How do you get motivated? What is the spark that gets you out of bed and back on track? Are you a stick or carrot person? In many ways you are likely motivated (at least a little bit) by both. Last week we looked at incentive motivation- carrots (click here to read that article). This week we tackle deterrent motivation – sticks.
Now, if you work for someone you probably already have plenty of sticks built in to your job like getting fired, losing a commission or bonus, formal reprimand, bad mark in your permanent file etc. These are all external built in systems to keep you performing. For this article, and my philosophy in general, focuses on internal (self) motivation. Here are 5 ways that we can create motivation and motivate ourselves using disincentives.
Sticks- so you are a stick person
1. Accountability partner- nearly 2 years ago I set up a weekly accountability call with a friend of mine. Each Monday we have had a 30 minute phone call at 8:30am where we share goals, accomplishments, ah-has and areas of improvement. And, each week one of us is “in the hot seat” meaning after the goals and accomplishments/lack of accomplishments are shared we discuss specific challenges/obstacles we are facing at that time and how we can overcome them. A few times I have shared that I started the previous week motivated and excited to conquer the world but then during the week faded and finished less productive. It is at this point my accountability partner holds my feet to the flame and drills down as to why I wasn’t able to accomplish my goals. Knowing that I will have to explain myself at the next checkpoint incentivizes me to finish each goal before the meeting. Do you have an accountability partner who can hold you to your goals and drive accomplishment?
2. Financial fine- I don’t know about you but finances, fines and penalty payments get my attention. A powerful motivator to commit you to your goals is to set up a monetary penalty for missing them. My accountability partner has a weekly $100 fine if he doesn’t make a certain quota of prospecting calls. This is not something instituted by his employer (well… he is self employed so I guess it is “technically”) but rather something he set up because he knows he is motivated by not having to pay that weekly fine. Recently there have been a number of companies and apps set up to facilitate this. One company, Gym-Pact.com, allows you to set a punishment for not going to the gym. You go, no fine, you miss…pay the fine. You can do this for waking up, eating healthy, or pretty much any measurable task that you want to accomplish.
3. Missing a reward- In addition to financial disincentives you can also try removing rewards. Last week I talked about how I set up rewards for accomplishments. If I meet my quota for writing or prospecting calls I get to watch the big game on Saturday or go to Yogurtland. Well this is just the opposite, if I’m planning to go out Friday with my friends but don’t get a project completed, or hit the gym 4 times, or get up each morning at 5am I’m not going out. The desire to not miss the reward can be powerful.
4. Don’t let people down- Social pressure can be a huge motivator. And today, more than ever, there are ways to share your goals and journey with the masses. You can post on social media or the old fashioned way of telling your friends and family in person what you intend to accomplish. There are also a number of new apps that have specifically integrated the social pressure of accomplishing goals with goal tracking. A popular one I recently tried is lift.do. You set daily tasks/goals and then track your progress. Others can join your journey and encourage which builds momentum. The stronger the momentum the less desire you have to let your network down.
5- The bad way you feel- Yuck! I hate the feeling I get when I miss a goal. I am not talking about social pressure or missing a reward, I am purely referring to the feeling I have in my gut when I miss an objective. I can see my potential and I have high expectations for myself and when I miss an opportunity to grow and get closer to my improved self I feel terrible. A few weeks ago I wrote about journaling (read article here). I make sure that when I experience that negative feeling of missing a goal I put it down in my journal and then use it as a motivator to remind me that I don’t want to feel that way again and to avoid that pain (guilt) I buckle down and make sure I don’t miss the objective.
There you have it, 5 ways that we can use the internal “stick” to motivate performance. But, for these to work we have to be committed to following through with the punishments. Remember, these are internal “stick” motivators. No one is going to force you to have an accountability partner, or pay your financial penalty or miss your reward. It is on you to be so committed to your goals that nothing will step in the way. The power of using the above disincentives is to first recognize that you are more motivated by rewards (see last week’s Carrots post) or by the penalties. Once you have figured that out you can implement (some or all of) the motivators discussed above.
One of my favorite quotes, and I think is really applicable here, comes from Christopher McDougall’s book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen:
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
Question: Are you motivated like a gazelle (stick) or like a lion (reward)? What do you do to keep yourself motivated and on task? Leave your comments below or by clicking here.
Want to read about incentive motivation click here.