by
JOHN HAWKINS PJ Media May 14, 2012

Every day of your life, you’re bombarded with attempts to influence your behavior. You pick up the paper and it tries to convince you to take a political position. You turn on the TV, watch a sitcom, and recognize that there’s a moral message shoved into it. While you’re watching the sitcom, commercials play. Do those ads stick in your brain?

Let’s find out.

Which company has the slogan, “Just do it”? Which candy “melts in your mouth, but not in your hand”? Here’s a golden oldie: Which fast food chain introduced the phrase “Where’s the beef?”

Because the changes wrought by these messages tend to be subtle, most people erroneously believe they’re unaffected. Of course, they’re very wrong. It costs $3.5 million to run a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl. You think those companies pay out dumptrucks of cash for those spots without believing they’re getting their money’s worth? So, here’s a question: Since you’re being programmed by outside sources on a day in, day out basis, why not run some of your own programming that’s designed to make your life better? There are a number of ways to do it.

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From Health.com

We like to think our high-tech tools are helping us get more done faster, thanks to our 24/7 access to information and other people. And, yes, technology has considerable upsides: Staying in touch with far-flung loved ones is easier than ever, and “there’s tremendous efficiency when it comes to work, like exchanging information and collaborating,” says Gary Small, MD, a neuroscientist at UCLA and co-author ofiBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind.

But for many of us, a little too much of this good thing is actually causing a neurological phenomenon that psychiatrist Edward Hallowell, MD, author of Driven to Distraction, has called “attention deficit trait,” marked by distractibility and impatience. “We’re constantly scanning the environment for a new ring or buzz,” Dr. Small says. “And there’s something irresistible about an unopened message,” Dr. Hallowell adds. “We want to keep opening them even though we know that we’re distracting ourselves, taking ourselves out of the moment, the conversation.”

That’s because our brains crave newness and reward us with a feel-good squirt of the neurotransmitter dopamine every time our phone pings with a text or emails show up in our inbox. In a soon-to-be- published study from the University of Chicago, researchers found that people have a harder time resisting the tug of gadgets than any other desire, including the urge to eat, sleep, shop, and have sex.

As a result, instead of helping us multitask better, our phones, computers, texts, emails, and apps may keep us from accomplishing as much as we want to. “What people mean by multitasking is switching their attention back and forth from one task to the next,” Dr. Hallowell explains. “And every time you do that, each task loses a little bit of your attention.”

But you can organize your gadget usage so you’re not overwhelmed by the never-ending emails and those incessant pings from your BlackBerry. Here are smart strategies for making your tech work in ways that keep your brain focused—and even more efficient.

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More Tech Coping Tools 

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Motivation

“Motivation is generally defined as the force that compels us to action. It drives us to work hard and pushes us to succeed. Motivation influences our behavior and our ability to accomplish goals.” ^[1]

How do these definitions of motivation effect your ability to get things done?

According to direct marketing guru Herschell Gordon Lewis, the Five Prime Motivators are: Fear, Greed, Guilt, Exclusivity and Approval.

Guilt – Who hasn’t felt at some time that they weren’t doing all they could to achieve the kind of success they want in life? Have any of you fully tapped your potential? If I don’t buy this thing or do this thing I will feel guilt of some offense to someone or something.

Exclusivity – You’re being told you’re smarter than those who are making it – others who are less intelligent, able and ambitious than you. I am special because I belong to this exclusive group.

Greed – If only you could achieve according to your potential, you could have all that success brings – all that those other, less capable people have. I want it because should have it and my needs are more important than yours.

Fear – You’re losing out. If you don’t do something soon, something bad will happen. You’ll be a failure!

Approval –  Love is a more sophisticated but no less essential need. Every human being wants others to care about them, to receive affection. They want to have the approval of others, to be understood, accepted, respected, and to belong.

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According to:

6 Types of Motivation Explained

There are many different forms of motivation. Each one influences behavior in its own unique way. No single type of motivation works for everyone. People’s personalities vary and so accordingly does the type of motivation, that is most effective at inspiring their conduct.

Types of Motivation

Incentive: A form of motivation that involves rewards, both monetary and nonmonetary is often called incentive motivation. Many people are driven by the knowledge that they will be rewarded in some manner for achieving a certain target or goal. Bonuses and promotions are good examples of the type of incentives that are used for motivation.

Fear: Fear motivation involves consequences. This type of motivation is often one that is utilized when incentive motivation fails. In a business style of motivation often referred to as the, “carrot and stick,” incentive is the carrot and fear is the stick.

Punishment or negative consequences are a form of fear motivation. This type of motivation is commonly used to motivate students in the education system and also frequently in a professional setting to motivate employees. If we break the rules or fail to achieve the set goal, we are penalized in some way.

Achievement: Achievement motivation is also commonly referred to as the drive for competency. We are driven to achieve goals and tackle new challenges. We desire to improve skills and prove our competency both to others and to ourselves. Generally, this feeling of accomplishment and achievement is intrinsic in nature.

However, in certain circumstances be motivation for achievement may involve external recognition. We often have a desire or need to receive positive feedback from both our peers and our superiors. This may include anything from an award to a simple pat on the back for a job well done.

Growth: The need for self-improvement is truly an internal motivation. A burning desire to increase our knowledge of ourselves and of the outside world can be a very strong form of motivation. We seek to learn and grow as individuals.

Motivation for growth can also be seen in our yearning for change. Many of us are wired by our personality or upbringing to constantly seek a change in either our external or internal environment or knowledge. We view stagnation to be both negative and undesirable.

Power: The motivation of power can either take the form of a desire for autonomy or other desire to control others around us. We want to have choices and control over our own lives. We strive for the ability to direct the manner in which we live now and the way our lives will unfold in the future.

We also often aspire to control others around us. The desire for control is stronger in some people than others. In some cases, the craving for power induces people to harmful, immoral, or illegal behavior. In other situations, the longing for power is merely a desire to affect the behavior of others. We simply want people to do what we want, according to our timetable, and the way we want it done.

Social: Many people are motivated by social factors. This may be a desire to belong and to be accepted by a specific peer group or a desire to relate to the people in our sphere or in the larger world. We have an innate need to feel a connection with others. We also have the need for acceptance and affiliation.

A genuine and passionate desire to contribute and to make a difference in the lives of others can be another form of social motivation. If we have a longing to make a contribution to the world around us, it is generally a sign that we are motivated by social factors.

The real importance of understanding the different types of motivation is in our ability to determine which form of motivation is the most effective for inspiring the desired behavior in either others or ourselves. None of these styles of motivation is inherently good or bad, the positive or negative outcome is truly determined by the way they are used.

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While many of these 2 sets of definitions can be merged together like

Greed = Incentive
Approval = Social
Fear = Fear

The point of these articles is that if you want to move someone or yourself to do something, the emotional motivators are the key to making it happen. The trick of course is using the right one at the right time in the right situation.

You use them all the time to influence others. How will you use these to improve yourself? 

[1] 6 Types of Motivation Explained

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By Keath Low, About.com Guide

Updated December 08, 2010

Study Finds Coaching Improves Executive Functioning for College Students with ADHD

A recent study finds that coaching helps college students with ADHD improve their ability to learn and succeed in college. The research conducted at Wayne State University in Michigan is the largest and most comprehensive study of ADHD coaching conducted to-date. Research findings for the pilot study and the field-test were presented at the annual international Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) conference on November 12, 2010. Results from the pilot study are slated to be published in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability in late 2010 or early 2011.

The transition to college can be a very challenging one for a student with ADHD. Time is less structured. There are many more distractions, greater responsibilities and expectations, increased academic demands, and generally less support systems in place. Lead investigator, Sharon Field, Ed.D., explains further:

“Expectations of students in college are very different than they are for students in high school. For example, in high school grades are often based on multiple, short-term assignments. However, in college, students are typically assessed on two or three large assignments for the entire semester. College students are expected to complete their work with high levels of initiative and independence. Plus, in college there is usually a wide array resources and activities available to students. This also means there are more potential distractions. Making the transition from high school to college is difficult for most students, but it can be especially challenging for students with ADHD.”

Dr. Field also notes that students with ADHD often have difficulty with executive functioning skills like organization, time management and focusing on specific tasks. In addition, students with ADHD do not receive any support services or accommodations in college unless they self-identify and register with the Disabled Student Services (DSS) office on campus. The support available to students to accommodate for their ADHD may be very different from what they had available to them in high school. Continue Reading

Thanks to http://www.adhdsuccesscoaching.com for the image

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COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

You know how it is — after doing all the really unimportant things you don’t have to do, there’s never enough time for the really important things you do have to do.

That’s why you need to become a master of GTD, or “Getting Things Done.” GTD is the philosophy of David Allen, a productivity consultant, trainer, and the author of a book called, surprisingly, “Getting Things Done.”

In “When Office Technology Overwhelms, Get Organized,” a recent article in The New York Times, the GTD guru lays out strategies for those of us who are easily distracted by bright shiny objects — such as iPads and iPhones and all the other iTimeWasters.

As Allen writes, “even as workplace technology and processes steadily improve, professionals feel less productive than ever. It may seem a paradox, but these very tools are undermining our ability to get work done.”

Of course, for people like you, undermining your ability to get work done is exactly the reason you need all this snazzy technology. How you could ever survive an 8-hour day without the distraction of Angry Birds or the titillation of the Paris Hilton’s twitter feed?

Apparently, not everyone shares your passion for unproductivity. In David Allen’s world, the inability to get things done “results in unclear, distracted and disorganized thinking, and leaves frustration, stress and undermined self-confidence in its wake.” Frankly, this surprises me. If it weren’t for unclear, distracted and disorganized thinking, working people would have a crystal clear view of their horrible jobs and their punishing bosses. The shock from developing that kind of insight could send any sentient individual running out of the office and into the streets, screaming in terror.

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