An atmosphere that is conducive to progress is one of the most important needs if you want to see any success within your team. In the corporate milieu, this matters a lot. A little while ago, I spoke about how Google encourages its employees to develop software applications, which it later buys from them for exorbitant prices as well. This is the right atmosphere for a creative mind to think.
This works on an individual level as well. If your partner wants to write a novel, mere motivation through words isn’t going to help. You will also have to give them the space and the time to think so that they can come up with their best. If your friend wants to lose weight, you will have to motivate them by giving them the right environment—
stop calling them for drinks, do not make fun of their healthy eating habits or attempts to exercise, and in fact showing them that you are with them every step of the way.
These are the different ways in which motivation works. It is not just about telling someone to do something; you have to show it in your actions as well. Providing people with the right environment to show their growth is probably the best thing someone can do for others.
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The Right Atmosphere for Progress
In general terms, whether we are in a professional environment, or an academic setup, or in any other personal level in our life, each and everything that we do is a measure of our success. And, this success is brought about by motivation, which causes our further development.
Hence, in the modern society, a great deal of emphasis is laid on individual progress. As society considers individual progress to be such an important parameter, in fact, that should be enough motivation for anyone to do better in life. You should be driven by the fact that if you succeed at something, society is going to view you with greater respect. For most people, this is all the incentive that they need for their individual growth.
Individuals are prone to visualize a metric for success, be it achievement of something, the buying of something or the possession of something. Sometimes for some people the greatest motivating factor is money alone.
Whatever may be the driving force behind your motivation, it is this which drives them to move forward and strive harder for success.
Sometimes just for the sake of winning they can motivate themselves to strive harder. Take that simple reason out of their lives and they become an emotional and physical mess.
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They need an environment which fosters the right balance and nurture their hunger for progress and success. Individuals over the course of their lives adapt to specific thought process and belief. Some of which are good and others which are known as self-limiting beliefs are never good.
They only reduce your mental strengths and yourself believe. You end up doubting your abilities and become unsure about yourself. These are the thoughts that hamper progress and further development of the individual.
An individual needs to sometimes look into himself and clear himself of this excess baggage of self-limiting thoughts. They need to do some regular introspection and start thinking beyond what they have been taught and programmed to think from his childhood. If they are successful in breaking their inhibitions and fear of the unknown, they would be surprised at what they can achieve.
Mental conditioning and preparing oneself can also help someone to motivate oneself. An interesting study in context comes to my mind.
Two groups were asked two different questions. The first group was asked if they would like to solve puzzles. They were asked to keep silent and think for about a minute and then give their answer. The second group was informed that they will be required to solve some puzzles and they have 1 minute to ready themselves up for the task.
After one minute, both the groups were told to solve puzzles.
Interestingly, the first group which was asked whether they would like to solve puzzles solved more puzzles than the group which merely informed about it.
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Researchers discovered that by giving the first group an option to choose whether or not they would like to solve puzzles actually braced them and gave them the opportunity to think for themselves.
The other group had no choice but to follow the orders and they were forced to solve the puzzles may be against their will. The first group although may had some reluctant people at least a majority of them thought they are up for the challenge and can solve the puzzles and that gave the motivation to perform.
We can come to this conclusion that internal reasons to motivate oneself is often more powerful than external motivating factors.
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Motivation Secret 4—
Good Incentives and Feedback
