Daniel Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation
Thu, September 2, 2010 at 12:00 
Here is American writer and career analyst Daniel Pink's entertaining and informative talk on the science of motivation. Targeted at businesses, it is also useful to career transitioners in general. Using concepts such as The Candle Problem, Daniel explains how motivation isn't necessarily boosted by material incentivisation, but rather by being free to be creative and flexible, in order to optimise your performance.
If you're earning a large paycheck plus benefits but don't feel motivated in your job, or even in your profession, that isn't as unusual as you might think. As much as external needs for a regular wage can motivate us, we as humans need more to truly feel motivated: we need to be in control of our lives, work to our strengths, and to believe that what we are doing is worthwhile.
If you're feeling unmotivated in your work and none of your internal needs are being met, it may be time to make changes. This doesn't necessarily involve a search for a new job or total career change. As Daniel implies, it may come down to talking to your boss about making your schedule more flexible, or altering your role so the emphasis is more on performance than presenteeism.
If you want to talk things through with an objective, informed professional before approaching your employer about this, get in touch with us to see if one of our Career Guides can help.
Also, if you are interested in becoming a motivational speaker you may want to check out this article we've found which looks at networking and how to become a motivational event speaker.
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Reader Comments (1)
Mind over matter it really does work. Try this...if you smile you some how feel happier, if you frown your mind feel slightly sadder. strange but true. so come on everybody smile.