One of the things that stuck with me from this course was motivational theory - why people are motivated to do certain things. How you can get people to do what you want them to do. How to best formulate goals so that they'll be reached. There are a couple of different things to take into consideration - how a person is internally motivated, and how to set attainable, yet challenging goals.
My favorite theory about intrinsic motivation (the fact that I have a favorite theory is slightly embarrassing) is APA. People can be primarily motivated by one of three characteristics: achievement, power, or affiliation. People who fall into the "achievement" category are motivated by things they are good at. They like being the best at tasks. They don't enjoy group work, but they like being challenged by what they do. The best way to motivate this type of person is to give them increasing amounts of responsibility and lots of feedback on their performance. The next type of person - someone who fits into the "power" category - is motivated by being in control of things. This type of person likes autonomy in their work, they want to complete tasks when and how they would like to. People in the "affiliation" category are motivated by acceptance. These people like working in teams and working on projects with other departments.
Okay, so those are the different types of internal motivations. Now - how to set an appropriate goal. It should be one that is challenging yet attainable, a time period of not too short and not too long, and sharing your goals with other people will make you more likely to reach them. For example, I could broadcast to the entire world that my goal for today is to get my laundry done. If I don't do it, the whole world knows I fucked up. That's a lot of pressure. If it is a private goal, I don't feel as much pressure to achieve it because I'm the only one who knows about it.
I recently reorganized my life goals from "workaholic, never has any fun, kicks ass at career" to "kicks ass at career, has awesome people in her life, goes on amazing and crazy adventures." In fact, part of the reason why I came to Munich this summer was to do something different. I don't want to be one of those people who is 50 or 60 years old, looks back at their life, and says "I wish I would have....." That is sad and pathetic, and I never want to be that person. So, I figured I would put what small morsel of information I learned from Management 101 to good use.
In the APA framework, I am "Achievement." I like being good at things, and I like feedback to make sure I'm exceeding expectations (for the record, I hate the word "framework," but that's what Wharton does to you. That, and "feedback." Yuck.) Being able to check things off of a list is a plus. As for setting the goal itself: anything short of "cure cancer" or "achieve world peace" is probably appropriate, I have no idea on the timeline I'm looking at, and I will publish it in a public place - here. If I fail at this, you will all know about it. But I'm no quitter, dammit.
Here is my bucket list. For those of you who don't know, a bucket list consists of things you do before you "kick the bucket," or die. I'm hoping that posting it here will motivate me to do some of this stuff, and maybe one or two of you readers also want to do some of the crazy activities mentioned.
Elizabeth's Bucket List:***
*** note: the truly scandalous activities have been omitted from this list. Elizabeth might tell you, if you ask her. But she probably won't so don't get your hopes up.
1. Graduate from Wharton, but never donate money to them because lord knows they've taken enough. $50,000 a year and they have a six billion dollar endowment... no, I will not give you money. Bugger off.
2. Go skydiving, bungee jumping, scuba diving, and assorted other death-defying activities.
3. Visit Greece, Russia, Spain, and Egypt. See Paris in the fall.
4. Keep more travel journals than pictures, write more letters than e-mails.
5. Go to the original Oktoberfest. Ja. Wear a dirndl, have a lot of good beer, and beat a German at some sort of drinking game.
6. Kiss someone under the fireworks, dance in the U-bahn station, make an ass of myself in public :) This one shouldn't be that hard, given how much I embarrass myself on any given day.
7. Get old in age, not in attitude.
8. Get lost on purpose in a strange city and find my way back home.
9. Learn French and German fluently.
I'm sure I'll be updating this post a lot as I remember other stuff I want to do. For now, that's all I can think of.
p.s.
I mostly posted this today because I wanted to write something, but don't have anything Germany-specific to comment on at the moment. Let me know if you have any topic suggestions :)
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2. Go skydiving, bungee jumping, scuba diving, and assorted other death-defying activities.
3. Visit Greece, Russia, Spain, and Egypt. See Paris in the fall.
4. Keep more travel journals than pictures, write more letters than e-mails.
5. Go to the original Oktoberfest. Ja. Wear a dirndl, have a lot of good beer, and beat a German at some sort of drinking game.
6. Kiss someone under the fireworks, dance in the U-bahn station, make an ass of myself in public :) This one shouldn't be that hard, given how much I embarrass myself on any given day.
7. Get old in age, not in attitude.
8. Get lost on purpose in a strange city and find my way back home.
9. Learn French and German fluently.
I'm sure I'll be updating this post a lot as I remember other stuff I want to do. For now, that's all I can think of.
p.s.
I mostly posted this today because I wanted to write something, but don't have anything Germany-specific to comment on at the moment. Let me know if you have any topic suggestions :)
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