Employees' Motivation Is Cultivated Not Home Made

Dull, the frog, decided one day that he is going to climb the poplar tree near the swamp. He saved the date in his "Lotus" calendar, with a croak, briefly informed all the inhabitants of the swamp about his intentions, and invited all of them to take part in the event. On the long-awaited day of the event, slow and calm he made his way through the crowd of frogs that has gathered to watch him. He approached the chosen poplar and without previous preparations, motivated only by the multitude of frogs that came there for him, he began his ascent with great enthusiasm. Before even touching the tree, all the frogs began to shout in unison at him that what he does is dangerous and life-threatening and he shouldn't try to do something that no frog ever tried before ... but for some reason, Dull didn't seem bothered by the danger. Could it be that he was tired of life?

Dull started the climbing, with the strength and dedication of a professional climber decided to concur the gold medal, even though the frogs were agitated, jumping up and down and shouting even louder under the tree: "Come down immediately you silly frog, otherwise you are going to die!". Could it be that he continued his ascension because he secretly trained this climbing and he succeeded before?

No, none of them! He continued climbing while the frogs under the tree continued to agitate even more. By midday it managed to reach the middle of the tree, tired and breathless he paused for some minutes and he enjoyed the view. The sky never seemed so blue, the air so clean, the woods so green, and the lake seen from above looked so small and insignificant ... the only thing that got bigger was the frogs gathering under its tree. Due to the noise that his companions made all this time, other frogs from neighborhoods were coming also to watch and convince him to give up on his silly idea. The number of worried spectators has already tripled. When they saw that he stopped climbing they came to the idea: "It must be very tired by now. We can get him down before a tragedy happens. Let's applaud him and celebrate him, shout to him that we are proud of him and that is time to get down safe". And that's what they did. Surprisingly their action had the opposite effect as their expectations. Dull started his ascension, more decided, and unstoppable.

??????????????Do you think he made it? And the reason for believing that is ...???

We are programming our brains through our repetitive thoughts, actions, and beliefs. The term "brain programming" is nothing else than creating networks of neurons that fire together. Each thought or action has its "unique signature" in the brain by activating only specific neurons that are connected with each other. The more we fire one group of interconnected neurons ( neuronal network) the more active it becomes and as an effect it will issue automated behavior. This means, when we have situations or environmental triggers that match the environmental cues that led to the creation and activation of a specific neuronal network, the brain will switch on the automated reaction/behavior which is assigned to that neuronal network.?

For example: at the driving school we learned and then practiced with the driving instructor, that we must stop the car at the red light. After years of driving and respecting this rule, the neuronal network that was created for this "skill" triggers your foot to press the brake, even when you are seated in the passenger's seat, in a car that doesn't seem to stop at the red light. Am I right? Did it happen to you? My mom used to "brake" a lot as a passenger when I was driving :)

Do you know which of your neuron network, was intentionally programmed as a child by our parents? Let me give you a hint: what are the parents doing with their babies and kids when they manage to do something right? Culture plays also a role in the way our brain gets programmed by parents, but this habit is present in all cultures. Whenever the babies/children accomplish something, the parents celebrate their success, they applaud, they say encouraging words like "well done! good job! Bravo!". At least seven years the neuron network responding to appreciation is activated repeatedly, this is the reason why even after we grow old ... or grow smart ;) for those who don't want to get old, we are still looking for the appreciation of our fellows and we perform better when we are encouraged than when we are criticized.?

There are lots of studies and articles, that present the results of such experiments testing the behavior-encouragement relation not just in children, which we know already are very encouragement driven, but also in adults and athletes. All those experiments prove that human performance is highly influenced by encouragement. The higher the frequencies of encouraging and supportive feedback the higher the performance.

By the way performance: let's not forget about our frog! We left him just above the middle of the tree. Where is he by now? Knowing now that the performance is highly dependent on the appreciation and encouragements of the fellows or society, and considering that his companions, were voting loud and clear against him, do you still think that he managed to get to the top?

Yes, he did! He managed to get to the top of the poplar against the discouragements of his "society".

And you want to know why?

Because frog Dull was deaf (what a suggestive name)... and being deaf he did not hear what the frogs were shouting at him, he just saw their agitation that seemed to him an exuberance of enthusiasm, shouts of encouragements, applause, cheering, and all that made him continue and all that made him succeed. Q.E.D. (Latin: Quod erat demonstrandum)!

Find the strength to motivate yourself when nobody is doing it and do not forget to motivate others even when they don't deserve it!