Are people more, or less motivated when they are offered a reward for completing something well? If you’re like most people you will probably have said ‘more’ – but there’s a wealth of research dating back 45 years showing the…
11 More Ways To Reconnect With Your Self-Belief
Need to rebuild your self-esteem or reconnect with your faith in yourself? Here are some thought experiments, visualisations and writing exercises that will help you strengthen your self-belief. 1. See yourself as a friend sees you – ‘how to’ instructions…
Do You Have The Wrong Kind Of Motivation?
There are two kinds of motivation, ‘Towards’ (something you want) and ‘Away-From’ (something you don’t want). Both have their uses, but, as Harry Hill would say, which is better for helping you to achieve your goals? Anger, irritation, fear, or…
Leadership: Fear Is Not Enough Motivation For Sustained Change
You may have heard of the ‘burning platform’ metaphor for corporate change. The idea is that people won’t change unless current conditions are sufficiently scary to make them take the leap into change, whether they want to or not. Here’s…
The Best Way To Motivate Yourself With Self-Talk
You also need to know this if you use (or teach) self-hypnosis, or use affirmations. We now know that it makes a difference if you tell yourself “You can do it” or “I can do it”. A recent study by…
You can always make a difference
Recently I had some firewood delivered. I live in rural France and our main heat source is our woodburning stoves. Getting good quality firewood is a big deal out here. Last month, with winter getting started, we were running low.…
What Research Says About How To Give Feedback
I came across a useful short article in the New York Times by Alina Tugend summarising research into the effects of ‘bad’ events (setbacks, losses, criticism) versus ‘good’ events (progress, gains, praise): Praise Is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall. This is…
How To Engage Your Young Talent At The Start Of A New Job Or Project
While thinking about the challenges of managing ‘Generation Y’ or ‘Millennials’, I came across this excellent article on the HBR blog by Chris Resto, author of ‘Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War…
The CRAFT Model – How To Influence People
This is a simple 5-step process to for influencing people to change their minds. It’s not the only way to do it, but it does give a step-by-step process that I trust you will find useful. The process is derived…
Compassion, energy drain, and motivation
“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of…