Mental Moment-Which Would You Rather Be
I didn’t realize that Neil of Marble Arch and I were both experimenting with our dogs but his account of his experiences and mine are very similar. In his blog: The Performance Mindset: How Old Dogs Learn New Tricks he talks about how his 9 & 10 year old dogs still have the ability to learn new tricks. My dog is only 15 months old (some say she’s still a puppy while others consider her an adult) and she also has a keen ability to learn new things through repetition and rewards.
Intrinsic/growth
There are a lot of similarities between dogs and humans but there is only one that I want to touch on here. Last week while meandering through a dog store the owner told us that dogs want to have tasks or work to do. Dogs want to feel like they are doing something meaningful. This does not sound so different than any of the rest of us. We all want to feel like our performances and the tasks around our performances are meaningful. I have a good sense of the definition of meaningful but looked it up in dictionary.com so that I could give you the full essence of what it means. Meaningful: full of meaning, significance, purpose, and value.These are intrinsic qualities and the most important way for you as an elite performer to feel about what you do if you truly want to achieve success. In intrinsic motivation the rewards are for the sheer joy of participating, experiences that joy and the motive to perform again is reinforced. People are intrinsically motivated in particular to do something they like.
In his blog Neil talks about a growth mindset. As an intrinsically motivated performer you are also of the growth mindset/mentality: open, flexible and adaptable. Every failure is equal to a success as a learning and growth opportunity. This level of agility, adaptability and constant curiosity means individuals with a Growth Mindset stay creative, innovative and ready to find opportunity within turbulence.
Extrinsic/fixed
Rewards are a form of extrinsic motivation. The problem with extrinsic motivation is, rewarding a behavior increases the probability that the behavior will be repeated and punishing a behavior decreases the possibility that it will be repeated. However, once a need is satisfied, it is no longer a goal and loses its power to reward. The more extrinsic rewards a person gets, the less need there is for the same type of reward or the appropriate behavior.
In his blog Neil talks about fixed mindset. As an extrinsically motivated performer you are also of the fixed mindset/mentality: is only interested in achievement and goals related to external performance. The accomplishment of these goals broadcast to the world how well you are doing and how deserving of praise you are. The achievement is exhilarating and the rewards of public admiration and attention keep you moving towards the next achievement. Proving worth and intelligence are behaviors of the Fixed Mindset that keep people focused on the next objective and distract them from working outside of their comfort zone and trying new things.
Learn new things
Would you rather be of the growth or fixed mindset? If you are currently feeling like you are of fixed mindset you can learn to be of a growth mindset. I am not just saying this because dogs can do it, I am saying this because I work with people everyday who learn to do it. They learn new mental skills, learn new ways to emotionally cope with old patterns and make change.
Three considerations for performers:
- Is what you do full of meaning, significance, purpose, and value?
- Have you chosen a profession that intrinsically drives and motivates you?
- If you work with or for someone else do they help support the meaning, significance, purpose, and value of what you do?
If you have several no’s here it doesn’t mean that what you are doing is ‘wrong’ it just means you need to make some change and I can help!
Key considerations for leaders & coaches:
- Understand why someone is participating
- Provide multiple opportunities
- Adjust to individuals in a group
- Leaders influence motivation
- Learn to use behavior modification appropriately
- Allow your participants to be a part of the process in decision making
- Incorporate activities that participants really enjoy to ensure intrinsic motivation
- Emphasize the process rather than the outcome
- Monitor and alter the way feedback is provided
- Assess and correct participants inappropriate perception of themselves
- Enhance feelings of competence and control
Although you may struggle to know how to make these kind of changes is what’s getting in the way organizational or personal? If it’s organizational you do have the ability to start by making small changes. If it’s personal, I can help you overcome the barriers getting in the way of your ability to provide an enhanced work environment.
As performance week is coming to an end think about what kind of support you need develop awareness and make a plan for change around what’s not working.
Happy Saturday!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: leladavidson.hubpages.com
