Monday, April 20, 2015

Daniel Pink S/R

In his TED Talk “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us”, Daniel Pink discusses the idea that the most effective type of motivation is self-motivation. He points out the flaws of using money as motivation, and alternative ways to encourage people to get the job done faster. Many motivational methods lose their effect on workers and does not become enough. Daniel Pink claims that self-motivation is the best way to stay motivated and not lose interest.
Daniel Pink’s TED Talk “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us” correctly emphasizes the idea that self-motivation is the strongest way to keep people motivated in life. Pink gave an example of a study done at MIT, with three reward levels. The better one did in the tasks given to them, the more money they earned. While this worked temporarily, it begin to crumble when workers were asked to use “above rudimentary cognitive skills”. Those who were paid more did not do as well as the lowest level of pay. Pink suggests that if you simply pay people enough so that a worry about money does not cross their mind, they will work just as hard. They begin to focus on the work, and doing well leads to them feeling good about themselves. People enjoy that feeling, and it encourages them to continue to work harder and harder to reach new accomplishments. Setting goals is a natural thing for humans to do, but the real challenge is to achieve them.
(Stathakis)
When somebody sets a goal right in front of themselves, they will work as hard as they can to accomplish it in order to gain personal satisfaction and also praise from others. It is hard to avoid staring at that goal without doing anything to make progress in it. It is important for people to have confidence in themselves to follow through with the goals they set. In schools, many children set goals at the beginning of the year. These goals are not always brought back up throughout the year, but some will constantly think of them in order to go further in their education than expected. Often times, being told to do something by others will only make people want to do it less. External motivation does not create the same desire for accomplishment as self motivation does. Society is filled with many money-driven people, who do not really care about their job or how well it gets done. The world could change drastically if people did not worry so much about how much money they make. Instead, they should focus on DREAM:
(Erica)
DREAM is all it takes for someone to succeed in their life. They should not need to worry about how well others are doing, or what others are telling them to do better. By taking responsibility of themselves, they can lead a happy, successful life. Self-motivation is a big help when it comes to being an adolescent, as you are gaining more responsibility. I motivate myself daily to finish what I know needs to be done, even if it is not very enjoyable. I find it easier to listen to myself about what I need than to take orders from others about how I should be doing things. The way Dan Pink’s TED Talk was presented in this video was not very effective for me. Though it was his voice in the background, the person who was drawing along on the whiteboard could not keep up with Pink’s pace. They also misspelled multiple words, and it was very distracting. I had to listen closely and replay many parts of the video to fully understand the message Pink was trying to portray. I would have much rather preferred seeing his gestures and character as he interacted with the audience. The point was still made overall: self-motivation is key. When someone has a goal, they are more likely to succeed if someone else is not pushing them to do it. Taking control of your own life is the beginning to leading a very different life.

Works Cited
Erica. "Self-Motivation." TeenSpeak. TeenSpeak, 16 Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://teenspeak.org/2011/03/16/self-motivation/>.
Stathakis, Chris. "Self-Motivation: What Is It and How Do You Get It?" Leadership Blog. Stathakis, 17 May 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.stathakis.com/blog/leadership/bid/288830/Self-Motivation-What-Is-It-and-How-Do-You-Get-It>.

1 comment:

  1. Good start to your summary and response but push your thinking and extend out to your own ideas and applications rather than sticking with what Pink said- I like the DREAM idea and your own personal connections, just keep showing me your thinking. Think, so what? what if? What can you take away from his TED talk to apply to your own?

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