The problem of having too much motivation

Psychological techniques to maintain productivity

May 05, 2024

“Dreams are what keep a man going.”
~ Daniel Wallace, Big Fish (1998)

Have you ever heard someone say "I work better under pressure"? It is not uncommon to find people who work better that way. This is because pressure pushes them to do their tasks, as a kind of motivation. The problem here is that pressure and motivation have a limit and sometimes the demand is so high that mental blocks arise, going blank or failing due to nervousness. Today we will see how you can avoid this problem to perform at your best in whatever you propose.

The problem with excessive motivation

According to Yerkes-Dodson's law (1908) optimal performance is with a moderate level of mental activation, if it is too high or low it can affect negatively. That is, since the highest productivity occurs with an intermediate level of activation, we must seek tasks of medium difficulty, which are surmountable but challenging, so we have enough activation and it is rewarding to see the progress.

You have experienced this a thousand times. Think about when you have started to do monotonous tasks and you have ended up bored and on the contrary, think about when you have had to face such difficult tasks that have generated anxiety. In both cases the performance is low, either because it does not motivate us because it is too easy or because it is an impossible challenge for our level.

Finding the optimal level

Okay, we have seen that the middle ground is the key, now we need to find that range. For that there are 3 factors that indicate whether you have too little or too much motivation.

The difficulty of the task: Difficult tasks need little pressure for good performance, this is because if you want to achieve them you need to pay full attention, however when the tasks are simple we need incentives to maintain activation and not get bored (either self-motivation to achieve it or some kind of external pressure).
For example: If you find it difficult to study a subject, look for an environment as quiet as possible, reduce your possible distractions and stimuli to a minimum, you will need to pay full attention in order to progress and not get discouraged. On the other hand, when you are going to do simple tasks (such as sweeping the house), think about using music or some kind of stimulus that will keep your spirits up so you don't get bored.

Your tolerable level of anxiety: Each person is different, while some are overwhelmed with little, others manage pressure well. Know yourself and find a way to dose the task so that you don't feel excessive pressure and it is a challenge that motivates you.

An example: If you have to do a project and you have been warned in advance, you could plan the steps to follow and divide them into more manageable subtasks. Then you can estimate the approximate time for each small task and think about what things you will need. This way you turn a big project into small manageable goals that are affordable in time and effort.

This is where many people fail, leaving everything to the last day because they have not even considered the size of the task to be done and their only motivation to do the task is the deadline.
Your personality: according to the Big Five personality model (Rothmann & Coetzer, 2003), the most valid today, extroverted people require more activation to have their maximum productivity, on the other hand, introverted people require a calmer environment with less stimuli when doing the same task.

I remember when we did projects in college and many preferred group tasks because they felt more motivated by the atmosphere of cooperation and exchange of ideas.

Enjoy the process more and think about the goal less.

It's common to see people who start out with a fiery motivation and quickly burn out. One reason for this is that we often focus obsessively on reaching the end goal, neglecting the value of the process itself. In psychology this is explained by the concept of "locus of control" (Rotter, 1966). Focusing on what you are learning and how your steps bring you closer to your goal will give you more motivation than thinking only about the distant and intangible result.

📚 Referencias

Rothmann, S., & Coetzer, E. P. (2003). The big five personality dimensions and job performance. SA Journal Of Industrial Psychology, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v29i1.88
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80(1), 1–28. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0092976
Yerkes, R., & Dodson, J. (1908). The relation of strenght of stimulus to rapidty of habit-formation. https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Yerkes/Law/?source=post_page
Wallace, D. (1998). Big fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.