What Motivates You?

As we all know, yesterday was Mother's Day. It is always a difficult task to find the perfect gift for an amazing mother who has sacrificed much of her life, just trying to make her kids happy. Any little token gift that I thought of just didn't seem good enough. I had to eventually decide on something, though. This year, I got her the traditional Bath and Body Works basket along with an inspiring book by Chad Hymas, a quadriplegic who did a very motivational assembly at my school a couple of weeks ago, and...a cat buzzer.

My mom has had this cat, Sneakers, living at her house for the past few years. Sneakers is a very friendly cat. He fears noone and loves to sit on anybody's lap that drops by for a visit. He was originally my brother's ex-girlfriend's cat. My brother rescued him from being neglected outside her house with a bunch of other stray cats. My brother asked my mom if she would mind keeping Sneakers for a little while. My mom originally hesitated because she did not want an animal living in her brand new house. Sneakers eventually won her over, though, and this situation has proven rather permanent. Sneakers really is a sweet cat. He never makes any noise, even when he is hungry. The only problem he has is that he loves scratching up the furniture. The edges of the couches are getting rather ripped up. My mom tries to tell him to scratch his scratch board, but Sneakers is not the best listener. He has now started scratching up the carpet. Getting my mom this cat buzzer means that she can now she can push a button which will play a loud sound that only cat ears can ear and hopefully train him against that. Do things like this work?

As I thought about this, I started wondering if a little trick like buzzing a cat is really the best way to train an animal. The cat will eventually learn to make "correct" choices, but this will be out of fear of getting zapped. I guess it is worth a try on an animal, but what about on a person? How do we respond to fear? I have discovered that people are motivated by external and internal things. External types of motivation include fear and hopes for a reward. Internal motivation, by contrast, includes out of duty, faith in something larger than ourselves and ultimately love. I believe that fear is the least effective type of motivation while love is the most effective. I have noticed this with my students. When I threaten to take points from their grade or send them into the hall with a worksheet, they often make an effort temporarily to focus. Sometimes I offer them a reward. I have a bag of over 300 suckers that was left in my classroom by a student back in October. I want to get rid of them, so I say things like, "Sing this French song well and you will get a treat." This can work for a few minutes, but usually the kids who decide to sing that song with their heart and soul are the ones who would do so anyway. I have noticed that the best way to get my students to work hard and do what I want them to do is just to love them and really show I care. This is the hardest way and definitely takes more work, but is much more worth it in the long run.

It is funny how we really do want to help people and make a difference in the world, but we hate to be forced into it. We don't like guilt trips. We want it to be our decision. When a student asks me for a piece of candy, I never want to give it to him. I always want to give when it is my idea. I guess I need to decide to actively seek more opportunities to give. One of the things that Chad Hymas said at our school assembly (and I HIGHLY recommend his book, by the way) was that we have to decide to give with our hands more than receive. Okay. I had heard that before. But then he asked us to do something I had never done before. He asked us to open the palms of our hands and look at them. Really study them. He asked us to notice the fleshy parts on the palms of our hands. He told us that since his accident, in 2001, his fingers have become boney and permanently limp. Now that he doesn't have full mobility, he has had to make a conscious effort to be positive and find ways that he can give to others without using these hands that we all have. For some reason, by looking at my hands that day, I was really touched. I decided on my own that I wanted to reach out to other people with whatever energy I have each day. Hearing his optimism inspired me to reach outside of myself more than a buzzer, taser, sucker or fear of punishment could ever do. That is what motivated me. What motivates you?