or failure, of course, can stir up and force anyone to act, but only for a short period of time. In the long run, negative motivation is clearly a bad choice. The constant expectation of loss and failure drains our strength and undermines our mental health. So try to use reward, not fear, to motivate yourself and others.

6. It's enough just to try

Remember how you force yourself to do something that you do not want to do or are afraid to do? For example, you have to speak in front of a large audience, but you feel shy. Finally, having made up your mind, you say to yourself: “Okay, it's enough to start, and then it will go like clockwork,” and rush right off the bat.

The idea of “I'll just try and lose nothing” is good for taking action once, but it doesn't work as a long-term motivator.

If you don't know where to sail, no wind will be fair.

Seneca

Instead of “just trying” all the time, take action. If you are afraid of speaking in public, create yourself a thesis plan and follow it. If you are embarrassed to go to the gym, find yourself a training program in advance. This way you will always know what to do, even in an unfamiliar situation. Choose specific goals and set an achievable bar.

7. It all depends on innate abilities

Columbia University psychology professor Carol Dweck argues in her book Agile Mind that focusing on innate talent kills motivation - what the author calls fixed thinking. If you believe that all your abilities are given to you by nature and trying to jump above your head is pointless, then you simply will not have an incentive to do at least something that does not work out the first time.

Focus not on your innate ability, but on the effort it takes to achieve your goal. Praise yourself not for the talents you have, but for your willpower and perseverance. Cultivate these qualities in yourself. The belief that people are capable of change and development through discipline and hard work motivates much more than the idea of "who has what is in it."

8. Willpower is all it takes

People tend to believe that a strong will is needed to achieve goals. Thus, in the annual APA survey, most respondents cite a lack of will as the only factor preventing them from achieving heights. However, this is not the only thing that can stimulate you to take action. And even the opposite: excessive volitional efforts applied over time lead to emotional burnout. And the obsessive desire for self-control will not allow you to effectively motivate yourself. So, if you constantly have to strain your will, you are simply not doing your own thing.

9. You need to wait for inspiration, then motivation will come

Sometimes you are lucky and the muse arrives at exactly the right moment. In a casual rush of inspiration, you feel more motivated than ever. You can write a couple of chapters of your new novel in one sitting, redo all your household chores, or lift so much weight that the coach will whistle respectfully and ask what has come over you. But then this mood goes away and you continue to procrastinate, abandoning work, training and household chores.

I write when the mood comes. The mood comes every day.

William Faulkner

Moments of inspiration are great, but waiting for them to appear is a big mistake. Instead, you should create the right conditions for them.

10. Writing down goals is the key to success

Keeping track of your tasks and ticking boxes next to completed tasks can be a powerful motivation tool. However, a simple fixation of goals without reinforcement by action, obviously, will not give results. Motivation gurus often like to say that writing goals is a panacea, as is the case with "visualizing success."

But this is not the case. It's not enough just to write down what you want - you also need to make a plan for how you will achieve what you want. Let's say your task is to make a lot of money (a matter of distant prospects and significant complexity). Break it down into small sub-tasks that you can start doing now. For example, send a resume to an employer, go for an interview at that time, or draw up a clear business plan.