Power Up Your Mind: Learn faster, work smarter

growth in capacity or intelligence or competence to learn should be

recognized.

How to reward yourself

At a personal level, the issue of rewards is complex. Most theorists

focus on the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for

learning. An example of an intrinsic reward is the pleasure it might

give you to learn a musical instrument or the good feelings created

when you learn how to control your anger. An example of an extrin-

sic reward would be your child being given a sweet after they have

finished their homework or you receiving a degree in return for years

of study. The general view is that for learning to be really successful,

the learner has to be intrinsically motivated, although it is clear that

having external positive feedback is also bound to be helpful.

One of the best-known thinkers in this area of motivation is

Frederick Herzberg. Writing in the 1960s about attitudes to work,

he established a helpful distinction between hygiene factors and

satisfiers. If you think of this in terms of food, Herzberg’s distinc-

tion becomes clearer. Food may be carefully prepared and techni-

cally safe to eat. These are hygiene factors. Alternatively, it can be

deliciously tasty, from an organic source, and very nutritious. These

would be satisfiers. Herzberg showed how the analogy holds good

for motivation at work.

However, the real value of Herzberg’s approach lies in his

development of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation. He points out that the opposite of being demotivated

isnotbeing motivated, it is notbeing demotivated. You can minimize

the dissatisfaction by creating hygiene factors, but you need things

that will really satisfy a learner to make them motivated. You can

see this expressed below:

Switched off from learning 
  Not switched off from learning

Not switched off from learning 
  Switched on to learning

If you stop being switched off from learning, it just means that you

stop being against it. It doesn’t mean that you are forit! Many peo-

ple who go on training courses at work reluctantly get themselves

60 Power Up Your Mind