Dr Jason Jones | How to Motivate, Increase Employee Motivation and Team Motivation

The Power of Imperfection

Perfection is a damaging myth. The more you pursue it the further you are from it.

A common fallacy is that we often believe people expect us to be perfect. The truth is, we all know that nobody can be perfect. In fact, people don’t want to be around perfection pursuing people. It’s a turn off. There’s something uncomfortable about it.

The pursuit of perfection comes with a host of issues.
Perfection pursuit is perceived by others as disingenuous, unnatural, or as over-trying.
Perfection pursuit causes risk aversion.
Perfection pursuit causes others to feel they need to be perfect.
Perfection pursuit increases stress in the environment.
Perfection pursuit leads to obsession.
Perfection pursuit can blind you to new perspectives and alternatives to solving problems.
Perfection pursuit hinders growth and development.

We all like people who are real, genuine, and down-to-earth. We identify with people who are like us. Who struggle. Who make mistakes. Who are flawed. Who are less than perfect.

Seeking imperfection, in contrast to perfection pursuit, encourages many positive outcomes.

Imperfection makes you real.
Imperfection makes you more relaxed.
Imperfection helps you be yourself.
Imperfection helps people relate to you.
Imperfection helps others feel better about themselves.
Imperfection encourages creativity and better thinking.
Imperfection gives people … Read More >

June 8, 2013

in Career, Leadership, Performance with 0 Comments

How to Create a Motivational Work Environment

If you have read my book, 28 Days to a Motivated Team or any of my blog posts you know I am a zealot about correctly defining the concept of motivation.

When you think about being a motivating leader, you must think of motivation as the environment you create, not as something you do to someone or instill in others. Everybody has a large capacity for motivated behavior. Your job as a leader is to unleash it by helping create a conducive environment.

The research is clear. Motivation is deeply internal. Positive, enduring motivation comes from within initially, but a person’s motivation is supported or hindered by the environment. Knowing this, the question we should be asking ourselves as a leader is, “Am I creating and leading an environment that supports maximum motivation?”

There are 5 components I’ve found in my research and that of other researchers that give us a framework for creating environments that support both motivation and performance.

1. Freedom/Autonomy – To create enduring positive motivation, a person must be self-directed and feel a sense of freedom and autonomy in their work. If we feel we are being forced to do something we don’t value an innate … Read More >

May 28, 2013

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How to utilize Visualization for Personal Success

What if you could experience a situation before it actually happened?

You can!! Your brain can make this happen and aid your ability to perform and achieve at your very best.

Athletes, speakers, actors, performers, and average people like you and I have learned to use the power of visualization to reach their goals.

Jerry West, a former NBA all-star who was known for making clutch baskets at the last second was asked why he was so good at it. He explained that he had practice making shots at the buzzer thousands of times. Other great athletes like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Tiger Woods have talked about the power of visualization in their routines.

Famous golfer, Jack Nicklaus said: “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head.”

It’s not just athletes who can benefit from the practice of visualization. Anyone can increase work performance, increase confidence, boost motivation, and improve ability in just about any skill. Giving better presentations, stopping a habit, exercise effectiveness, eating less, and even sleep quality can be aided by implementing visualization in your life.

Visualization works because the process of creating … Read More >

May 13, 2013

in Career, Motivation, Performance, Productivity with 0 Comments

The 3 Elements of Charisma

Image courtesy of PhotoStock @ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We’ve all experienced the power of charisma.

You know when someone has it. You enjoy being with the person. They are interesting. They draw you in.

It’s hard to distinguish exactly what it is that you like about the person, you just know you like to be with them. They inspire and motivate you.

At different times in my life, I’ve had the opportunity to work with or be in the presence of influencers such as Zig Ziglar, Rudy Gulianni, Carly Fiorina, John Maxwell, Lou Holtz, Patrick Lencioni and even a few successful CEOs. It doesn’t take long to be captivated by these people and realize how their charisma helped them become world-class leaders.

People who have a high level of charisma have developed something special about the way they interact with people. They have a knack for connecting with people to quickly gain trust. They are magnetic and people want to follow their lead. They have a compelling attractiveness.

There are 3 key elements of charisma I see in people that we can all apply. Although I believe some people have more of a natural innate charisma, anyone can learn to be more charismatic by observing certain behaviors.

1. … Read More >

April 27, 2013

in Career, Motivation with 0 Comments

Why Employee Engagement Initiatives Fail

Billions of dollars have been spent over the past two decades as companies seek to increase employee engagement. The measure of employee engagement became popular in the 1990′s as an onslaught of research showed the link between the measure of employee engagement, an increase in employee performance output, and overall organizational performance.

Adding to the engagement focus, Fortune Magazine’s partnered with the Great Places to Work Institute to create an annual published list of the top 100 best places to work in America. In the publication, Fortune documented the special benefits and perks provided to employees of the top companies on the list.

This began a good trend among companies. Business leaders who wanted to attract and retain the best talent implemented better benefit plans, incentives, and special perks for employees. All with an intent to increase employee engagement scores.

Companies have also spent billions to upgrade management and leadership capabilities that involve the development of interpersonal and emotional skills that are believed to lead to better work environments, culture, and therefore employee engagement. Lectures, classes, books, and ecourses have been used to teach skill in listening, coaching, collaboration, development, and recognition among other “soft skills.”

After all this, recent … Read More >

April 11, 2013

in Leadership, Motivation with 0 Comments

How Sitting Kills Motivation & Health

It sneaks up on us. We don’t even realize how long we do it each day. And it’s one of the quickest ways to obstruct our physical energy and motivation.

I’m talking about sitting.

The average person sits about 7.7 hours each day and the research tells us that this amount is too much and is a contributing factor of disease and hinders metabolic health.

The research reminds us that the more body movement we create throughout the day the better oxygen can move freely through our blood and the more energy we will have, both physical and mental.

Movement not only benefits our health, it’s also the foundation of our motivation. The work chair and the couch at home can be one of the largest barriers to our energy and drive. Looking for opportunities to stand rather than sit can give you a health, energy, and motivation boost. This boost can lead to increases in vitality, productivity, higher engagement and performance.

I ran across the following infographic at Juststand.org. It’s a great reminder of why we have to be intentional about integrating movement into our everyday work or we risk poor health, disease, and hinder our ability to … Read More >

March 23, 2013

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The 5 Habits of Maximum Motivation eBook

Do you feel like there are times when you need a kick in the pants to get going? Do you wish you had more mental or physical energy that would help you finish important projects or engage at a higher level?

This is the reason I wrote my latest ebook, The 5 Habits of Maximum Motivation. If you’ve kept up with my blog you know I focus on the science of motivation both in life and work. Because of this, I get many questions related to personal motivation or how to motivate employees. The most popular question I get is about how a person can sustain healthy motivation over the long-haul. The question proposed is usually something like, “How can I get motivated and not lose it?”

In my new ebook, I share the 5 habits that you can create in your life that will support high, positive, and sustainable motivation. Most people have one or two of these habits in their lives already. What I share in this ebook will show you what you may be missing and challenge you to make all 5 habits a part of your daily life.

I feel so strongly about the message … Read More >

March 17, 2013

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How Money Motivates

It’s been a popular stance, over the past decade, to say that money hinders intrinsic motivation on the job. This belief is based on popular thought and teachings that started in the mid-1970′s based on the research of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. This belief has gained more momentum over the past few years after the release of Daniel Pink’s book Drive that repackages Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination theory.

In this view, money and extrinsic reward, undermines intrinsic motivation. This concept has excited business leaders and human resource executives as it seemingly provides support for the argument that high levels of motivation on the job is not directly related to salary and bonuses. Even more attractive to corporate senior leaders (for obvious reasons) is the notion that money can actually hinder intrinsic motivation.

But wait! There is more research that has been ignored that counters this view of monetary reward in the workplace. Dozens of studies have been conducted in work environments to disprove the belief that intrinsic motivation is undermined by extrinsic reward for all people. These studies show no undermining effect. In fact, a number of studies prove monetary reward and incentive can significantly increase motivation, task-focused energy, … Read More >

March 5, 2013

in Motivation, Performance with 0 Comments

Extrinsic Motivation Doesn’t Exist

Quick Question: Is the money you pursue in your job or business an extrinsic motivator? Yes or No?

Most people say yes to this question. It’s easy for us to think working for money is an extrinsically motivated activity because it is a behavior motivated by an external reward.

I have a different perspective. The idea that pursuing a paycheck being an extrinsically motivated activity is both short-sited and illogical. My perspective is backed by solid science, yet has been overshadowed by popular thought and invalid theory over the past 40 years.

In my blog post The 4 Dichotomies of Motivation I mentioned intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation as one of the 4 dichotomies of motivation. I only included this dichotomy because it is a widely believed dual view of motivation and it may be helpful for understanding motives that lead toward an ultimate goal.

According to Steven Reiss, Professor of Psychology at Ohio State University, “extrinsic motivation does not exist as a separate and distinct form of motivation.” Reiss goes on to say, “it is invalid to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. All motivation arises from the pursuit of universal goals common to everyone and deeply rooted … Read More >

February 16, 2013

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The 4 Dichotomies of Motivation

Motivation is fascinating yet maddening at the same time. Just when we think we got the concept nailed down, we think about another circumstance or scenario that doesn’t quite fit a framework we are trying to use. This occurs because motivation, and human behavior for that matter, is very dynamic. Often more dynamic than we think. We’d all love to be able to understand the motives and behaviors of people in an easy and simple way. Yet, that’s just not the way we are. We are not simple. But there is great beauty in the complexity of our human nature.

Motivation can be thought of in many different ways including short-term, long-term, negative, positive, and general to life or related to specific instances or circumstances. To better wrap our minds around any situation that involves motivation we need to understand the dichotomies of motivation. Before we create a plan for motivating ourselves or others, it’s important to first define our intended outcome.

Here are 4 dichotomies we need to consider to better focus on the outcomes we want to create.

Situational Motivation vs. General Motivation

Motivation can be based on a specific situation. Situational motivation is when we think about a current situation, experience or action. We then choose our internal … Read More >

February 4, 2013

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The 5 Inhibitors of Motivation

Reality shows have captured the minds and hearts of TV watchers for many years now. We are all intrigued by getting an inside view of what people think during difficult experiences and how people respond, both good and bad, to the adversities of the game.

Every person on the show has motivation to achieve or win. What’s interesting to me is how people react when the novelty of their situation wears off. When each realizes that the odds aren’t in his or her favor. When REAL reality hits and they realize their reputation is at stake and millions of people are watching their every move.

When this happens you can see people give up hope. They want to quit. Motivation dies.

Motivation science has provided a better understanding of human behavior and interaction. It has given us a much clearer picture of the activators of energy and drive in any situation.

But what about the deactivators? What about the things that get in the way of our motivation and energy? Our thoughts and behaviors can help cultivate our motivation but can also do just the opposite. Certain behaviors can actually stand in the way of your ability to generate daily motivation.

You don’t just find these inhibitors on reality shows. We can easily find them in our homes, work, and yes even in … Read More >

January 21, 2013

in Energy, Motivation, Performance with 0 Comments

The Dark Side of Goals

Goals are great and they are certainly a scientifically proven method for achieving the outcomes we have in mind. But while goals help us focus on our desired achievements, they can easily become the very thing that keeps us from being truly successful in life. Don’t see me as a pessimist — I’m far from it. I’ve just seen too many people and heard too many stories about personal failures that have come from goals gone bad.

So how do goals go bad? Here are a few examples.

Goals can become obsessions – A person becomes overly focused on goals of personal achievement to the detriment of more important priorities in life.

Goals can become too self-focused – A person gets tunnel vision and forgets that a goal is best pursued and achieved with the support, encouragement, and help of others.

Goals can redefine how we measure success – A person can easily believe his/her self-worth is dependent upon reaching certain goals. Goals alone should not be a measure of a person’s significance or success in life.

Am I saying not to set goals? No, not at all. Goals are a key motivational force we can leverage to achieve. We … Read More >