Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is the role our sense of control plays in self-motivation.
In this post we’ll discuss a theory of self-motivation and its benefits. We’ll finish off with a case study on how the marines redesigned their bootcamps to foster initiative and decision-making abilities.
A Theory of Motivation
Many people believe that motivation is a sort of talent that you’re born with. Recent psychology literature shows that motivation is more like a skill.
Similar to reading and writing, anyone can learn to hone the craft. All we need to do is learn to practice self-motivation correctly.
A prerequisite to motivation is believing we have authority over our actions and surroundings. In short, we need to feel like we’re in control. When we feel we’re in control, we tend to work harder and push ourselves more.
This theory of motivation states that the first step to creating drive is allowing people to make choices. The result is a sense of autonomy and self-determination. To encourage self-motivation, we should always structure work as decisions rather than commands or chores.
Motivation is triggered by making choices that demonstrate to ourselves that we are in control.
The Locus of Control
The locus of control has been studied within psychology since the 1950s.
Someone with an internal locus of control will praise or blame themselves for their successes or failures. These people will not assign reasons of success to things outside their influence.
In contrast, having an external locus of control involves believing that your life is primarily influenced by events outside your control.
A student with a strong internal locus of control, for instance, will attribute good grades to putting in hard work to study. On the other hand, a student with a strong external locus of control, would attribute good grades to natural smarts.
This concept overlaps greatly with the Stoic dichotomy of control.
The Benefits of an Internal Locus of Control
Studies have provided interesting insights around the benefits of having a strong internal locus of control.
Firstly, the internal locus of control has been linked to academic success, higher self-motivation and social maturity. It also contributes to lower incidences of stress and depression, and a longer life span.
People with an internal locus of control tend to earn more money, have more friends, stay married longer, and report greater professional success and satisfaction. The list goes on.
On the other hand, an external locus of control has been shown to correlate with higher levels of stress. This is because the individual believes the situation is beyond their coping abilities.
If you can link something hard to a choice you care about, it makes the task easier. Making a chore into a meaningful decision allows self-motivation to emerge. We need to prove to ourselves that our choices are meaningful. When we start a new task, or confront an unpleasant chore, we should always ask ourselves “why.”
That’s how small tasks become pieces of a larger, more meaningful project, goal or value. We realise that small chores can have large emotional rewards. When we feel we’re making meaningful choices, we get the sense that we are genuinely in control of our own lives. That’s when self-motivation flourishes.
Replying to an email or helping a coworker, on its own, might be relatively unimportant. But as part of a larger purpose, this task takes on new meaning.
The immediate task is a step toward the bigger, more emotionally rewarding project or outcome. That’s the key to self-motivation.
How to Develop an Internal Locus of Control
Each choice we make, no matter how small, reinforces our perception of control. And the more we realise we can control, the more self-confidence and motivation we will develop.
A simple way to start any task is to find new ways to exert control.
For example, if you’re struggling to get motivated to answer a stream of emails, you might choose to start from the middle of your inbox.
If you need to start a new assignment, you can do whatever’s most interesting for you. Whether you start by writing the conclusion or creating the graphics, you’re in control.
And as long as we feel we’re in control, we’ll find ourselves motivated.
How to Increase Motivation
Whether we want to increase our team’s motivation or feel we need to increase our own motivation, there are several steps we can take.
How to Increase Our Own Motivation
There are steps we can take towards increasing motivation for ourselves and the people around us.
For example, we can reward initiative. Initiative is an indication of control. We don’t start things because we think there is no chance of success. Instead, we start things because we believe we can have an impact.
We should give ourselves emotional rewards for subversive actions. Doing things that counter the existing rules or status quo gives us a sense that we can control things in our lives.
When we start a new task, we should ask ourselves why we’re doing it. We can convince ourselves that we really want to do a task, because it aligns with a larger purpose.
It may not be fun to answer individual emails, but consider the larger project that would not be possible without these emails.
In this sense, we should realise that small chores can have disproportionately emotional rewards.
How to Increase Other People’s Motivation
It’s important when working in a team or raising children to help others develop their own locus of control.
We can do so by congratulating people for their initiative and self-motivation. We can celebrate when an infant wants to feed herself or an employee tries something new.
Of course, it becomes more difficult in certain situations, for example, when a child disobeys orders. But it is important for their motivation skills to have a sense of control.
Without these practices that encourage decision-making and taking initiative, self-motivation can easily fade.
Case Study – Marine Bootcamp
For most of its existence, marine bootcamps focused on moulding rowdy teenagers into disciplined soldiers. When Charles C. Krulak was promoted to head of the Marine Corps, he felt that many recruits had never really accomplished anything in their lives.
Many had never had a job or played any sports, and completely lacked ambition. They had always just been told what to do. Krulak realised that the marines needed an overhaul to teach these teenagers self-motivation.
Krulak reviewed studies on motivation and came across the locus of control. He eventually redesigned the bootcamp around this premise. New recruits would develop a bias toward action.
For example, a platoon would be told to clean the kitchen without clear instructions what needed to be done. The platoon would inevitably make mistakes like unplug the fridge and throw away edible food. But they would learn to make decisions themselves. That was the purpose of the exercise.
The Sergeant would then hand out compliments to people who had accomplished difficult things. The small guy for running fast or the shy guy for stepping into a leadership role.
Praising people for things that are difficult is how the recruits expanded their locus of control.
Motivation in a Nutshell
The key to motivation comes down to the sense of control we have in achieving our goals. This concept is the locus of control.
People with a strong internal locus of control believe they are responsible for their success as much as their failures. On the other hand, people with an external locus of control believe that their success relies on things outside their control.
Studies have repeatedly shown that people who take more initiative are more likely to be successful in all walks of life. This locus of control is the key to self-motivation.
Learn the secrets of self-motivation with the locus of control and Mind & Practice today.