“We’re more motivated by the fear of ‘losing’ than the prospect of ‘gaining.’ For example, when teachers receive bonuses at the beginning of the year that they will lose if they perform poorly, they are more motivated than teachers who start without the reward and earn it based on good performance.”
For the past six years behavior designer Max Ogles has studied motivation and the ways it can influence people to take action.
His list of 23 simple insights about motivation includes that money is a mediocre motivator, that we can learn to motivate ourselves, that high motivation doesn’t equal high happiness, that one of the best ways to motivate people is to help them uncover their intrinsic motivation, and more.