What Motivates People? The Answer Might Surprise You
This blog post is more for myself than for my readers, but when I came across this it just rang true to me. Maybe it will show you how I feel about my job a little more.
Every day we make choices. As the world becomes ever-more complex and more stimulating, how you chose to spend your time becomes more fraught with consequences. For every choice that you make, you are simultaneously choosing not to do many other things.
People who work in this hybrid sales-service business of real estate have an unbelievable number of things they might do in any given moment. You can make a phone call, learn how to code a table in html for your blog, or stop by Facebook to see what all the other real estate agents are doing.
For all but the most menial and mechanical of tasks, the old model of thinking that people are primarily motivated by money has been scientifically disproved over and over again. As what we do to be successful real estate agents becomes more sophisticated and more complex, how we are motivated fundamentally changes. Paradoxically, as we become more motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose, we think about money less but actually make more.
What we do in real estate matters if we believe that it matters. I know that I believe this is good and useful work. We put people into the homes they live in. We help them move from bad situations to better, or we smooth the way for life transitions. Other than feeding people, what could be more important than helping people with housing, with shelter?
If you've made it this far and strongly disagree, then you might see this business as a set of tasks you can automate, script, plan and program. Perhaps you're always looking for the next coach, or next seminar, or next new product to somehow make the magic happen for you. I think that if you see this business as just a money making effort based on churning and burning leads, making appointments and closing deals, well, I don't think you'll last very long or be very successful.
You need to believe in the work that you do and know that it is interesting, valuable, and useful....and that's when the magic happens...that's when you get motivated to think harder, try new things, take risks, and care.
This 10 minute video Drive from RSA Animate is worth watching over and over. Dan Pink is an incredibly bright and engaging guy. Watch it here or go to RSA and look at the entire library of lectures and videos. The people at RSA also care about making the world a better place.
This post was written by Leslie Ebersole of Baird & Warner Real Estate.
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My Email leslie.ebersole@bairdwarner.com
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