How do I get myself motivated? Honestly, I
like to listen to Beyonce's 'Flawless' while
running like a sweaty fool. 'We're flawless.
Flawless. I'm flawless.' Probably won't work
for everybody.
If you're in need of motivation to get work
done whether that's school work, office work
or even creative work, it might be helpful
to first understand that the three key ingredients
to motivation are autonomy, value and competence.
We are the most motivated when we feel like
we are autonomous that we're doing a project
because we want to do it, not because we're
being forced to. Secondly we want to feel
like what we're working on offers some kind
of real world value, either to our own personal
lives or to the world at large. You know what's
great? Having a sense of purpose. Third we
want to feel competent, we want to feel like
we're good at whatever it is we're doing.
That fosters self-confidence which then fosters
motivation to keep on doing it. Feeling autonomous,
valued and competent is obviously the best
case scenario in terms of motivation. What
we're more concerned with is what to do when
you don't have those key magical motivational
ingredients. Obviously you can do this. 'We're
flawless ladies.' Or not. Of all the things
that I've read about the science of motivation
the one big thing that jumped out to me that
seems like it could make a really big difference
when you are stuck getting motivated with
something especially if it's something that
you don't necessarily feel all that competent
with, kind of like where I was when I first
started making YouTube videos, auto-focus,
manual focus, white balance, jump cuts, I
don't know what to do, is the importance of
approaching work with a growth mindset versus
a fixed mindset. This crucial difference between
growth mindset and fixed mindset particularly
when it comes to motivation and learning has
been studied a lot in classroom applications.
What they found is that teachers who approach
students from a growth mindset, hey look at
how hard you're working, rather than from
more of a fixed mindset, hey little Johnny
aren't you so smart, hey Jane aren't you a
dumb bag of rocks, no wonder you can't divide
seven into twenty-nine old fart face. That
teacher should get fired I think. Those kids
who buy into this belief that hey, they might
not be great at math but they can get better,
guess what, they do get better. Quick side
note that this growth mind set is especially
important for girls. There is this thing called
the stereotype threat often at work particularly
when it comes to us doing math and science.
This idea that we will perform lower when
we are threatened with the prospect of confirming
a negative stereotype about us. Doing a little
armchair theorizing here it seems like one
antidote to that kind of stereotype threat
and to people in general who might feel intimidated
by the work at hand is to remember the power
of the growth mindset. There are days when
I wake up and I have zero motivation to get
outside and blast 'Flawless' into my earholes
and run around like a sweaty fool, 'I woke
up like this'. What do you do then? Social
scientists would tell you just do something,
make it small. There is this psychological
phenomenon called the zeigarnik effect which
essentially is a term for our human compulsion
to finish what we start. Write one sentence,
put down one idea, make a to-do list, whatever
it might be to do one thing that will then
maybe kick-start a little competence, that
will then remind you maybe of some value,
perhaps instill a sense of autonomy. Ultimately
when you add that up motivation then reflects
back on your sense of self and who you are
and what you're putting into the world. That's
pretty motivating.
