THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-MOTIVATION | SCOTT GELLER | TEDxVirginiaTech

Beyond Boundaries

Now, when I think of baoundaries, I think of rules, regulation, and restrictions. And I think of the parents, and the teachers, and the supervisors, who hold us accountable with regard to those boundaries. That's not the bad thing. I know if you're like me, I need supervisors, I need someone holding me accountable to do the right thing. But beyond boundaries is something different. I think of those leaders, those teachers, those supervisors, those parents, who inspire us to go beyond the call of duty to do more than we have to, to do it not because they tell us, but because we want to. I would like to share with you what the research says abaout how to make that happen. And not just for other people, but for yourself. Here is the deal, how could we inspire poeple and ourselves to be self-motivated? There is another word. It's called "empowerment". You've heard that word, right? Now, the management definition of empowerment is, "Get it Done. Just get it done. With fewer resources and less time, I empower you, make it happen". I'm talking about feeling empowered. That's different. Feeling empowered is when you're self-motivated. Now, if you want to know if you feel empowered, or if your child, your student, your worker feels empowered, ask theme three questions. If they say yes to these three questions, they will feel empowered. And by the way, this is not based on common sense, this is based on research. But you've all been there, so it'll fell like common sense. Question number one: can you do it? Albert Bandura calls it self-efficacy. Do you believe you can do it? Do you have the time, the knowledge, and the training to do what we are asking you to do? If yo answer yes, good. Second question: will it work? Do you believe that what we're asking you to do, the process, will work? Albert Bandura calls that response-efficacy: believing that the behavior would lead the ultimate outcome. By the way, that takes education. we have to show them the data, we maigt show them some theory, we show them, teach them why this might work. I just used the word " eduacation". Earlier I used the word "training". Is this a difference. In elementary school, we call it eduacation. Middle school: education. High school: education. College: higher education. 3:03