Not another crossfit motivation meme

In recent months I've come to the end of my undergraduate studies and seen my family immigrate to the US (from South Africa) to begin their own college journey. Significant challenges lie ahead of them (not the least of which being learning the national anthem and spelling 'colour' without the 'u'). I was blown away to learn that motivation has proven to be a better predictor of success than intelligence, salary, and ability. So, I've taken to studying motivation (from peer reviewed sources) to understand how to support them through the challenges that lie ahead.

Here's what I've learned...

1. Tone Down the Age-Old Reward System

Parents, leaders, and people of all sorts have used the reward system for centuries to try motivate themselves and their sphere of influence. The reward system works by offering incentives - more money for higher grades, better prizes for more participation, bigger bonus' for innovative work, the list goes on. MIT economists studied this system by having students play effort-and-cognitive-based games with low, medium, and high rewards. Rewards were given based on the student’s performance.

Higher rewards... seemed to cripple the student’s ability to reason or be creative

The effort-based games worked as expected with higher rewards yielding better results. However, higher rewards were found to decrease performance in cognitive-based games and seemed to cripple the student’s ability to reason or be creative. This experiment and research has been repeated with different incentives and games, and in different socio-economic conditions, all with the same conclusion. So, does this mean that we should stop using incentives? Of course not, but when it comes to thinking of a catchy title for your essay, figuring out your major, or asking the prettiest girl in class out, incentives will only hinder your inner Romeo. Remember that the reward system only works for effort based activities. 

2. Join a Team

Abraham Maslow provided us with with insight into how teams can increase our motivation through college and life. In his paper, Theory of Human Motivation, Maslow says that there are five needs that motivate human behavior. These are physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self actualization. There is no other time in our lives that these needs are more apparent than they are in college. Your physiological need for food is tested to the limit, your need for belonging is evident in the random events you end up attending, and your need for esteem can be found on your resume where you included that you were an eagle scout to show you can be trusted. However, in order to focus on self actualization - realizing your potential and achieving personal success - you need to master the first four needs. You can't focus on becoming an astronaut if your need to eat isn't met.

The best way to master the first four and, in turn, achieve self actualization is the same - joining groups and teams. My own needs for belonging and esteem came as I played on the BYU Rugby Team. I was able to contribute to something bigger than me and am now recognized as part of a legacy that has helped brand who I am. Your own needs may be met through the ping-pong club, roommates, marketing association, or country-dancing team. The point is to put yourself out there and join a team!

3. Emphasize the Small Wins

So how do you sustain your motivation over long periods of time without incentives or shear will power to keep you going? Naomi Ellemers, a professor of organizational psychology, argues that motivation is sustained when performance improvement seems realistic. In other words, sustained motivation is more about progress and improvement than getting the big win or the carrot being dangled in front of you. It makes sense that when you have hope for success, you'll be more motivated to work toward your goal. This hope can be facilitated by what Harvard’s, Teresa Amabile, calls the progress principle. She says that “of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most powerful is progress in meaningful work… Facilitating progress is the most effective way for managers to influence inner work life."

Instead of focusing on big rewards at the end of the semester or year, emphasize and record the small wins

Instead of focusing on big rewards at the end of the semester or year, emphasize and record the small wins. Tell your ping-pong team that the cutie in class said yes to a date, go to dinner with your parents to announce you've picked your major, and thank your mother for doing your eagle scout when you finally get a job. This type of behavior will create a hopeful attitude and increase your motivation to continue the tasks at hand.

Thus, as my family starts their college journey and as we all look for motivation to push through to success, crazy incentives and motivational YouTube videos may not be the answer. Instead, joining teams that share your goals, getting involved in meaningful work, and emphasizing the small victories will cultivate a sustainable motivation and lead to big wins. This is the type of motivation that stands the test of time, freshman year, and immigration.