Extrinsic Motivation is it Effective?

Rica spends the longest hours reading the most boring novels just to get the exemption privileges that our English Literature professor gives us. When all of us have given up hope on solving a Calculus problem for additional merits, Rica will waste precious neurons and hours until she could solve them. She even grabbed the tedious job of checking the class attendance for our Psychology class just so she could get extra credits for the course. Weird huh? But what makes it stranger is the fact that she doesn’t even like any of these courses. I know this because she writes about it in her blog. Rica’s other penchant is active participation in school organizations. She is the president of the school chapter of an organization that promotes the rights of animals, a member of the IT club and is also one of the lead actresses of the theatre group. The only school organization that Rica isn’t a member of is the male honor students fraternity. In the event that they start accepting female applicants, she will probably be the first one to whip it. But Rica doesn’t even like dogs so why is she the president of an organization that deals with animals, many of which are dogs? She hates IT and wrote essays on its disadvantages for the school publication so why is she in the IT club? She loves acting but despises many of the members of the theatre group so why can’t she just find another venue for her talent? I can only think of one answer to all my questions. They are all magnets for popularity. The animal club has been featured in local television for the work that it has done, IT members are esteemed by the student body and the theatre group is famous for its modern versions of classic plays. I assume that Rica’s frenzy for good grades is matched by a strong desire for popularity, hence the memberships.

Grades and acquiring popularity are two sources of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that is rooted in an external stimulus, something that is in the individual’s environment. Extrinsic motivation provides the individual satisfaction in performing a task that even if the individual doesn’t really like doing it, he or she continues to accomplish the work because of his or her anticipated reward.

Extrinsic motivation has been the fuel of many of man’s activities – from education to the workplace. The various types of extrinsic motivation ranging from the more common ones such as money, fame and recognition, awards and prizes, status and privileges to the extreme ones like bribery, threats and punishments have been utilized by man of all ages and sizes, and in different circumstances.

Is extrinsic motivation effective? I wonder. Here are a few points on the matter that we should consider:

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How Can We Change Our Brain and Therefore Change Our Life?

Linda’s fear of social contact has tremendously debilitated her life since it’s onset. She would not speak in front of people nor would she look anyone in the eye. She is afraid of going out of her house because she thinks that people will mock her. She is worried that they do not like her and the way she is. Seeing how this problem has incapacitated my friend Linda, I made a decision to convince her to read a book by Dr. Amen entitled Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. I could have easily given her a copy of the book, but I thought otherwise. Linda was already frustrated because of her irrational beliefs about people insulting her, presenting the book to her would have given her more reasons to be perturbed.

To make Linda read, I decided to “accidentally” leave my copy of the book behind after one of my visits with her. I knew that she was going to read it because of her passion for books. The week after, I went to her house again to retrieve the book I also set a new motto for myself Change Brain Change Life. To my pleasant surprise, I saw that she had made notes on some of the things that Dr. Amen wrote about in his book.

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How Do You Catch Something As Elusive As Motivation in the Workplace?

The moment Bob stepped out of the administration office with a brand on his head saying “new team leader of the production team”, he knew that he had two choices: Either he fires the current employees who were not exactly producing quality work and who have cost the company large quantities of greens in losses and feel bad about it or he gets sacked for retaining them. While reviewing information about the production team in the hopes of finding a good reason for keeping them, Bob was astounded when he discovered that all of them were above average individuals, the best in their fields in fact! So why in the world were these people not doing the work that they were hired to do? Bob got his answer when he read the final report on who the previous team leader was. It was none other than the company’s Mr. Scrooge. Suddenly realization hit him and he saw that the problem was not the production force. Rather, it was the lack of motivation in the workplace.

Are you a team leader, head, manager, or supervisor who has also discovered that there is a dismally low quantity of motivation in the workplace? If you are, then like Bob you realize that what you have at hand is a monster of a problem. The fate of a business or a company is sealed by the competence and efficiency of its work force. In fact, the greatest asset of a business is not technology or equipment. Rather, it is competent, efficient and motivated employees.

Motivation in the workplace has drastic effects on quantitative and qualitative output. If there is abysmally low motivation in the workplace, the products manufactured will not meet the quality demands and will surely have appalling consequences. As a manager or leader, it is your duty to steer the company away from this path by increasing motivation.

Motivation is the spark that lights a burning bush of passion to achieve goals despite obstacles. It’s the upshot that individuals need so that there is inspiration to complete a task. To increase motivation in the workplace i.e. to increase production and quality, well, that needs some serious piece of advice, right? So, what’s a manager or leader to do? Here are a few ideas:

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How Do You Tango with Money Wealth and Prosperity?

“abundance… – I am abundant……abundance…- I am abundant.” I say the affirmation to myself every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep. But I am no money, wealth and prosperity expert. I work neither at a bank nor at a trading company. Those are the jobs of my sister and my brother. They smell of wealth and prosperity from morning to night. They smell of green bucks, while I, I can’t even do cha-cha with my work compensation, how much more tango with it? My relationship with money wealth and prosperity in particular can be described as NASA’s rover exploration of Mars – almost impossible. Only almost anyway – since I am now in the process of understanding my relationship with money wealth and prosperity.

Most of us are consumed with the thoughts of making money, losing money, and then gaining more again. Our anxiety levels concerning monetary exchange are high – we are never satisfied with the little we have and we instantly worry about how to survive with what we have in our hands. Some people say that money wealth is the root of sin – but money isn’t really bad. On the other hand, you cannot define it as good because it is simply a piece of paper or plated copper used in agreement as the medium for exchange of goods and services. Its significance merely lies on the fact that it is the universal language of bartering. But even without money – people can still do the exchange process, although it would be more difficult. Imagine exchanging farm animals for a piece of land.

A Video about Wealth and Prosperity We Really Like

Understanding the concept of money wealth and prosperity might be easy to grasp – but to actually become intimate in one’s relationship with it is not a simple task. I realized this only when I was on the brink of going bankrupt. This was around five years ago, when I couldn’t immediately find a job after I graduated from college and I had to start paying off my college loans. Today, I am doing well mainly because I made the effort to prosper. So what did I do? Here are a few of the steps that you can perhaps follow when you would like to understand more about money wealth and prosperity.

• Get to know your drive for desiring more. Is it emotionally motivated or objectively related? When I say emotionally related, it means that you’re merely driven to strive for more because of the joy of having cash in your hands or because of the fear of losing that cash. Emotional motivation is not good enough to help you understand how you are supposed to relate with moneywealth and prosperity. When you are emotionally motivated – you are easily influenced by those around you. If others want you to spend because the moment calls for celebration, then you would spend money as an emotional response to the others’ call particularly because you want them to be happy.
• Is it a need or a want? Objectivity comes in here. Once you are objective, you act on a rational judgment and not on illogical thinking. When you have a desire for something, examine if this desire is a need or a want. When it is a need – then you are being objective. It is something important for survival – physical or psychological. By psychological – it means that whatever the desire is, its important in boosting your self-worth, e.g. good education, good clothing, and toiletries. By physical – it simply indicates your biological needs – food, water, shelter. A want on the other hand involves the investment of a lot of money wealth– expensive clothes, expensive food or expensive vanity products. Everything that spells expensive and could actually be substituted with reasonably priced ones fall under wants.
• Deliberate and Consider. It will never hurt if you take caution in considering the price and quality of the product or commodity that you would like to buy – but take note of the time. Some people automatically buy whatever it is that they see and like while others use up a number of hours trying to decide on what to purchase. The first involves the risk of people spending more than their budget because they might buy stuff that they do not need and the latter still involves the risk of spending more money because of the additional expenses that people might incur during their decision making process. For instance, they might spend money for food while trying to decide on things because the process is making them hungry or they might have costly parking tickets for their cars because of the long decision hours.
• The paper bills and coins that you spend are your sweat and effort. Go on and admit it. You might be one of the unlucky people who were born without a silver spoon in their mouths. The money wealth and prosperity you have today is a result of hard work. When you’re spending for your survival needs – you are cashing in all those times and experiences you’ve gone through in the process of earning that money. Think – is it worth it?
• Practice patience and humility. In trying to achieve more money wealth and prosperity patience and humility are the virtues needed. When investing for instance, you cannot just jump into any opportunity you encounter. If you get lucky in a certain business, it does not mean that you have to venture to other similar businesses as well just because you got lucky in one. You have to take things slowly. It is similar to quitting an undesirable job. Before quitting, make sure that you have other job prospects lined up – otherwise, you would find yourself at a losing end. Also, if you find yourself missing some opportunities, then think that they were not meant for you. There a re a hundred more opportunities waiting to be tapped still.
• Pay more in cash than in credit. Credits cards have their additional interest rates, at least with cash you only get to pay the core value indicated in a price tag or service charge slip.




• When shelling out some money, consider first whether the risk you’re taking would be able to give you reward. Else, when you are in doubt and not sure, steer clear of the money path temptations. Author Martin J. Pring in his writing Investment Psychology Explained says that we often rationalize our financial situations and stick to these rationalizations hoping that we are not wrong. The author himself had been “badly burned” in the process of investing money during the year 1980. Then president Jimmy Carter had promoted to the public the lessening of their credit card use. Pring who had market stocks had refuse to sell out even if the market commodity prices went downhill after President Carter’s announcement. In the end, he had sold out though because the waiting had already cost his market stocks dearly. He had risked without analyzing his possible rewards.

Much of what has been written above are just some of the steps in understanding money relationships. They are also only based on the things that I have learned from books and articles and experience. But still, the next time you feel like doing the tango with money wealth and prosperity, maybe you can look these ideas up and put them into action. Who knows? They might just be perfect for you. They were for me. What has worked well for you?

How Can a Person Improve Self Confidence?

Alessandra is a pretty name and it suits its owner well because Alessandra, who is my cousin, is definitely a looker. Her startling blue eyes complement her heart-shaped face, sufficiently aquiline nose, rosy lips, high cheekbones and long chocolate brown hair. She is also slender and tall and has an incredibly clear olive skin. Yep, Alessandra fits perfection to a T – physically anyway.

Her personality on the other hand is an entirely different story. Imagine a brown-haired Venus who keeps mostly to herself because no matter how pretty she is and no matter how many times you remind her of the fact, she thinks otherwise. This description basically summarizes my cousin. She believes that she is inferior compared to many people and lacks self confidence.

Whenever she looks at the mirror, all she sees is someone whose beauty and abilities are as brilliant as a rustic old nail. The result is that she only has a few friends, no boyfriend and a social life that would shame Rip van Winkle’s state of inactivity. Why Alessandra perceives herself this way, I really do not understand. Fortunately, I do not have to be a genius to realize that what my cousin needs is a dose of the confidence that I have been born with in abundance.

Hey, I may not be Paris Hilton but I definitely am made up of the stuff that she is (minus the heiress title). So, with these thoughts in my mind, I gave Alessandra lessons on how to improve self confidence. Since generosity is my middle name, I have also decided to share them with you (yes, YOU! my faithful reader) here.

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