Stick It To The Carrot
When I watched this presentation for the first time, I liked it immediately1. After having thought about it some more, I think I know why.
First, I think he obviously has a point. We’ve all had that sneaking suspicion, at some point in our lives, that carrots and sticks may not be the be-all and end-all of motivation techniques. Some people seem to get by with just the minimum, while others are burning the midnight oil with no external trigger whatsoever. And under pretty similar circumstances, that is.
Second, the production quality is just stunning. You rarely see a great topic so masterfully illustrated for maximum impact. Okay, it’s post-produced and all that, and you could never possibly deliver something like this live and in PowerPoint. But still, there’s a benchmark for you.
Third and last, it’s downright inspiring2. I don’t know how to put it in any other way, but it just makes you want to get going and do something meaningful.
It has been a real blessing for me that, for most of my life, my motivation to do stuff has been overwhelmingly intrinsic, and greatly satisfying – and I still have a whole lot of work that is inspiring, meaningful, and important to me ahead.
So would you please excuse me while I get right to it…3
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There’s also a closely related TED talk by the same speaker right here, if you can’t get enough. ↩︎
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Also, make sure to check out the other RSA talks (Personally, I also liked Philip Zimbardo, of Stanford Experiment fame). ↩︎
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As always, you can of course shoot right back in the comments 🙂 ↩︎
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