I watched a lecture yesterday on the science of motivating young people.
What stuck with me wasn’t the brain scans showing what lights up motivation centers, and what you need to do more of to get people moving. It was the idea that you can design environments, conversations, even simple phrases, in a way that gets people hooked on trying harder, learning better, and growing into their best selves.
Of course, this same science can be misused, like hooking people into endless scrolling or buying things they don’t need. But when it’s used to help someone rise, stretch, become more of who they’re capable of being?
That feels like a noble pursuit that can change the human race!
I was fascinated with the precision of designing for motivation wired in a teenage brain.
Even more so I loved the idea on how communicating and behaving in a specific way, with a “mentor mindset”, makes such a huge difference for motivating people do their best at hard things VS fearing failure and staying in their comfort zone VS zone of growth, swinging at bigger things voluntarily, doing more hard work to get better, to make things better - all without a stick or a carrot!
This mentor mindset technique works equally well for adults and it’s super simple to grasp.
“I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards for you and I believe you can meet them (and I’ll support you all the way through”
If you got this on EVERY challenge, if you felt that kind of push and support, wouldn’t you swing at more things?
Let’s demand more from each other, and also, let’s give each other matching support. That’s how we unlock more potential. That’s how we change the world.
