Motivational techniques for the unmotivated

            The psychology of motivation is not something I’ve studied much, but it is interesting to observe what motivates us as humans.

          Take my four-year-old daughter, for example.  Tell her that it’s time to take a bath and she’ll dawdle for hours if you let her.  There’s no end of things to do and finish before she finds herself in the bathroom. It usually ends with me reaming out the child with, “If you don’t get in the bath now, you will never watch TV again!”  Motivation by threat, I’ll call it – completely ineffective, by the way. 

Yet if I simply tell her that I’m going to race her to the bathroom, she’s there in an instant, yelling, “I’m first! I’m first!”  There’s probably a term for it somewhere, but I’ll call it motivation by competition.

          I’m not sure how long this motivational technique will work (I’m hoping for at least one more year), but I’m reaping its benefits while it lasts. I have a feeling it’s subject to overuse, so best to wield my new-found powers wisely.

          Now it’s easy for me to think, as a parent, that children are rather weak-minded.  After all, they succumb so easily to the simplest motivational techniques.  But who am I kidding?  Adults are just as bad.

Taking me shopping, for instance, is about as bad as dragging along a two-year-old.  Yes, I’ll play happy for the first 20 minutes, but after half an hour, I start to get cranky.  You have to drag me through the aisles.  I’m not motivated to shop, so my blood sugar drops, my head starts to hurt, and I feel an aching in my feet.  Oh, the days when I could ride in the shopping cart!

          So my wife has to play some games with me.  She says I’ll get a coffee afterwards if I behave well.  Or I get to go into the electronics section all by myself.  It’s little things like this that keep me going.  Call it motivation by reward.

          Now contrast that with my wife and me at a financial planning meeting.  She’ll play nice for the first 30 minutes as well, but once we start getting into marginal tax rates and RRSPs versus tax-free savings accounts, her interest wanes considerably.  I, on the other hand, am into it.  I do research for days to prepare for the meetings.  I’ve got spreadsheets, online print-outs, and my top ten financial questions.  Call it the money motivation, but I’ve got it (it’s probably also a mild obsessive-compulsive disorder).

          So we’re all motivated by different things.  And it’s not the end of the world to admit we need motivation.  As much as we like to tout the benefits of internal motivation as opposed to external motivation (where we require someone or something else to motivate us), motivational techniques are still beneficial and necessary.

The workplace is no different.  Doing the same job everyday requires motivation.  Of course your paycheque is likely the biggest motivator, but it’s got to be more than just money. 

My director jokes that we, as the faithful worker bees, shouldn’t require any motivation.  After all, the greatest reward is work well done (yeah… sure).

          But I have a feeling he doesn’t completely believe in this.  Otherwise he wouldn’t go out of his way from time to time to show his appreciation.

          Like a few weeks ago, when he handed out “awards” to each of his underlings.  Similar to Michael Scott’s Dundies in the show, The Office, the awards were more like back-handed compliments.

          I received the “Never gonna get it award” for never winning our weekly office trivia contest (after six long months!).  Because I know this is the only way my boss can show affection, I interpreted this to mean, “I care about you.” (I don’t think he was hugged enough as a child.)

          It’s funny how a little thing like this can improve morale.  After I received my award, my productivity sky-rocketed! I was pushing through spreadsheets and bureaucratic red-tape (or shall I say, producing bureaucratic red-tape) like never before.

It almost lasted a whole hour…. okay, half an hour.