Recently slaughtered an audiobook called Drive that looks into what truly motivates us…
For years I have loathed the idea and concept of the participation trophy for countless reasons, but mainly because I have always believed it disincentivizes the kids and gives them a false sense of reality as to how the real world actually works.
Although these have been my hardcore feelings, I have never had any hardcore scientific evidence to support my view… Until NOW.
In the book, author Daniel Pink referenced a study that was done with 3 groups of children drawing…
The first group was told that if they drew for a certain amount of time they would be given a big shiny blue ribbon…
The second group was not promised a ribbon but were told to draw for the same amount of time but were given a blue ribbon upon completion…
The third group was told to draw, promised no ribbon and given no ribbon…
After several weeks of repeating the drawing exercise, all 3 groups of kids were left in a room with pieces of paper and crayons, but instead of being told to draw for a certain amount of time, it was up to them as to how long they were going to draw, if at all.
The result was groups 2 and 3 drawing for a significantly longer time and creating much better work time than the “Ribbon Given” first group who bailed out early…
Why?
A few reasons…
When we constantly reward kids for routine mundane activities, it unquestionably creates self entitled expectations that devalues any reward, but worst of all squashes creativity and overall autonomy which may be the most critical element when it comes to humans reaching our maximum potential.
When we dangle the carrot, this may work in the short term but ultimately we will get tired of the carrot and completely lose our “love of the game” no matter what the game or job is.
In order to best facilitate creativity and production, our jobs as coaches, educators and mentors is simple… We must create a culture that allows us to get somebody to do something we want them to do because they WANT to do it… This starts and ends with one thing… AUTONOMY.
-EB
The Team GoHard Foot Reflexology Boards are officially back in stock! 🦶👍
