Books chapter two.

Yesterday i watched an interesting TED video. It was about work place incentive and motivation. The main point is that what science has know for decades business fails to incorporate. Science has found that rewards or punishment tied to achievement works very well for simple linear tasks such as putting more widgets in a box per hour. There is a direct positive correlation between reward and achievement for these kinds of things. But what they've also learned is that in more complex tasks these things have the opposite effect. As the motivation increases the outcomes decline. Counter intuitive sure but the experiments have been replicated over and over with similar findings. They've found that the more you create a creative environment and foster intrinsic motivations such as finding a larger purpose the better the outcomes.

This post isn't about business. It's really about the last post I had. About taking the next step. What the experiment showed, and what the conclusion they drew is, that the higher the incentive the more focuses on the outcome the individual became, the less likely that they were able to see the bigger possibility of solutions. Often times when we have a path we feel we must travel such as getting a better job, a complex task unless you know exactly what kind of job you want and where it is (then it becomes more linear) focusing on the outcome and what it means to you creates an environment for yourself where you are overly focused on outcomes and not as engaged in the process, you miss all the possibilities. You in essence deny the path or worse as is usual plow through trying to make your own path, your own road to nowhere. You confuse movement, with being on the right path and getting to a place that is right for you. And really if you don't stop to taste, smell, and feel where you are how can you ever realize what you like and what you want more of. How can you ever know where you want to go. And the sad reality is if we don't take this time to engage and experience and live and love where we are and who we are we can never ever know where it is we should be going. We can never choose the right path. We can never take the next step that makes our lives better.

Engagement in the process, learning to enjoy the journey is the key that turns the light on, that shines on the spot where your next step must land.