Work, sport, storage... Four tips for finding motivation

Europe 1 with 7:25 p.m., June 09, 2022

What if we found our motivation?

In any project and any activity, motivation is central.

It allows us to understand why we are taking action and why we are continuing our efforts.

Guests at the microphone of

, Yves-Alexandre Thalmann, psychologist and doctor of natural sciences, and Aurélie Callet, psychologist and co-founder of Kidz and Family, deliver four tips to boost our motivation. 

Find meaning in our actions

To be motivated, we can rely on a cognitive lever by thinking about the meaning and usefulness of our actions: "I do it because it makes sense. I do it because it is useful, especially community".

It brings something but sometimes it stops there.

If you want to quit smoking, for example, it's clear that you won't go any further than that because you know why you should quit smoking.

So, we switch to a lever that is more contextual.

In other words, we make sure to arrange our environment so that we achieve our objective.

Incorporate play elements into children's activities

We talk about gamification or gamification.

If we take the English term, it consists of incorporating game elements into an activity that is rather tedious.

That's what some educators and some teachers are trying to do.

But beware, there is immediately a limit: gamification can fool the brain.

If I do my activity because I have incorporated game elements, for example an element of competition or a measure of progress, this also means that the activity itself is not rewarding enough.

You always have to find a middle ground.

The smaller they are, the more you go through the game. The older they get, the more you have to differentiate between wants and needs.

We meet the needs but we do not meet all the desires.

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try to project

Our brain has a tendency to favor immediate rewards.

It is said to overvalue imminent rewards at the expense of distant rewards.

We are talking about the reversal of preferences.

In other words, this aptitude or this preference that our brain will have for small immediate rewards versus large but distant rewards that require effort.

How to fight against this mechanism?

We can try to pre-commit, a bit like when we force ourselves to put money aside for our retirement with the impossibility of going to the account.

To fix objectives

Above all, you have to be proactive.

For example, we can analyze our strengths and weaknesses to assess what is in line with our current potential.

When you know where you are going and what you want to accomplish, motivation becomes (almost) natural.