The SCIENCE Of Motivation: Why We Do What We Do (Chapter 1)
00:00:00 Motivation Triggers
00:00:28 What Is Motivation?
00:02:52 Anything You Want.
00:04:46 What Is Motivation?
00:15:13 Science, History, And Biology.
00:28:44 The Science Of Motivated Action.
00:34:09 Three Primary Theories.
00:34:54 Drives And Needs Theory.
00:35:29 Arousal Theory.
00:36:50 Instinct Theory.
00:54:48 Theories Into Application And Practice.
Have you ever wondered what truly motivates you? This video dives deep into the science behind motivation, exploring its history, biology, and the key theories that explain why we do what we do.
In Chapter 1: Understanding Motivation, you'll learn:
What motivation is and how it differs from happiness and inspiration
How different historical figures viewed motivation
The importance of motivation in achieving your goals
The 3 main theories of motivation: Instinct Theory, Drives & Needs Theory (including Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs), and Personal Arousal Theory
How to leverage these theories to boost your own motivation
By the end of this video, you'll have a solid foundation for understanding what makes you tick and how to harness the power of motivation to crush your goals!
Transcript
mental models 30 thinking tools that separate the average from the exceptional
Speaker:improved decision-making logical analysis and problem-solving written by
Speaker:peter Hollins narrated by Russell Newton copyright 2019 by peter Hollins
Speaker:production copyright by peter Hollins
Speaker:Quality is not an act, it’s a habit - Aristotle.
Speaker:What Is Motivation?
Speaker:You’ve picked up a book about motivation,
Speaker:but let’s assume for a second that it’s not all that obvious what motivation actually is.
Speaker:Is motivation an emotion or more like a thought?
Speaker:Is it a life philosophy, an attitude, or the way you’re born?
Speaker:Could it even be a human need, or a moral code of conduct for living life?
Speaker:Look at the world and all the things people push themselves to do.
Speaker:Why write a book?
Speaker:Why go for a jog this morning (and every morning)?
Speaker:Why climb the mountain, travel to Turkey, learn Braille, go to therapy,
Speaker:get a degree or take up watercolor painting?
Speaker:By reading this book, the idea is to hone in on a new way of answering the above questions,
Speaker:especially as they play out in your own life.
Speaker:More than that, you’ll be able to use your accumulated understanding
Speaker:and insight into how people are motivated to act toward
Speaker:great things, and apply your new knowledge toward your own goals.
Speaker:Motivation is behind everything we do—it touches on who we are, what we want, what we believe.
Speaker:Few topics get so quickly to the heart of the human condition, and allow us
Speaker:to look so deeply into why we do things (or don’t do them!), how we generate curiosity,
Speaker:satisfaction, achievement, and power for ourselves, how we make meaning for our lives,
Speaker:how we set challenging goals and learn the skills needed to achieve them,
Speaker:how we cultivate our creativity, regulate our emotional worlds and take all those millions
Speaker:of single steps that make up the long, long journey to a life that’s genuinely awesome.
Speaker:Motivation is something that’s often associated with performance, athletics, sports or perhaps
Speaker:the business environment when people need to be roused to work hard toward financial targets.
Speaker:But mastery of the mechanics of motivation can help us in so many more ways.
Speaker:If it involves thinking, feeling, or behaving/acting in the world,
Speaker:then a good understanding of underlying motivation will add useful insight.
Speaker:This book differs from some you might have read before - when we study “motivation
Speaker:science” we are trying to marry theoretical understanding with concrete, practical action.
Speaker:Changes to behavior and habit.
Speaker:Changes to attitude.
Speaker:Even, in the case of exercise goals, changes to your very physical form.
Speaker:Anything You Want.
Speaker:If the question is how to attain what you want, then the answer is probably motivation.
Speaker:Let’s put it this way - motivation will not make you achieve every grand,
Speaker:glittering goal you can dream up, or catapult you into untold fame, glory and achievement.
Speaker:But on the other hand, no goal—not a single one—was ever achieved without motivation.
Speaker:The focus of this book will be empirical and action-oriented.
Speaker:We call it motivation “science” because it’s supported by peer-reviewed research, testable
Speaker:hypotheses and models of human behavior that we can critically assess for their real-world value.
Speaker:In other words, it’s about doing what works.
Speaker:When you hear the word “motivation” you may imagine a cheesy speaker
Speaker:on a stage with too-white teeth telling you to aim for the stars,
Speaker:or bland images of inspirational quotes and people doing fancy yoga poses on Instagram.
Speaker:In this book, however, we’ll be holding ourselves accountable to
Speaker:a more rigorous intellectual framework of understanding.
Speaker:We’ll adopt only those ideas and theories that are well-supported,
Speaker:logically sound and, most important of all, demonstrate real results.
Speaker:We’ll also abandon any pet theories that don’t
Speaker:stand up to proper scrutiny—no matter how much we like them!
Speaker:Why does anyone do anything?
Speaker:The answers will be as varied as the people we’re talking about.
Speaker:We do things because they’re intrinsically enjoyable…
Speaker:or because we’re paid to…
Speaker:or because we feel it satisfies our needs to…
Speaker:or because we feel guilty if we don’t…
Speaker:or because we believe doing so will lead us to our goals.
Speaker:Each of these motivations is drastically different.
Speaker:If we want to boost motivation, we have to have a careful understanding
Speaker:of what motivation really is, and what’s driving it.
Speaker:What Is Motivation?
Speaker:Let’s start not with an inspirational quote but with some useful definitions to
Speaker:narrow down exactly what we’re talking about when we talk about motivation.
Speaker:We can say that motivation is the collection of psychological forces that allow us to initiate,
Speaker:organize and persist with behaviors that will ultimately lead us to the achievement of a goal.
Speaker:Every time you act, whether it’s socially, emotionally,
Speaker:biologically or otherwise, something caused that action—i.e. something motivated you.
Speaker:Once an action is instigated and planned out,
Speaker:motivation also helps to keep it going, for however long it takes.
Speaker:Psychologists have dozens of theories to explain why we do what we do.
Speaker:Whether they talk about instincts, or drives, or urges, and whether the motivation comes
Speaker:from inside you (intrinsic motivation) or from outside (extrinsic motivation),
Speaker:it all comes down to the same thing - something in us desires a change from the current state.
Speaker:In Johnmarshall Reeve’s seminal work on motivation,
Speaker:Understanding Motivation and Emotion, this desire for change is a source
Speaker:of energy that riles us up to actively engage with our surrounding environment.
Speaker:It may be taking up exercise, starting a meditation discipline or committing
Speaker:to a daily language lesson, but whatever it is, it’s filled with the energized,
Speaker:goal-oriented action that solves problems, thinks creatively, and gets things done.
Speaker:Intrinsic goals come from our needs as individuals—goals can address physiological
Speaker:needs (health, physical mastery, comfort), but also psychological,
Speaker:social or emotional needs (like self-esteem or a sense of meaning and purpose).
Speaker:But of course, we don’t exist in a vacuum,
Speaker:and the world we live in also motivates and directs our behavior from the outside.
Speaker:Most activities, when you think about it, are a blend of both intrinsic and extrinsic
Speaker:motivators—we may act because of our deeply held values and principles, but these themselves may
Speaker:have been heavily impressed on us by our history and our particular environment.
Speaker:Human beings only act when that action is perceived as meaningful,
Speaker:relevant, correct or beneficial in some way.
Speaker:And humans arrive at these assessments internally, driven by their own goals,
Speaker:their own needs, and their own values and principles.
Speaker:Though it’s true that the external threat of being fired certainly “motivates” people
Speaker:to work hard at their jobs, the decision to actually work hard,
Speaker:the internal justification, is still a personal one.
Speaker:It follows, then, that motivation doesn’t exist where there is no
Speaker:meaning behind the task, no true value, no real relevance to the person involved.
Speaker:Any manager dealing with an uninspired and apathetic workforce knows this—you
Speaker:can’t force motivation any more than you can force love or interest or care.
Speaker:It has to be genuine.
Speaker:And this leads us to another aspect of learning about motivation—i.e.,
Speaker:how we can influence and understand people around us and the way that they behave.
Speaker:It makes sense that in order to inspire or encourage someone to act in a certain way,
Speaker:you need to acknowledge and align with their own innate, genuine needs, goals and values.
Speaker:Influence is not the same as force—it’s more about appealing to natural forces already underway.
Speaker:You can coerce someone with aggression, but you can never make anyone want to do something
Speaker:they don’t want to do—otherwise the entire field of advertising would be unnecessary!
Speaker:The concept is simple - motivation has to come from within.
Speaker:By seeing what motivation is, we also learn what it isn’t—the use
Speaker:of force or aggression to control someone or get them to comply.
Speaker:You may have some success treating yourself this way,
Speaker:but any changes to behavior will be short-lived and you’ll hate the process the whole way.
Speaker:A person who is voluntarily and willingly acting according to their
Speaker:own interests… isn’t that the same as an overall happy, healthy person?
Speaker:In other words, what’s the difference between motivation and plain old happiness,
Speaker:or inspiration, or some other emotion?
Speaker:While these are all excellent areas to explore,
Speaker:this book will focus on only a specific set of questions.
Speaker:Let’s look at what motivation isn’t.
Speaker:“Happiness,” contentment, well-being, etc.—the truth
Speaker:is that you could be extremely happy but not particularly motivated to do anything.
Speaker:Likewise, you’ve probably known yourself to be motivated to act
Speaker:without feeling like rainbows and puppies at that very moment.
Speaker:Though it’s usually the case that many positive feelings follow an achievement
Speaker:of a goal, this is best thought of as a consequence and not a pre-condition.
Speaker:Let’s look at another obvious one—isn’t what motivates most people simply money?
Speaker:Actually, money is more like an incentive than a true motivation (remember,
Speaker:motivation must genuinely address inner needs, values and goals).
Speaker:It’s true that in today’s world, many activities don’t require authentic enthusiasm and deep
Speaker:motivation—to simply be incentivized to do boring admin at work, for example, is enough.
Speaker:Money is a factor, but it is not the factor.
Speaker:Economic necessity cannot replace sincere enthusiasm and desire.
Speaker:Though it’s a great stepping-stone and can certainly boost a temporarily flagging drive,
Speaker:it doesn’t lead to true satisfaction.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because it’s external and superficial,
Speaker:whereas the satisfaction that comes from real motivation is internal and lasting.
Speaker:What about “inspiration”?
Speaker:How does that differ from motivation?
Speaker:Despite first appearances, they are not interchangeable.
Speaker:Inspiration is fleeting, unpredictable, and largely out of our control.
Speaker:It just strikes us out of the blue one day, and we’re usually clueless about its origins.
Speaker:We suddenly feel moved by a touching speech,
Speaker:or energized by some hopeful prospect, and we’re so fired up we’re buzzing.
Speaker:But this is not the same as motivation.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:For the same reason that money isn’t—it’s purely external and superficial.
Speaker:Inspiration is flimsy.
Speaker:Easy come, easy go.
Speaker:Motivation, on the other hand, builds slowly, day by day, one honored commitment at a time.
Speaker:Motivation is conscious, deliberate and hard-working.
Speaker:It’s the thrilling feeling of reaching down inside
Speaker:yourself and creating something strong and valuable—something to be proud of.
Speaker:Inspiration, on the other hand, is like a flash from the gods, a little flicker of potential.
Speaker:Cool while it happens, but nothing substantial.
Speaker:Inspiration can certainly instigate a deeper motivation, but without patience,
Speaker:focus, hard work and all the rest, it’s just feathers on the breeze.
Speaker:When you look at a motivated person, they seem filled with passion and inspiration.
Speaker:But it’s a mistake to assume that this emotional state is the cause—really,
Speaker:it’s the effect of their motivation.
Speaker:Some managers think of motivation as a “push” factor—something that compels people to act,
Speaker:whether it’s punishments, rewards, or incentives—whereas inspiration is a
Speaker:“pull” factor—something that encourages you to reach further, and go beyond yourself.
Speaker:Many successful authors and creatives will say that inspiration is basically worthless;
Speaker:all that matters at the end of the day is what you do.
Speaker:How many words you put on the page.
Speaker:How many reps you do in the gym.
Speaker:How many times you put one foot in front of the other.
Speaker:Different theorists have different takes on the subtle differences,
Speaker:but there is a place for both the flash of excited vision…and the dedication to
Speaker:sit through the steps required to bring that vision to life.
Speaker:There is a place for firing up your heart and soul,
Speaker:and wanting to act toward some grand masterplan, but it will not amount to
Speaker:anything unless it’s also paired with dogged determination and good habits.
Speaker:Head and heart.
Speaker:Hope and pragmatism.
Speaker:The perils of believing that either one alone is enough can be seen in a common example - a person
Speaker:sees a friend losing weight and becoming extremely fit, and they feel inspired.
Speaker:What a great idea!
Speaker:They want to do the same thing!
Speaker:With all that passion and energy, they embark on a new goal, and set to work devising an action plan.
Speaker:Within two months the energy has completely fizzled and they’re back at square one.
Speaker:Uninspired.
Speaker:The problem is obvious - pure inspiration is not enough.
Speaker:The reverse situation is the boss who offers plenty of perks and good pay,
Speaker:but asks his employees to do 100 percent meaningless, soul-sucking, and unchallenging work.
Speaker:The problem is also obvious here - not enough inspiration.
Speaker:We’re not teasing apart these subtly different definitions
Speaker:just for fun—instead, when we can see exactly what we mean by “motivation,”
Speaker:we give ourselves a clear theoretical starting point, and lay the groundwork for true insight.
Speaker:Inspiration is also what it feels like to be motivated,
Speaker:to have a goal, or to imagine achieving it.
Speaker:It’s a subjective, experiential state.
Speaker:Motivation, on the other hand, has more to do with our thoughts, behaviors,
Speaker:beliefs, attitudes and ultimately behaviors.
Speaker:It’s what we choose from an empowered and conscious state.
Speaker:Obviously, there is some overlap.
Speaker:Motivation and emotion are strongly connected.
Speaker:Emotions are our conscious experiences, our reactions to events and situations,
Speaker:our inner state of being.
Speaker:But when we remember that achieving our goals often has the side effect of positive emotions,
Speaker:emotions themselves can be a motivator for future behavior.
Speaker:In this way our emotional state and our motivation can reciprocally reinforce one another.
Speaker:The result of goal achievement, then, is not just the intrinsic value of the goal itself,
Speaker:but also the feelings we derive from that goal, as well as the positive reinforcement
Speaker:to our confidence and self-esteem when we achieve what we say we will.
Speaker:Science, History, And Biology.
Speaker:Ever since humankind realized we had the ability to consciously choose how to act,
Speaker:we’ve wondered about our deeper motivations.
Speaker:Philosophical traditions looking into the nature of motivation have considered
Speaker:our biological drives and intuitions, the emotional and psychological reasons for this
Speaker:or that behavior, and the environmental causes behind an individual’s actions.
Speaker:Some theories attempt to cover all these aspects.
Speaker:The philosopher Aristotle was fond of the topic, and one of the first to propose a
Speaker:formal breakdown of the (he believed four) different types of motivation.
Speaker:Many of the ancient philosophers were similarly concerned with moral and virtuous action,
Speaker:the good life and what it meant to live properly and to one’s fullest human potential.
Speaker:The idea was to restrain undisciplined, wayward impulses of the heart that would
Speaker:derail you from your chosen, rational goal, and seek a balanced, serene middle path through life.
Speaker:Hard work, patience, humility, rational thought and resilience were seen as key attributes for
Speaker:the well-developed human being, and motivation was essentially the fuel needed to drive that project.
Speaker:Not all of the Greek philosophers agreed—the Hedonists and to some extent the Epicureans
Speaker:believed that all human beings were motivated toward maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain.
Speaker:Here, “pleasure” could also entail emotional, spiritual or social rewards.
Speaker:According to this belief, to motivate yourself to achieve a goal, all you need do is ensure that
Speaker:the process of achieving actually feels good, in some way—or at least, it feels better than
Speaker:the alternatives (we’ll see later on that this original theory has a sound physiological basis).
Speaker:Later on, many analytical European philosophers ran with various threads of the motivation debate,
Speaker:including the likes of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jeremy Bentham.
Speaker:Their theories can be boiled down to many of the same ideas we’ve encountered in this book - people
Speaker:have multiple reasons behind their actions, but it’s uniformly our understanding of this cause
Speaker:and effect relationship, and the anticipation of a desired consequence, that drives our behavior.
Speaker:Queries into motivation have seeped
Speaker:into far-reaching intellectual corners all through history.
Speaker:Freud famously claimed that our motivations are hidden from us in our unconscious mind,
Speaker:and we are all driven by hidden sexual and aggressive instincts
Speaker:that are repressed out of conscious awareness.
Speaker:Freud was responsible for much of the framing of human motivation as a “drive”—i.e. more
Speaker:akin to a biological urge that could be dangerous if not channeled correctly.
Speaker:Current psychological research is more holistic and a little kinder.
Speaker:Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, for example, suggested that people
Speaker:were motivated to act according to needs that corresponded to their level of development.
Speaker:Someone with all their material and survival needs met will be motivated to attain other,
Speaker:higher needs, such as those for self-esteem and mastery, or love and belonging with other people.
Speaker:The person who is freaking out about their next meal,
Speaker:however, is naturally going to be motivated by very different incentives.
Speaker:Similarly, H. A. Murray claimed that there were
Speaker:innate personality differences in what motivates people.
Speaker:People could be motivated to act toward needs of achievement,
Speaker:affiliation (i.e. love and companionship with others), autonomy (independence), dominance (the
Speaker:ability to control self and others), order or understanding (including curiosity and reason).
Speaker:Other continental philosophers have suggested
Speaker:a more existential slant to understanding human behavior.
Speaker:Humans act, many theorists believed, because they seek to create meaning, to live purpose-driven
Speaker:lives, or to feel and express a sense of control over themselves and the world.
Speaker:In many ways, Darwin’s theory of evolution is a complete and comprehensive study
Speaker:of not just human motivation, but the motivation driving all life on earth.
Speaker:We don’t have the time or space to consider the complete history of
Speaker:motivation theories in this book, but hopefully you can agree that
Speaker:the topic is a lot more complex than it appears on the surface.
Speaker:You may be wondering why philosophers and psychologists (and yes, unfortunately,
Speaker:marketers and politicians) have been so obsessed with this aspect of human nature.
Speaker:You may be wondering why you should care about it.
Speaker:The answer goes beyond “you need motivation to achieve your goals.”
Speaker:Think of it this way - you only have finite resources
Speaker:in this life—limited time, energy, money.
Speaker:If you are motivated, you use what resources you have in the best way possible.
Speaker:With a laser-like focus on your goal and a practical,
Speaker:organized way to achieve it, you naturally become more efficient.
Speaker:Why fritter away the time and energy you have in life to serve other people’s agendas or goals?
Speaker:Why waste the one precious life you have on distraction or avoidance?
Speaker:Knowing exactly how to reach your goals is actually two rewards in one -
Speaker:a. The reward of achieving the end goal in itself.
Speaker:b. The reward of knowing you can do it, and all the confidence,
Speaker:pride and satisfaction that comes with this achievement.
Speaker:People who know how to work with motivation are more productive,
Speaker:more resilient and more solution-oriented.
Speaker:Have you ever seen someone accomplishing impressive feats and wondered, Wow,
Speaker:how the hell do they do that?
Speaker:Well, it’s not a superpower.
Speaker:These super-achievers have simply tapped into their own personal source of motivation.
Speaker:You have your own source too—and plugging into it is what this book is all about.
Speaker:Once you’re on a path of motivated, self-disciplined living, you may even
Speaker:start to realize that it’s not all that much about the goals anyway.
Speaker:When your entire body, heart and mind are enthusiastically tuned toward the
Speaker:fulfilment of one inspiring goal, it’s as though you’re fired up and come alive.
Speaker:These are the people who bounce out of bed in the morning, busting with energy.
Speaker:When you’re motivated, things just flow.
Speaker:You may get tired, sure, but somehow it doesn’t seem to bring you down.
Speaker:With a strong sense of autonomy and purpose,
Speaker:you start living a life that is richer, fuller and more passionate.
Speaker:You care about something—and that’s energizing in itself!
Speaker:When you understand how good it feels to claim your innate right to self-determination,
Speaker:you’ll feel happier and more content—not because you anticipate a positive reward
Speaker:for your behavior, but because the path itself has become enjoyable.
Speaker:You enjoy the process of improvement itself, relishing your own growth.
Speaker:What could be more inspiring than watching yourself achieve
Speaker:the little goals you set for yourself every day?
Speaker:What a wonderful antidote to depression and
Speaker:anxiety—to really know and internalize the fact that change is always possible,
Speaker:and that today can be better than yesterday, even if only incrementally.
Speaker:This positive attitude will spill over into everything you do, far beyond your chosen goal.
Speaker:A good attitude is infectious, and attracts great people to you.
Speaker:Being positive, motivated and internally driven, you encourage and inspire others,
Speaker:inviting people to respond to you with the same enthusiasm and zeal.
Speaker:As you develop a more solid work ethic, your self-confidence will deepen,
Speaker:and you’ll learn what it means to make a commitment, to others and to yourself.
Speaker:You’ll take good care of time and resources, and become more organized—and you may discover that
Speaker:those around you are inspired by your attitude and more willing to help you on your path.
Speaker:Why does motivation matter?
Speaker:Because your life matters—your dreams, your potential and your desires matter.
Speaker:And the best way to achieve them is with an empowered, focused approach that takes action.
Speaker:This is not just fanciful theory.
Speaker:Successful people the world over, in every walk of life,
Speaker:have found it’s motivation and hard work that pays off.
Speaker:There is a famous anecdote about the golfer Gary Player, who was practicing when someone commented,
Speaker:“I’d give anything to hit like that,” and Gary replied instantly, “No, you wouldn’t."
Speaker:He then went on to explain what he had given already—the endless hours of blood,
Speaker:sweat and tears, the millions of practice strokes, early mornings,
Speaker:bloody bandaged hands... Our culture is obsessed with the genius or the
Speaker:overnight success, the person who hits the jackpot easily and without breaking a sweat.
Speaker:But what Gary Player was saying was clear - he wasn’t born Gary Player either.
Speaker:He had to work for it.
Speaker:Leonardo da Vinci devoted the bulk of every day of his life to painting,
Speaker:and only had his big break at forty-six years old.
Speaker:He painted the whole way, day in, day out.
Speaker:Famous authors like Toni Morrison squeezed in their writing alongside full-time jobs.
Speaker:J. K. Rowling wrote in the evenings and before sunrise.
Speaker:James Joyce is estimated to have spent approximately eight hours a day,
Speaker:seven days a week writing Ulysses.
Speaker:Elon Musk doesn’t cite any fancy early training in either business or rocket science.
Speaker:He claims he just “started reading books” and followed his own motivation.
Speaker:When footballer Tom Brady told his family he would be a household name one day, they laughed at him.
Speaker:He carried on anyway.
Speaker:He says, "What are you willing to do and what are you willing to give up to be the best you can be?
Speaker:You only have so much energy and the clock ticks on all of us."
Speaker:He wanted to be a footballer, and he gave his life to that end.
Speaker:Pure, complete motivation and dedication.
Speaker:With motivation, you take a hold of your life and shape it according to your will,
Speaker:your purpose, your passion.
Speaker:You dig deep into the things that really, truly matter to you and
Speaker:take that fire out into the world to build something bigger than yourself.
Speaker:And you do it in tiny, incremental steps, every single day.
Speaker:This book is intended to help you figure out
Speaker:exactly how to become more motivated in your own life.
Speaker:We’ll be looking at practical, effective techniques to make
Speaker:sure you’re acting strategically toward your goals, squeezing the most out of your effort.
Speaker:If you’re already feeling motivated, this book will help you boost your enthusiasm to new levels.
Speaker:But if you’re struggling to find your own inner power and purpose, this book can
Speaker:help you tackle low motivation and have you feeling inspired to put in the work, today.
Speaker:At the end of every chapter, we’ll condense down the key points to reinforce what we’ve covered.
Speaker:By the time you finish reading the last page, the hope is that you’ll feel spurred to take real,
Speaker:meaningful action in your own life—not just for today, but for the rest of your life.
Speaker:Summary -
Speaker:•Motivation is the collection of psychological forces that allow us to initiate, organize and
Speaker:persist with behaviors that will ultimately lead us to the achievement of a goal.
Speaker:There are several ways to conceptualize what motivates us,
Speaker:but these can broadly be characterized into intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.
Speaker:Intrinsic motivators derive from our own desires and needs, as we feel an
Speaker:inner desire to accomplish certain goals, while extrinsic motivators come from external sources.
Speaker:•Motivation is distinct from related concepts like happiness and inspiration.
Speaker:One can be happy but not motivated, and vice versa.
Speaker:The impulse that makes you do something isn’t the same as the feeling of euphoria.
Speaker:Similarly, inspiration itself can be a motivator, but while inspiration is
Speaker:short-lived and unpredictable, motivation needs to be cultivated through discipline and action.
Speaker:Inspiration can also be a result of motivation instead of the other way round.
Speaker:•Throughout history, different people have espoused different reasons and goals behind
Speaker:our motivations, and these have all culminated in the modern understanding of the concept.
Speaker:Aristotle was the first to recognize that motivation results from internal
Speaker:cognitive processes, while those like Locke and Hobbes recognized our desire
Speaker:for a particular consequence as what motivates us.
Speaker:Freud ventured into the subconscious territory of our brain to postulate
Speaker:that hidden sexual desires are behind our motivations.
Speaker:Today, frameworks like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs dominate our understanding of motivation.
Speaker:•Though motivation is a complicated concept,
Speaker:the reason it’s so important is that we have finite resources for achieving our goals.
Speaker:By harnessing our power for motivation, we can be more resilient, more productive,
Speaker:and more goal-oriented in an effort to get what we want and incorporate the habits we desire.
Speaker:No goal has ever been achieved without motivation, and if you have large,
Speaker:long-term goals, motivating yourself is the only way to pull them off.
Speaker:Chapter 2 - The Science Of Motivated Action.
Speaker:Self-knowledge is the great power by which we comprehend and control our lives.
Speaker:•Vernon Howard
Speaker:Let’s begin by getting a firmer grasp of the theory behind motivation.
Speaker:We’ve briefly considered the older philosophical
Speaker:models that first tried to conceptualize motivation,
Speaker:but from here on, we’ll mostly work within a more contemporary, psychological perspective.
Speaker:There are three main psychological theories explaining motivation.
Speaker:If you’ve ever read anything on motivation before,
Speaker:it’s likely that it touched on at least one of them.
Speaker:A psychologist would agree with the definition we started this
Speaker:book with—motivation is the collection of psychological forces that allow us to initiate,
Speaker:organize and persist with behaviors that will ultimately lead us to the achievement of a goal.
Speaker:Because there are different types of need (for example,
Speaker:psychological or physiological), some theories focus more heavily on one than the other.
Speaker:Humans are messy, though (or should we say “complex”?), and our behavior is likely caused
Speaker:by many different driving forces, both intrinsic and extrinsic, that address a range of needs.
Speaker:Therefore the three theories we’ll look at shortly are not competing, but complementary.
Speaker:How do we put it all together?
Speaker:Our needs, the surrounding environment, thoughts, emotions, desires and behavior…?
Speaker:This is where we need a simple model.
Speaker:Let’s consider an example.
Speaker:Your friend invites you to a yoga class and while there, you really enjoy yourself.
Speaker:The class has an effect on you—your stress levels drop,
Speaker:your body fills with endorphins and you feel socially connected to your friend.
Speaker:Since you have a need to feel good and socialize positively with others,
Speaker:your perception of the various benefits comes together to create
Speaker:a desire to want to act to sustain this feeling, or get more of it.
Speaker:This alters your behavior, and you sign up for more classes.
Speaker:This example sums up the general motivation process.
Speaker:Antecedent (pre-existing) conditions in our
Speaker:environment can have effects on our emotions, thoughts and needs.
Speaker:We interpret these and build an urge for more (or for less,
Speaker:if we want to avoid a painful condition).
Speaker:We are then energized and directed to act toward our goal.
Speaker:It’s simple - environmental stimuli can shape our motives,
Speaker:which express themselves in goal-directed action.
Speaker:When it comes down to it,
Speaker:there’s a big difference between can and will—and that difference is motivation.
Speaker:You can have all the right conditions set and all the competencies needed,
Speaker:but you won’t achieve anything unless you are motivated to do so.
Speaker:Without that crucial middle step—the one where you generate the urge to move toward
Speaker:or away from something—you remain stuck in inaction.
Speaker:We can either be pulled by the promise of the future or pushed by the past,
Speaker:but one way or another, effort is required.
Speaker:Crucially, we all experience motives, but not all of us set goals (or achieve them).
Speaker:If you haven’t eaten in a while your hunger is certainly a strong physiological motive,
Speaker:but it isn’t fulfilled until you make a concrete plan about how to act—i.e.,
Speaker:you have a goal (get your hands on a sandwich urgently).
Speaker:Motivation is what allows us to cross the divide between could and did,
Speaker:between potential and actual.
Speaker:Generally, the motives, urges and desires that serve to sustain life (food, water,
Speaker:shelter and yes, sex) are push motivators.
Speaker:We drink water to avoid dying of dehydration,
Speaker:pay our taxes to avoid going to jail, or wear a sweater to avoid getting cold.
Speaker:Those things in life that would be nice to have
Speaker:but aren’t strictly necessary are often pull motivators.
Speaker:We delay gratification, devote ourselves to a discipline and work ultra-hard for these
Speaker:more abstract rewards of pride, achievement, satisfaction, and even the less noble but no
Speaker:less motivating force of simply wanting to boast or be better than someone else!
Speaker:What about a person who decides to embark on training to become a doctor, for example?
Speaker:What’s motivating them?
Speaker:It could be push factors to sate more physiological needs (doctors
Speaker:earn boatloads of money and always have job security) as well as pull factors
Speaker:(such as wanting to impress others, to personally overcome the challenge,
Speaker:to serve the community, or simply get nagging family members off your back).
Speaker:Such a person could be driven by a whole cocktail of motives (feelings and thoughts
Speaker:about what being a doctor means) as well as incentives (the hefty salary,
Speaker:respect and admiration from others) and even the desire to avoid unpleasant outcomes (such as, uh,
Speaker:disappointing a mother who wants you to be a doctor).
Speaker:We can understand our final resulting actions as
Speaker:the outcome of a mix of interacting causes—internal and external, push
Speaker:and pull, positive and negative, physical, social, psychological or even spiritual.
Speaker:The way we act is the sum of these influences.
Speaker:Three Primary Theories.
Speaker:Let’s dive into the theories.
Speaker:Though some ideas on motivation seem complicated on the surface,
Speaker:most of them boil down to one of the following themes -
Speaker:Instinct Theory.
Speaker:“I act because I have an inbuilt, fixed impulse to do so.
Speaker:These behaviors evolved because they help me to satisfy my basic needs and survive in the world.”
Speaker:Examples -
Speaker:Someone acts in self-defense to protect themselves from a dangerous intruder.
Speaker:A bird migrates to a warmer climate.
Speaker:Instinct Theory. was at its heyday in the 1920s but is now largely relegated
Speaker:to evolutionary and genetic research rather than complex human behavior.
Speaker:Drives And Needs Theory.
Speaker:“I act in order to meet my various needs.”
Speaker:Example - Someone chooses a big meal at a restaurant after not eating all day.
Speaker:It’s also been hypothesized that people act
Speaker:to reduce the inner tension created from an unmet drive.
Speaker:These don’t necessarily have to be drives for survival—for example, a person may have a strong
Speaker:drive to eat a big meal even though they’ve scoffed three big meals already that day!
Speaker:The biological motivation is there, yet it’s uncoupled from survival.
Speaker:Arousal Theory.
Speaker:“I act to maintain an optimal state of arousal for me, personally.”
Speaker:Examples -
Speaker:Someone goes to a theme park with friends to alleviate boredom and do something exciting.
Speaker:Another person comes home from a hectic day at work and immediately
Speaker:has a hot bath and a glass of wine to wind down.
Speaker:Most of the reasons why we do things can be explained using one or all of these theories.
Speaker:Why work?
Speaker:To earn money.
Speaker:Money helps with survival (instinct theory)
Speaker:but also satisfies other needs (such as self-esteem and pride).
Speaker:We might work to avoid the pain of unemployment,
Speaker:while also working to enjoy the pleasure of being appreciated, praised and recognized.
Speaker:We could have chosen our line of employment
Speaker:because it suits our energy levels and temperament well (arousal theory).
Speaker:We could stay in our jobs because we strive to be excellent, accomplished (or even more altruistic)
Speaker:people—but we also put up with the daily drudgery that comes with that job out of guilt.
Speaker:Whether we desire power, fame, financial reward, personal passion,
Speaker:philanthropy or personal development, our deeper motivations for any behavior are
Speaker:likely to be explained very basically by one or more of the above theories.
Speaker:Let’s take a closer look.
Speaker:Instinct Theory.
Speaker:As we saw above, instinct theory suggests that, as biological organisms,
Speaker:humans have innate drives to behave in ways that increase their chances of survival.
Speaker:Think about the instinct of, say, running in terror from something seriously scary.
Speaker:This is something that you do spontaneously and automatically, without being taught,
Speaker:and it can certainly be thought of as goal-oriented (the goal - don’t die!).
Speaker:Furthermore, instincts are broad patterns of
Speaker:behavior - every animal in a species shows the same instinctual patterns.
Speaker:All dogs shake when wet.
Speaker:All babies show a suckling instinct and all mothers show an urge to care for their offspring,
Speaker:regardless of their historical period or culture (or how impossible their child is being…).
Speaker:In other words, your desire for food, water, sex, or safety is not much different from
Speaker:another animal’s desire to lay its eggs on the beach or migrate south when it gets cold.
Speaker:Even the tiniest human infants show instincts to move toward the breast to suckle, or grasp
Speaker:tightly onto an offered finger.
Speaker:William McDougall was the original instinct theorist when it came to motivation,
Speaker:and claimed that three things made up an instinct - perception, behavior and emotion.
Speaker:Other prominent theorists wrote about the power of instincts to drive behavior,
Speaker:including Freud, who theorized that there were only two main ones - the
Speaker:life instinct (everything life-affirming such as sex,
Speaker:food and social behavior) and the death instinct (aggression and the impulse to self-destruct).
Speaker:The psychologist William James identified several instinctual emotions,
Speaker:which themselves occur universally in humans without learning, and are there for
Speaker:our survival (think of instincts to hygiene, anger at a violation, shame or even love).
Speaker:From this viewpoint, instincts are biological imperatives.
Speaker:They serve a real, practical purpose.
Speaker:Organisms act simply because their instincts tell them to.
Speaker:It’s in their genes.
Speaker:Though the idea makes some sense, you can probably see why these theories largely fell
Speaker:out of favor some decades ago - they don’t explain all human behavior—not even close.
Speaker:Instincts are hard to measure or observe, and even if we identify an instinct,
Speaker:there are still times when the instinct actually isn’t displayed.
Speaker:On the flipside, this theory doesn’t explain how
Speaker:we manage to do things that go against our instincts.
Speaker:These include activities that are tedious, boring,
Speaker:dangerous and generally tasks that we avoid but recognize the need for.
Speaker:This could be studying extensively before a test,
Speaker:completing difficult tasks that seem intimidating, etc.
Speaker:It’s hard to believe that any natural instinct could be
Speaker:behind our motivation to do any of these things.
Speaker:Moreover, even if we could attribute some instinct for every behavior,
Speaker:this doesn’t tell us anything about why or how these instincts motivate us.
Speaker:As such, this theory leaves no way for us to motivate ourselves.
Speaker:We’re stuck waiting for our natural instincts to
Speaker:motivate us through processes that we have no deeper understanding of.
Speaker:The modern, more humanistic approach to motivation is that although biological
Speaker:instincts play a role, more complex and sophisticated behaviors also come
Speaker:down to our conscious human response to events, and our individual differences.
Speaker:While this model may help us understand more “basic” behaviors, it’s less useful to explain
Speaker:why someone would, for example, seek out dangerous situations, develop anorexia or adopt a child.
Speaker:By the definitions given above, so much of human behavior simply isn’t universal.
Speaker:Some mothers kill their children.
Speaker:Some people commit suicide.
Speaker:If you try to list right now the behaviors that all human beings worldwide engage in automatically
Speaker:almost all of the time, you’d be left with a very small percentage of total human behavior.
Speaker:Nevertheless, instinct theory is not useless.
Speaker:Some theorists claim that in humans, the instinctual impulse is universal,
Speaker:but its expression can be changed according to environmental forces such as culture.
Speaker:The world modern human beings live in is a far less physical,
Speaker:animalistic reality—though humans might have started out as primarily instinctual beings,
Speaker:most would agree that we’ve evolved significantly more convoluted motivations since.
Speaker:Drives And Needs Theory.
Speaker:As our understanding of what human beings really want expanded,
Speaker:so did our theories to explain their motivation.
Speaker:If it’s not just instincts, then what else exactly is compelling people to act as they do?
Speaker:Ask a mother why she had a child and she probably won’t say, “My biology compelled me."
Speaker:More likely is that she will talk about love, of the journey of motherhood, of her psychological,
Speaker:familial, cultural and even financial, political and spiritual reasons behind her decision.
Speaker:The idea of a psychological need expands the human repertoire to more
Speaker:than just running from saber-toothed creatures and prowling for a mate.
Speaker:While you would certainly die without food, water or shelter, isn’t it also true that you need love,
Speaker:purpose, creative expression, meaningful work and so on to be happy and healthy as a human being?
Speaker:Psychological needs are many and multilayered, and can vary somewhat between individuals.
Speaker:Human beings need to feel achievement at something in life, to feel autonomous and
Speaker:independent to make their own unique decisions, to have somewhere they belong socially,
Speaker:to have a sense of order and control over themselves and the environment around them,
Speaker:and to be able to ask questions so they can learn and understand the world they live in.
Speaker:Some of the current trends have pushed these psychological needs
Speaker:further—don’t human beings also have higher needs?
Speaker:The so-called existential needs speak to our yearning for purpose and meaning,
Speaker:for a rich, self-determined life,
Speaker:and a satisfactory answer to the question of who we are and what we’re doing here.
Speaker:Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs theory seems to explain how humans are indeed
Speaker:motivated to fulfill all of these needs—including physical, psychological and emotional/spiritual.
Speaker:His idea, though, was that not all needs were the same; i.e., there is a hierarchy.
Speaker:Maslow’s theory can be envisioned as a pyramid with the most urgent and
Speaker:necessary needs forming the base, and the less urgent, more abstract needs resting on top.
Speaker:Our most primal, basic motivations are (necessarily) geared toward satisfying
Speaker:those needs that form the basis of our survival.
Speaker:These important needs come before any others—simply because nothing else can be
Speaker:considered if you’re starving, freezing to death, or under threat of immediate attack, for example.
Speaker:This means that the higher needs—i.e. for love and belonging,
Speaker:self-esteem and recognition, and finally full self-actualization,
Speaker:in that order—are not met until the supporting needs are sufficiently satisfied.
Speaker:Physiological needs - food, water, warmth, sleep, sex, shelter from the elements
Speaker:Safety needs - enough money, physical and personal safety, good health and well-being
Speaker:Social needs - feeling love and belonging, friendship, intimacy
Speaker:Self-esteem needs - respect, achievement, social recognition,
Speaker:a sense of contribution, status, attention, prestige, self-respect, independence, confidence
Speaker:Self-actualization - realizing full human potential, unique striving
Speaker:for meaning and purpose, state of conscious development and growth.
Speaker:To be “actualized” is to make your full potential a reality, whether it’s to be a great parent,
Speaker:businessman, artist, athlete, philanthropist, etc.
Speaker:For Maslow, all levels below self-actualization come from “deprivation”—i.e., they are overcome
Speaker:in order to avoid the unpleasantness of not having them fulfilled.
Speaker:The final level, however, is a growth need (or what others may call a pull factor)
Speaker:that comes from an inner desire not simply to avoid pain, but to be a better human being.
Speaker:Maslow believed only 2 percent of the population ever achieve self-actualization,
Speaker:but their characteristics included acceptance of self and others, spontaneity, humor, an objective
Speaker:and neutral attitude to reality, creativity, solution-focused instead of self-focused, unique,
Speaker:altruistic, appreciative of life, ethical, private and fair-minded (to be fair, Maslow
Speaker:only based this on the traits of his personal favorite handful of white, wealthy Western men).
Speaker:Whether you agree with the needs listed or their order, or even with the claim
Speaker:that one cannot tackle higher needs without lower ones being met first,
Speaker:there is still plenty to be gained from this theory.
Speaker:For instance, what kind of needs dominate your life currently?
Speaker:Do you need to satisfy some more immediate concerns before you can achieve loftier goals?
Speaker:Again, our needs and drives interact with one another to produce final behavior.
Speaker:If your external incentives and challenges strongly compel you to do something,
Speaker:you’ll probably do it even if your internal motivation is weak.
Speaker:Similarly, you will likely act even if external
Speaker:incentives are lacking if your inner drive is strong.
Speaker:If both inner and outer forces are weak, though, there’s simply no reason to act.
Speaker:As people move up the hierarchy, they may find themselves engaging
Speaker:less and less with external incentives, force, necessity and physiological urge,
Speaker:and motivated more by the desire to grow, to develop, connect, and aspire to higher ideals.
Speaker:As we move up the pyramid, time scales change, too.
Speaker:Physiological needs tend to be immediate and short term,
Speaker:whereas higher goals concern longer time periods.
Speaker:We can further understand Maslow’s hierarchy in
Speaker:terms of classifying needs as either traits or states.
Speaker:A need can be a temporary state of being (e.g. you’re hungry right now,
Speaker:so you need to eat) or a trait or fixed characteristic (e.g.
Speaker:you generally need a fixed amount of food every day, over your lifetime).
Speaker:What all this theoretical complexity comes down to is simple - needs and drives of
Speaker:all kinds are powerful motivators, and inform much of our behavior.
Speaker:The many strands explored in this theoretical framework
Speaker:prove how multifaceted humans themselves are.
Speaker:You may have a personality that predisposes you to a high need for independence and autonomy,
Speaker:but you didn’t exactly have this attribute as a three-year-old,
Speaker:and you mostly feel this way at work or with friends, and not with romantic partners.
Speaker:You may have many high-minded goals for yourself that include doing charity work, creating
Speaker:meaningful art or contemplating the universe in general, but it all goes out the window if your
Speaker:blood sugar’s low or you’re a few weeks behind on rent and the landlady is knocking at the door.
Speaker:You may have strong sexual physiological needs that you nevertheless routinely
Speaker:suppress because of the family and culture you were raised in.
Speaker:You may dislike your work most days,
Speaker:but still do it because you’re quite partial to the hefty salary you get.
Speaker:You may not be bothered to make lunch if you’re only a little peckish,
Speaker:but if the intensity of that hunger goes up, you’ll eventually cave… unless you’re also being
Speaker:nagged by hungry kids who want to eat now, in which case you could be persuaded to act sooner…
Speaker:The drives theory is thus at odds with, yet very similar to the instincts theory.
Speaker:The latter claims that we are motivated by universal drives,
Speaker:that we desire to manifest something we feel instinctively inclined toward.
Speaker:The drive theory, on the other hand,
Speaker:says that we’re motivated by a desire to neutralize the drives we experience.
Speaker:When we feel hungry, instinct theory says that we
Speaker:eat because the sensation of hunger gives rise to an instinct for food.
Speaker:The drives theory would claim that we eat because we want
Speaker:to get rid of the sensation (or drive) of hunger.
Speaker:It’s a subtle difference, but one motivation is positive, while the other is negative in nature.
Speaker:However, in both cases, we’re being motivated by need and impulses that we don’t control.
Speaker:The point of the drives theory is, we’re all unique, and biological, social, emotional,
Speaker:psychological, and self-actualizing needs exist in a complex environment with constantly changing
Speaker:incentives, limits, cultures, and people with their own respective needs and behaviors.
Speaker:However complex we make the theory about human drives and needs,
Speaker:one thing remains the same - our final behavior will always be the sum of the total
Speaker:forces—internal and external, push and pull, from all levels—that act on us.
Speaker:Arousal Theory.
Speaker:Let’s consider one more prominent
Speaker:theoretical thread—the role of individual arousal in motivation.
Speaker:This theory states that people act in order to maintain the perfect level
Speaker:of arousal for themselves, and what is optimal differs from person to person.
Speaker:“Arousal” here basically refers to the overall physiological level of stimulation we experience,
Speaker:which affects the way we process information,
Speaker:how stressed or overwhelmed we feel, and how well we perform.
Speaker:The idea is that humans do what they do to try to balance out their energy and arousal levels.
Speaker:If you’re bored and feeling down, you might do something exciting or
Speaker:stimulating like go out to a club or have a run.
Speaker:If you’re fed up, overwhelmed, or have had “too much” you might compensate by taking a nap,
Speaker:or spending quiet time alone with a book.
Speaker:It doesn’t really matter what actions or activities we do,
Speaker:only that we perceive them as having an effect on our stimulation levels,
Speaker:and act accordingly to keep ourselves in a healthy equilibrium.
Speaker:One person’s exhilarating activity could be another’s relaxing afternoon, or someone
Speaker:might love high-energy antics—but only up to a specific point, at which they become draining.
Speaker:The main idea is that all behavior comes down to the management of a total,
Speaker:single quantity called physiological arousal.
Speaker:Why does someone write a book, commit a crime, choose the burger and not the salad,
Speaker:take up Jiu Jitsu or bail on a friend’s birthday party?
Speaker:This theory’s answer is that, in some way, these actions brought the people doing them into a more
Speaker:comfortable level of arousal, whether by spiking their arousal or calming it down.
Speaker:Rather than acting to reduce the tension that comes with
Speaker:mounting unfulfilled drives (i.e. the drive-reduction theory of motivation),
Speaker:this theory suggests that action is corrective and maintains overall homeostasis.
Speaker:The ideal arousal level varies not just between people, but within individuals,
Speaker:and can be shifted by environmental factors, life experience or just the mood you’re in that day.
Speaker:One important aspect of this theory is its claims about performance.
Speaker:Increasing arousal levels generally increases performance, but only up to a point, beyond
Speaker:which they inhibit performance—this is called the Yerkes-Dodson Law,
Speaker:which was defined in the early 1900s.
Speaker:What’s more, high-level tasks are more sensitive to optimal arousal conditions
Speaker:than more mundane tasks—you can do simple tasks well even half-asleep, for example.
Speaker:If you’ve ever written an exam, you already understand this phenomenon—stress a little and
Speaker:you’re alert and focused, stress too much and you start to forget things and make mistakes.
Speaker:Again, however, what counts as the ideal amount of arousal varies between individuals.
Speaker:And the ideal arousal level for each activity differs—you need a whole lot more arousal just
Speaker:before you step into the boxing ring than you do before you perform delicate brain surgery.
Speaker:Naturally, many variables other than the nature and complexity of a task
Speaker:affect this relationship, including how skilled you are ordinarily at the task,
Speaker:your overall personality (are you very anxious generally?), or your confidence levels.
Speaker:What does this theory mean for those wanting to improve their own motivation?
Speaker:If arousal (i.e. motivation) is too low, your efforts should be focused on raising it—inspiring
Speaker:action, practicing self-discipline, improving self-esteem and training.
Speaker:If you’re overly anxious, however, your approach should actually be to bring arousal down.
Speaker:The counterintuitive result is that less pressure may actually
Speaker:make such people perform better in the long run.
Speaker:This is a perfect illustration of why we need to understand the theory behind
Speaker:motivation before attempting to optimize it.
Speaker:By digging into the deeper mechanisms of our own motivation, we can understand ourselves and our
Speaker:behavior better, and give ourselves the chance to make effective changes that actually work for us.
Speaker:This is the aim of the next section.
Speaker:Theories Into Application And Practice.
Speaker:We’ve covered a lot of theoretical ground in this chapter, but now is the time
Speaker:to see just how all these ideas can be put to practical use.
Speaker:The following section boils it all down to three actionable steps you can take
Speaker:right now to enhance your own behavior, performance and satisfaction in life.
Speaker:Each of these steps comes from the three broad theories we’ve discussed above.
Speaker:Working with in-built instinct (following your intuition)
Speaker:You’ve heard of “trusting your gut."
Speaker:It’s that visceral, inexplicable feeling that
Speaker:makes you feel like you “just know” what you’re meant to do.
Speaker:Whether in love, work or money, respecting our innate instinctual feelings can pay off.
Speaker:But there’s nothing mystical about any of it.
Speaker:Instinct is nothing more than the ability to rapidly perceive cues and patterns and act
Speaker:spontaneously without any deliberate or conscious realization that you are doing
Speaker:so—and it’s a phenomenon that’s been researched by everyone from economists to microbiologists.
Speaker:How can we use in-built instinct to become better people?
Speaker:This fast, emotional decision-making style is so prominent because it helps humans survive.
Speaker:In fact, many theorists from Kahneman and Tversky
Speaker:to Malcolm Gladwell believe most of our decisions are made this way.
Speaker:The idea that emotions cloud decision making may be backwards—it could be that rational
Speaker:thought and justification follows long after we’ve already decided what we want to do.
Speaker:Though intuition certainly helps, it can also hinder, and many of humankind’s worst
Speaker:biases come in when we follow automatic assumptions without further reflection.
Speaker:Biases can include believing that we have all the information needed to make a decision,
Speaker:ignoring information that doesn’t support the beliefs we already have (confirmation bias),
Speaker:believing we had better knowledge in the past than we really did (hindsight bias),
Speaker:or putting more weight into recent events than more distant ones.
Speaker:The secret may be to combine both reason and intuition—you can certainly listen to your gut,
Speaker:but it doesn’t have to be a one-way conversation!
Speaker:Don’t take your own judgments at face value.
Speaker:Really slow down to analyze the facts in front of you, objectively and comprehensively.
Speaker:Intuition is the unconscious appraisal of information—and it’s often right.
Speaker:But using it together with your slower, more rational mind gives you the best
Speaker:chance of making a decision that will have the optimal outcome.
Speaker:Start with intuition and go from there.
Speaker:Put into words your vague feelings, and look closely at them.
Speaker:“I just know we’re meant to be together” could open the way for understanding that
Speaker:you’re simply experiencing strong physical chemistry, for example.
Speaker:When you dig deeper and give yourself the chance to tally up previously ignored information,
Speaker:you might come to the decision that eloping to Vegas with the person you
Speaker:just met is probably not the smartest idea—even if your gut is telling you to!
Speaker:The trouble with labeling an impulse a “gut feeling” or “instinct” (in the lay sense) is
Speaker:that it doesn’t really explain or mean much—it’s just a description, and a weak one at that.
Speaker:Your gut can be wrong, plain and simple,
Speaker:and you won’t know it’s wrong unless you examine it more closely.
Speaker:Your instinctive mind is a valuable asset, but so too is your rational,
Speaker:slower and more analytical thought process.
Speaker:If you’re trying to make a decision, immediately ask your gut first.
Speaker:Ask trusted others too—the “group gut” is more
Speaker:powerful than we give it credit for—before you make a decision.
Speaker:Then, ask yourself whether your instinct is rational.
Speaker:So if you feel that you’re “meant to be” with someone, consider whether there are any actual
Speaker:indicators of compatibility and ensure you’re not just assuming this based on your feelings.
Speaker:Think it over, but don’t spend too long overanalyzing.
Speaker:A good-enough decision is often better than wasting time chewing over things endlessly.
Speaker:Match your caution to the size of the decision—if it’s something small,
Speaker:reversible and largely inconsequential,
Speaker:you’ll probably gain more in experience by simply acting, even if you’re a little unsure.
Speaker:Practically speaking, here’s a decision-making checklist to cover all your bases -
Speaker:1. Have I paid attention to the information and what my
Speaker:gut is saying, or am I rushing to a conclusion because I’m anxious?
Speaker:2. Am I using my “gut” as an excuse to not examine my real motivations?
Speaker:3. Will my gut feeling change if I engage my rational mind?
Speaker:4. Is my gut feeling really just fear or the opinions or others?
Speaker:5. Do I actually have enough data to make this decision?
Speaker:Once you’ve done a more thorough analysis, you can ask your gut a second time.
Speaker:If all else fails, “sleep on it” is excellent advice.
Speaker:This is especially useful when you have to make decisions while you’re
Speaker:in a heightened emotional state, like when you’re angry or upset.
Speaker:In such scenarios your rationality can easily become distorted,
Speaker:and delaying the decision gives you space to assess your options.
Speaker:Trust your unconscious mind to work on the problem and look at things afresh in the morning.
Speaker:Working with compassion—know your needs and the needs of others
Speaker:An easy way to be more compassionate and
Speaker:understanding is to begin with a consideration of human need.
Speaker:Using a needs model like Maslow’s hierarchy, for example, we can
Speaker:approach ourselves and others with a respect for the level of need they’re operating from.
Speaker:A Chief Executive Officer might understand that he cannot expect high-level,
Speaker:innovative solutions from his employees if he they’re constantly worried for
Speaker:their financial security—or worse, work in an environment that undermines their safety.
Speaker:Similarly, a teacher can communicate differently with students if he can tell that one has a high
Speaker:need for affiliation and approval while the other strongly desires autonomy and control.
Speaker:In relationships, we can be kind with our partners when we realize they may be acting from
Speaker:unmet needs—and we can work to help get them met, rather than being frustrated with their behavior.
Speaker:It’s true that many have disagreed with Maslow’s rankings, claiming for example
Speaker:that many materially impoverished families nevertheless do not feel unfulfilled socially,
Speaker:lack self-esteem, or ignore the higher artistic, spiritual or philanthropic pursuits.
Speaker:Similarly, many people have almost all their needs
Speaker:met early on in life and never go on to achieve self-actualization.
Speaker:Nevertheless, the hierarchy can help us prioritize needs,
Speaker:whether we’re understanding our own behavior or trying to appeal to others.
Speaker:When you realize that you’re underperforming because you
Speaker:have a vitamin deficiency or are sleep deprived,
Speaker:you open the door to practice self-compassion and self-care—plus you improve your performance.
Speaker:Many people feel profoundly unfulfilled and empty in life,
Speaker:despite having enormous material wealth and safety.
Speaker:By understanding that their more advanced needs aren’t being met, they can redirect their
Speaker:attention to where they are truly unfulfilled, for example by reaching out to others socially,
Speaker:choosing a more challenging career or project, or seeking spiritual or personal growth.
Speaker:When you frame behaviors in terms of needs, you are tackling things directly.
Speaker:You can ask yourself routinely, What needs are unfulfilled at the moment?
Speaker:How can I satisfy them?
Speaker:When dealing with others, you can ask the same question,
Speaker:quickly dissolving misunderstanding and conflict and getting to the root of the problem—i.e.
Speaker:that people behave as they do because they are trying to get their needs met.
Speaker:Understanding needs can even lead to more creative problem solving.
Speaker:If you are experiencing a lack in one area, you can lean more heavily into another temporarily,
Speaker:for example drawing on friends and family or even tapping into your
Speaker:religious beliefs to help you get though a health challenge or financial setback.
Speaker:Maslow strongly believed that it was no use studying pathology and mental illness—rather,
Speaker:we could learn more about mankind’s full potential by studying those most fully developed people.
Speaker:In the same way, you can look aspirationally ahead to the needs you have yet to fill,
Speaker:and be inspired and motivated to go beyond yourself and realize your full potential.
Speaker:These theories work very well in the workplace.
Speaker:If you’re managing or leading people, ask what their needs are,
Speaker:and how they’re going about meeting them—this will help you communicate with them better,
Speaker:as well as incentivize them most effectively.
Speaker:This tactic also works in social relationships of all kinds—remember,
Speaker:it’s not what you perceive to be the person’s need, but what they perceive it to be.
Speaker:It’s the felt experience, and not any “objective” reality,
Speaker:that determines a person’s perspective and behavior.
Speaker:In both work and personal life, Maslow’s theory teaches us that nobody is a robot.
Speaker:We are all multifaceted beings with all kinds of needs, and a harsh workplace culture that
Speaker:doesn’t consider its employees’ range of needs will likely alienate or distress them.
Speaker:When you’re making a decision or tackling a problem, ask the following questions -
Speaker:•Running through all my needs, what am I missing?
Speaker:•Are my needs being met in my relationships, my career, my community and so on?
Speaker:•Am I doing enough to understand the needs of those around me?
Speaker:•What action can I take right now to start addressing my most pressing need?
Speaker:•What really matters to me, not just immediately, but in general?
Speaker:•What would self-actualization look like for me?
Speaker:•What unmet needs are holding me back from pursuing this full potential?
Speaker:Working with arousal—are you stressed, pressured, or motivated?
Speaker:Most of us tend to think of stress as a uniformly bad thing in life, but the arousal theory suggests
Speaker:the key is finding your optimal level of stress rather than eliminating it entirely.
Speaker:How can we use the Yerkes-Dodson Law to live more productive, healthy and happy lives?
Speaker:You’ll need to answer a few key questions first -
Speaker:•What is your unique optimal level of arousal, generally speaking?
Speaker:•How complex and familiar is the task you’re trying to do?
Speaker:•What are your skill levels and competencies relevant to the task at hand?
Speaker:•Is stress and pressure in your life improving your performance or undermining it?
Speaker:Stress, pressure and motivation can be understood as more or less
Speaker:the same quality, only at different intensities.
Speaker:Importantly, it’s your unique perception of this intensity that matters.
Speaker:There are tests available to ascertain your level of stress and decide whether
Speaker:it’s too high or low, but a formal test is not strictly necessary—you may be able
Speaker:to detect insufficient arousal levels by noticing disengagement or boredom,
Speaker:or diagnose excessive stress by the fact that you always feel completely burnt out.
Speaker:Your goal is to find that sweet spot -
Speaker:With an unchallenging and boring task and no time limit,
Speaker:your performance is likely to be average at best.
Speaker:With a task that challenges you without overwhelming you,
Speaker:at a tight but doable deadline, you’re “stressed” enough to put in the work and excel.
Speaker:With a task that’s unfamiliar, extremely difficult and way beyond our comfort zone
Speaker:and skill level, you’ll do poorly or give up early on.
Speaker:From this theory’s point of view, the secret to finding optimal motivation
Speaker:for yourself doesn’t lie in you, it lies in the nature of the task.
Speaker:If you want to inspire yourself, your job is to
Speaker:closely match your temperament and skill level with the difficulty of the task.
Speaker:Counterintuitively, it’s people who stay comfortably in the middle
Speaker:zone who excel in the long term—those who are insufficiently aroused never amount to anything,
Speaker:while those who are too aroused risk burning out, quitting or seriously losing confidence.
Speaker:Practice self-compassion, but temper it with the understanding
Speaker:that a little pressure now and then is good for you!
Speaker:If you’re feeling undermotivated in life,
Speaker:consider whether it’s because you are not really challenging yourself.
Speaker:Raise the stakes a little.
Speaker:Light that fire.
Speaker:Be honest if you’ve become sloppy in your work or taken things in your personal life for granted.
Speaker:On the other hand, it’s probably true that most of us in today’s
Speaker:demanding world suffer from excessive rather than insufficient arousal.
Speaker:If on reflection you feel like life is grinding you down, there’s a lot you
Speaker:can do—without necessarily quitting work or running away from responsibilities!
Speaker:Firstly, find ways to increase your sense of control over what you do.
Speaker:Empower yourself by asking what you can change and focus on that—stress tends
Speaker:to melt once you pause and take a moment to consider all the options actually open to you.
Speaker:Secondly, try to bring more authenticity to life,
Speaker:whether it’s in your hobbies, relationships or work.
Speaker:Speak your mind and express who you really are, and much of life’s pressure seems to ease.
Speaker:Nothing is quite as draining as the effort needed to be who you aren’t.
Speaker:Break tasks into smaller chunks, slow down, and give yourself intermittent rewards.
Speaker:Quit the self-criticism habit.
Speaker:Remember that the difference between stress and pressure is simply one of
Speaker:degree—take your tasks and dial them back a bit.
Speaker:Make sure you feel competent with one activity before progressing to the next, more complex one.
Speaker:Recognize when you are feeling overwhelmed,
Speaker:confused, or panicked and take a break to restructure the task in front of you.
Speaker:Mindfulness, positive affirmations, visualizations and simple deep breathing can help, too.
Speaker:Finally, though it might seem ridiculous,
Speaker:use ritual and even superstition to boost your own confidence, focus and performance.
Speaker:A little prayer, a lucky coin or a special routine before a big
Speaker:decision or challenging task can actually have surprising effects.
Speaker:Sports psychology research done in 2010 by Cotterill and colleagues found that simple
Speaker:rituals like crossing the fingers actually had a notable effect on performance—go figure.
Speaker:Summary -
Speaker:•There are three main theories of motivation - instinct theory,
Speaker:drives and needs theory, and personal arousal theory.
Speaker:We can use our newfound knowledge of all three to guide our actions.
Speaker:•According to instinct theory,
Speaker:our actions and behaviors are governed by universal impulses deep within our psyche.
Speaker:We exhibit these behaviors without being taught to, and all animals express them in similar ways.
Speaker:There are different ideas of what exactly an instinct is, but generally they are considered
Speaker:biological urges that serve a particular purpose and help us survive and thrive in the world.
Speaker:•The drives and needs theory is similar in that it
Speaker:claims our behaviors are motivated by certain needs, such as hunger.
Speaker:However, while we have instincts to do particular things, our needs give rise
Speaker:to certain drives that aim to fulfill our needs.
Speaker:Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs effectively summarizes the various needs a person
Speaker:has throughout his life and which ones are more important than others.
Speaker:While this stratification of importance varies between people,
Speaker:Maslow’s pyramid is a good way to recognize our needs, and thus working toward fulfilling them.
Speaker:•Arousal Theory. claims that we all have an optimal level of arousal, also called homeostasis.
Speaker:This arousal can stem from a variety of emotions such as happiness,
Speaker:stress, anger, satisfaction, etc.
Speaker:All of our behaviors are aimed at achieving or maintaining this optimal level.
Speaker:While too little arousal is obviously bad,
Speaker:too much can be harmful as well because both inhibit our performance and motivation levels.
Speaker:•We can use all three theories together to maximize our own
Speaker:motivation - trust your gut feeling but temper it with more rational thought;
Speaker:consider your needs when dealing with yourself and others; make sure that you’re
Speaker:hitting the Goldilocks zone where arousal is concerned—not too little, not too much.
Speaker:As you utilize all three frameworks, remember to constantly break down large tasks into
Speaker:smaller parts, get enough rest, and to take breaks when you feel overwhelmed.
Speaker:this has been motivation triggers psychological tactics for energy
Speaker:willpower self-discipline and fast action
Speaker:written by patrick king narrated by russell newton
Speaker:copyright 2020 by patrick king production copyright
Speaker:by patrick king
