Motivational Life Lessons
I'm still trying to adjust back to the land of gray skies and New York City weather. Have also been dealing with an annoying administrative issue that has greatly thrown me off track. And.. I've been distracted by watching back to back episodes of House of Cards. I finally understand what all the hype is about. It is a fantastic show. While the morality of the main character is questionable (to say the least), he does dole out some pretty powerful advice. Like for instance, points out that doing people favors or giving things to people has its own reward and signals power. Also, while his methods are a bit beyond questionable, there is no denying his unwavering determination and resilience. I'll try and absorb that. In the same vein, I just found a link to these motivational screen wallpapers. I honestly don't know what to choose but this certainly put me in a better mood yesterday. Fortunately, today is a new day.
Why Men Fight: A Look Into a Silicon Valley Fight Club
I recently saw The Fighter with my friend and was left wondering why the hell men fought. I mean.. seriously.. Why would you want to voluntarily get into a ring knowing that you were about to get the crap beaten out of you or be responsible for beating the crap out of someone else? I can imagine it's part of our animal nature to want to fight and I'm sure we can look into the animal kingdom to see them fighting for dominance regardless of whether or not their ability to secure food or procreate is involved. But as a woman, my nature tends to air on the side of motherly and protector. So when I came across a video on Gizmodo via The Next Wave about men in Silicon Valley creating a fight club, I was intrigued.The fighters talked about how the men bonded with each other by hitting each other. It was a way to test each other, build courage and a remedy for sitting at their desks all day. According to one of the participants, Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of aggressive people in the United States. So let's get back to nature for a minute here. For the better part of human existence, aggression was a key component to securing ones food or protecting ones family. Men in Silicon Valley no longer have to use physical force and strength to provide for their family. Instead, they use intelligence, strategic thinking, and endure countless hours behind the a computer - quite possibly for all the same reasons - that they want to provide for themselves and their family. So coming full circle, competitive or violent video games, sports, and... fight clubs are all most likely fueled by that residual aggression. Nike picked up on this insight years ago coming up with the strategy line, "Sport is war without the killing" which resulted in the line "Just Do It." And not to be outdone, Silicon Valley has taken that idea one step further with their very own fight club.
Click on the link to watch the video.
Uppercut from California is a place. on Vimeo.
What Motivates Us
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
Just watched this informative and interesting TEDTalk from TED Global 2009 by Daniel Pink, a career analyst. He discusses psychological experiments that show how participant's creativity is stifled when presented with a task that holds a high reward for achievement. Participants have tunnel vision- focusing on the reward itself versus tapping the lateral thinking needed to complete the task. On the flip side, Google or companies like Best Buy, have learned how to break away from older organizational structures and have made gains in productivity. Employees at Google can spend 20% of their "work" time doing anything they want, a time that has resulted in such blockbuster products as gmail. Best Buy doesn't have official 9-5 hours, recognizing that people have a life beyond work but are also dedicated to their jobs. And a better example, good ole Wikipedia, continues to get updated without a single paycheck to its writers.
How can we harness this information to health care reform? Reducing energy and saving the environment? Am I more likely to lose weight and maintain my health if I know doing so will have a direct, positive effect on my fellow health care pool? More so than a decrease in my insurance premium? Am I more likely to motivate others? Am I more likely to turn off the lights because it will save me a whole $3 on my next electricity bill? Or because I know that in the long run, I am contributing to the greater, environmental good.
TED itself (specifically the TED Prize) exemplifies that idea of motivation for the greater good. Thousands of people pay thousands of dollars to not only learn and network, but figure out how they can harness what they've learned for the greater good. These are people that have, for the most part, already found extreme success and wealth but want to give back.
Maybe I'm making too many connections to the study, but it's something to think about. Or maybe, it's those steep bonuses that got us into this financial mess in the first place. Would we be in this place if they thought about the bigger picture, rather than blinded by the greens?
