I'm not one for books on studies of human behavior. The main reason for this being that I do not like to have my mind or thoughts categorized or classified by a complete stranger. This is mostly due to the fact that I don't yet know my own self completely and if I don't then I don't want anyone else thinking they do. For example I am very annoyed by the supposed psychological meaning of body language. Sure some actions can be justified as clearly meaning a specific something but not all. I don't cross my arms when I am discussing something with someone as a means of putting a barrier between that person and I, it's simply that I feel comfortable that way or simply don't know what else to do with my arms. I do this with many people including my closest friends and relatives so don't tell me I am trying to put a barrier between me and those people I care about. This is how I felt with the book Drive by Daniel Pink, like I was being categorized.
This is not to say that I did not like the book. I am indifferent about it actually. First because I already knew that I get motivation from doing things I simply enjoy even if they are hard tasks or even work. I was expecting it to be something major and something I had never thought about, but it wasn't. However, it did go deeper into this motivation 3.0 as he called it and I learned a few things of interest here and there. The biggest of these things were the "seven deadly flaws of motivation 2.0". When I though hard about these examples and the scenarios the author gave me, I agreed with him that they can be harmful. Pink's examples of how different companies have become more successful was quite intrigueing since I didn't much believe letting people do whatever they want would work. I am still a skeptical about it all, but perhaps there is some sort of pattern in the way our minds are programmed, or perhaps it's all "bull". In any which case, I will need much more convincing and a lot more evidence to finally draw up a true conclusion.
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"The main reason for this being that I do not like to have my mind or thoughts categorized or classified by a complete stranger. This is mostly due to the fact that I don't yet know my own self completely and if I don't then I don't want anyone else thinking they do."
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate. I minored in Sociology in college because I found it mentally invigorating, but in my soul I found it draining because my life and my identity were being turned into data points to be predicted and explained away.
Do you think Pink is proposing a world that is more or less dehumanizing? Would our behavior be more or less predictable under Motivation 3.0? Why?
I felt similarly the same way but I just didn't mind the whole being categorized think, ok that was a lie. I never saw it that way, what concerned me was the fact that I couldn't fit into neither one of the categories. I struggled to come up with a solution or explanation onto why I wasn't fitting in the ideas the book was throwing at me; I even came to think that I lacked motivation. Seeing your point of view has made me realize that I was going about it the wrong way. In a way, I feel like my inner struggle to find an answer was useless and not worth it when I agree, no one should like to feel categorized either.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it more healthy to question what applies and what doesn't?
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