What is the difference between people who willingly take work home with them on the weekends and people who scoff at the idea?
What is the difference between people who work hard all day and people who do as little work as they can possibly get away with?
What is the difference between people who sign up for night school classes and those who can’t imagine going back to school?
What is the difference between the most driven and the laziest person?
Self-interest.
We all do what we do because of self-interest; we think it’s the best thing for us. Those who work hard do so because they believe there is a reward awaiting them that not only justifies their efforts but also demands their dedication. Those who do not expend themselves do so because they cannot see the long-term benefit of work outweighing the short-term benefit of laziness.
Remind yourself of the value of the things you want, and the costs to you in effort will not feel as great.
Gwen got her start training dogs and soon realized she was really training their owners. “I would teach people about reacting consistently to what the dogs did so that good behavior was rewarded and bad behavior punished. And I thought to myself, it’s not the dogs that are being inconsistent here, it’s the people.”
Gwen sees all kinds. “You have the gigglers who say, ‘Isn’t that cute,’ when the puppy grabs their socks out of their hand and then get upset when the puppy goes for the socks, the shoes, the couch. You have the couples where one takes the strict approach and the other is in cahoots with the dog, covering up when the dog does something wrong.
“What dogs want,” says Gwen, “is your love, attention, and treats. If you make it perfectly clear and consistent what it will take to get that reaction, your dog will behave because of self-interest. But it is also a matter of your self-interest,” Gwen believes. “If you are too lazy to be consistent with your dog, or if you really don’t care what happens to your socks and shoes, then your lack of interest will come across.”
Researchers find that perceived self-interest, the rewards one believes are at stake, is the most significant factor in predicting dedication and satisfaction toward work. It accounts for about 75 percent of personal motivation toward accomplishment.
Dickinson 1999