Motivation

I came across this 43Folders post on Paradox of Motivation. It talks about the Shankar Vedantam article on When Play Becomes Work. The thoughts in this article are very similar to what I have also been thinking all along. Nice that it is able to verbalize what I wanted to express more clearly.

Work is best when not driven by rewards and punishments. It is best driven by its own value - the difference it makes when the work is done, or the lost opportunity when not done.

The article ends with an observation that is very true.

So why are rewards and punishments employed so liberally?

"People like it because it is easy," Deci said. "It is easy to offer a reward, but it is not easy to help people find their own motivation."

What is life about?

I saw this quote in the signature of one of my friend's emails.

"The sign of life is enthusiasm. The sign of success is smile and joy."
- Sri Sri Ravishankar

Makes a lot of sense. Couldn't be anything else.

Action, Results and Happiness

The most famous message of the Gita often quoted as:

"Do your duty, do not expect the results of your actions."

...gives an impression that we are expected to be more or less robots on this earth just bothered about our duty and stay detached from the outcome. Let me rephrase it, and then its power becomes a little more clear:

"Do not rely on the results of what you do to be happy. Happiness is your birthright! Enjoy it whenever you want it by making your action as the reason for your happiness rather than its result!"