My Drive

I have been VERY busy this summer and I have always come to this blog and clicked on the "new post" button various times but never got around to typing. I started reading DRIVE while working at the Houston Zoo this summer and somehow found some of the ideas mentioned in the book similar to what I was doing on my own. I am going to be honest and say that this book wasn't my favorite but it did open my eyes to a lot of things. For example, whenever the author mentioned about offering a reward, like money, for an action to be done can be dangerous I could honestly say to myself I have witnessed that. My younger sister doesn't enjoy reading and so during the summer my family has accustomed her to read and she knows she will receive an amount of money in return. Obviously she finds a way to not really read the book and receive the reward. It reminded me about the part in the book where the idea of a not so well job done will be a consequence. On the other hand I realized that my love for animals and volunteer work is the other type of motivation mentioned in the book. I first applied to the Houston Zoo Crew program because I would love to spend my summer working with animals and gaining more knowledge about them. As I worked my hundred hours I realized that I was being rewarded in small ways, such as, discounts, the laughter of the campers and knowledge. The book then became a bit more interesting to me because I realized how much these kind of scenarios happen everyday and one goes through life not really paying much attention to it. My drive this summer was keeping myself busy helping others while in return gaining many rewards that weren't always necessarily money.

I'm Not The Greatest Driver

As Susan handed me this book I couldn't help but wonder why she would give us a book about driving. I quickly realized this book wasn't about a drive we can control, but about a drive that controls us.

What exactly is my drive? I never really thought about this question till after I read this book. I also thought about how many times a teacher has "encouraged" me to do great in a paper with rewards. I also got to thinking aren't grades rewards as well? Are grades really necessary?

As you can see a lot of questions arose in me. I thought a lot about how when we are little our parents teach us to respond to punishments and rewards. Parents would offer us a cookie if we made our bed. Why couldn't they just expect us to do it by ourselves? I mean we would have done it eventually right?

I have noticed that the natural drive everyone has helps create something much more unique then when we are pressured. I like to surpass my boundaries just like a lot of people. Have you ever noticed how little kids are always wanting to jump higher, run faster, or be better at something. Once we become young adults, we always tend to expect something in return for our achievements. It's time for a change..

I Finally Found The Drive to Write My Blog

I completed my reading about a month after school ended and since then I have been struggling with exactly what to blog about. Here it is August 1oth, less than a week before school starts, and still I haven't decided what to write about. So I've decided to just go for it, here goes.

Before I had even read the first chapter of Drive I was enthralled by the introduction. Pink writes, "Rewards can deliver a short-term boost --- just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off ---and, worse, can reduce a person's long-term motivation to continue the project." (pg.8). That statement is so true and it helped me to understand a lot of things that I have experienced. I remember back in elementary school one of the little girls from my neighborhood (let's call her Susie) was really enthused about a new rewarding system her school had come up with. The deal was that every student that got commended performance on their TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) would receive a check for fifty dollars (Keep in mind the fact that we were in the third grade, so fifty dollars is alot of money.). So Susie took the test and got the fifty dollars. Well, the nest year when it was time to take the test again she found out that there would be no reward and here attitude towards succeeding changed. She didn't care if she passed or not because she couldn't get the fifty dollars.

That school got what they wanted, state recognition, but at a greater price than they had prepared for. They had given the children the wrong kind of motivation and in return they got little to no self-motivation and made the kids expect to be rewarded for succeeding. These children were given a short-term boost and no long-term motivation. So as far-fetched as Pink ideas seem they are true and I got all of this from a couple of sentences in the introduction.