Doug

Of monkeys, donkeys, carrots & sticks – the surprising nature of Motivation

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” In this article I start to question the predominant ethos of reward based Motivation and start to explore the idea that “If you use carrots and sticks, you’ll end up with donkeys.” On the surface it makes complete sense that if you …

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Such stuff as dreams are made on

I don’t know if it has ever occurred to you, but everything that anybody has ever achieved started out as a dream. Whether it is a child persuading a parent to buy an ice cream, a business person building a successful business, or landing people on the moon, they all started with an imagined outcome …

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How do I reconcile being a disciplined person with living an interesting life?

Question: “In my teenage years I developed a strong aversion towards being disciplined, and felt that this was boring. I am now 29, and know I need discipline (a certain routine in my life) to progress in my career. But I can’t reconcile this with my desire to be interesting.” Answer: It’s really simple (though …

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How can I motivate myself to do things I don’t want to do?

You can’t. That’s the accurate answer to the question you’ve asked. If you really don’t want to do something, you cannot motivate yourself to do it. However, there are lots of things that we say we don’t want to do, which ultimately we do want to do, because in one way or another they’re beneficial …

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Building your business team: what might stop you hiring

This is the first in a series of articles for growing businesses about Building Your Team, which will look at a range of issues around finding and developing the best people to help you create a powerful and successful business. This article looks at… What might stop you hiring As your business grows you will …

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