I've been a professional writer since I was 17, so nearly 24 years now. I’ve made my living with words, and have written a lot of them -- more than 10 million.
But when a task is presented as fun, researchers report in a new study, the same individuals often do worse than those who are less motivated to achieve.
It turns out passion is not as elusive as we think.
Little research exists in the area of self-talk, although internal dialogue often influences the way people motivate and shape their own behavior.
"Over the course of five years, I've managed to pay off over $35,000 in debt, quit my day job, and go from having nothing saved to fully funding my retirement accounts every year. In the process, I've developed a 14-point philosophy."
If you don’t know how, learn how. Use that fancy brain that learned how to walk, talk, and read. It’s still capable of further learning, is it not? Of course it is!
Psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people's brains correspond to their personalities; for example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior.
We all have days when we’re just not very inspired, when we need passion and creativity breathed into us.
The color red can affect how people function: Red means danger and commands us to stop in traffic.
Reading teaches us a lot, but it’s in the actual doing of things that we do our real learning.
Procrastination, the habit of putting tasks off to the last possible minute, can be a major problem in both your career and your personal life. Side effects include missed opportunities, frenzied work hours, stress, feeling overwhelmed, resentment and guilt.
Even the most motivated of us can feel unmotivated at times. In fact, sometimes we get into such a slump that even thinking about making positive changes seems too difficult.
Employees who pursue creative activities outside of work may find that these activities boost their performance on the job.
There are a number of factors that influence how well we do in school, including the amount of time we study and our interest in a subject.
It seems contradictory to those who are used to sacrificing living for pursuing their goals … but cultivating mindfulness will help you achieve your goals and enjoy life more.
Impulse and determination: Those two are probably the most important keywords of my life.
Research suggests that it is pro athlete's ability to manage his goals, as well as his skill, determination and motivation that makes him successful.
Excuses are lies we tell ourselves to avoid dealing with unpleasant truths. But as long as we buy into those excuses, we can never move past them.
How does someone else’s success mean anything bad for you?
Contributors get noticed and attract new friends and opportunities easily, and contributing is much easier than you might assume
There are a lot of people who read self-improvement blogs and books, but never put them into action. Are you one?
What is a mind map? Put simply, it's a type of diagram, used to help you outline information in a visual format. But really, a mindmap can be anything you need it to be.
Maintaining an interest in the goals you pursue can improve your work and reduce burnout, according to research from Duke University.
It's hard to keep yourself going when you don’t feel the same excitement as you did in the beginning.
We all procrastinate. I put off writing this article by doing a bunch of smaller tasks, for example. They were less important and I knew it, but they were quick tasks and so easier than writing an article on a tough topic.
Many of us are good at starting things — it’s the finishing that we need help with.
A big part of self-discipline comes from social pressure. This is how people in the military can become very disciplined, particularly in special forces. They don’t want to hold their team back, so they have to do their best.
Whether it's for money, marbles or chalk, the brains of reward-driven people keep their game faces on, helping them win at every step of the way. Surprisingly, they win most often when there is no reward.
The problem isn't capturing our creativity, as individual inspiration is a steady pulse that beats within us all. The problem is keeping those embers hot once we have them in our grasp.
It’s the lack of starting that kills most tasks and projects.