Reddit mentions of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Motivation is driven by purpose, not Monetary Incentives

Monetary bonuses can backfire

[The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis
of the literature](http://www.timothy-judge.com/Judge,%20Piccolo,%20Podsakoff,%20et%20al.%20(JVB%202010%29.pdf). You can read a good summary here

Make More Money by Making Your Employees Happy a book on the topic.

What Really Motivates Employees? article on Forbes.

If you want some empirical evidence just look at doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, police officers. This are all crappy jobs with long hours, low pay and full of potential dangers, but plenty of people do what has to be done, because they believe they're making a difference, they're doing something good for society. Other good examples are open sources softwar: firefox, linux, wikipedia. All built by volounteers and all good enough to compete with founded projects like chrome, windows and encarta.

The best way to make an employee more productive is to make him more engaged in his work, but this is not done in many companies, because often it means giving the employee more freedom and tis is against accepted management techniques. (How many bosses you know are willing to give autonomy to their subordinates?)

Edit: I forgot this book: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us which is probably the best example.

I was younger than almost my entire team, only had 2 others younger than me of a 7 person team. It can be a bit challenging but the key thing to remember is that you were hired for your skills to be a people manager and they are the professionals in their skills.

There was probably someone on that team wanted your job. I tend to acknowledge their desire for leadership positions and ask them if that is what they still want in their career. If so then we make a plan to help make them more marketable for the next role or as my "heir-apparent" when the time comes.

Be humble and let their expertise and opinions be a welcome thing. It is paramount to hear their advice and more importantly to hear why things are done the way they are. People (typically) don't do things without a good reason. Respect that.

Couple other random bits and pieces I recommend to new managers:

This is what I try to do when taking over a new team.

• Review finances (historical (3-5 yrs), YTD and budgeted). The good part is that most of your current year has already been determined for you, so take that time to get the lay of the land so you can hit next year strong.
  
• Outline objectives and priorities from your boss for the department.
  
• Establish 1:1 weekly meetings with all your direct reports.
  
• I like to provoke my new teams to tell me two things in the following areas: Where are we poor/weak? What do we OK but should do better? What do we great at? What would you like to see?
  
  Things I strive for as part of my team as their manager:
  
  
• Do great work consistently.
  
• Be the go to team in your organization.
  
• Be a team and manager willing to push envelopes or create positive disruption.
  
• Protect your team as a manager in all settings.
  
• Reward people by the way they want to be rewarded. Not everyone wants beer. Not everyone wants money. Some people are just happy solving a difficult problem others couldn't figure out.
  
  A few books I would recommend in no particular order:
  
  
• Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
  
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
  
• The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
  
• Writing That Works
  
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

I got you covered dude. My company lives for this and provides books on the regular, but the ones below are pretty much the industry standard, and top companies all over the world recommend that every one read these. I have to admit, they've helped me:

• "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" This will also have an impact on your personal life, but most importantly, it prevented me from being a little shit in the office, and helps teach you to focus on your work and behavior with other people by offering simple logic and examples.
  
  
• "Winning" This is the manifesto of how to dominate the corporate world by the legendary Jack Welch (Former long time CEO of GE). It's extremely simple and a very easy read, but this is the corporate mentality. Of all the books I list, if you only read one, make it this one. Easily a favorite among everyone in my office.
  
  
• "Good to Great" This isn't so much about how to be an effective individual, its more about what makes an effective company, but still important as you will want to recognize the effectiveness of your own organization is it grows and changes while you are there. Additionally, "Great by Choice" and "Built to Last" are also written by the same author, Jim Collins, and should also be on your list, but prioritize them for later.
  
  
• "Drive" by Dan Pink. This will help you understand a little bit more of what physically can motivate you, beyond money. Good way to sit down and assess your values as to why you show up everyday. I would also add "A Whole New Mind" which discusses creativity and "To Sell is Human" both by Dan Pink and prioritize them for later
  
  Those are the quick ones I can think of. If I come up with more I'll add them to the list. Also, welcome to the corporate world - good luck in your career!
  
  Edit: Holy shit, gold? This is my first time receiving so thank you for being gentle!
  

The sense of entitlement right now in the under 25 crowd is staggering. I have tech recruiters who can't give away 16.00 an hour jobs because people feel they are "better than that" when they have no actual experience other than graduating college. I hire and recommend for hire people, and have done so for multiple agencies.

I've been saying what Mr. McDonald has been saying, for some time, as have all the HR recruiters, head-hunters, sociologists, etc. People are coming out of higher education and are not able to do things that they absolutely should know how to do. In addition to this, they can not problem solve effectively, and everyone thinks they are a genius and entitled to something...when they're not. Here - this is just one more study about this exact thing:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-05-06/national/39057667_1_entitlement-survey-graduates

Here's a good article (from 2005) that is old, but talks about the change in the term "gold collar" worker. (Gold collar use to mean experts in mid level roles - as I've said to people "I'm a cog. A expensive gold-plated cog, but still just a cog")
new gold collar workers - people that spend what they don't have and live at home with lower level professional positions. Here's that entitlement....

http://seattletimes.com/html/living/2002479345_goldcollar08.html


You want to blame people, blame the parents. Blame them for creating a society where everyone theoretically gets a trophy. where everyone is constantly told they are special, and brilliant, and exceptional. Right now - under 30 is the over-praised generation and under 25 adds to that two-fold.

I've heard first hand such stories as "I didn't hire a person and their MOM called me about it" (yes...for real).

This attitude of people also trickles into other things, even things like video games. Read this:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/03/13/call-of-duty-red-orchestra-2-interview/
He talks about the lack of mastery in people. that lack of mastery, that aspect of needing, wanting to start somewhere and become good at it vs. just being given something cause its all "too hard" -- that permeates society right now.

and the top rated comment is exactly what is wrong. those startups that are talked about? they fail faster than restaurants these days. And, does everyone realize that making it work in a small business/start up is HARD? that it's like saying "I'm going to be a pro-athlete" and counting on it? There is no guarantee. We are not all beautiful unique snowflakes.

You want to get someone's attention? skip the attitude and learn to start at the bottom. make exceptions and work hard and smart. Learn how to be wrong, how to accept it gracefully, and how to maintain relationships with smart people, annoying people, and dumb people. learn how to learn. Show that if you don't know something, you can pick it up.

Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-Motivates-ebook/dp/B004P1JDJO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368327765&sr=8-2&keywords=dan+pink


You may feel that I'm outdated in my thinking, and that is your right - but as I said...I hire and fire people, I recommend people for roles, and I'm in the software world making products that many of you use all the time.

Now - if this doesn't apply to you, if you are in these age groups and work hard, recognize that things aren't owed to you, and you can understand and process defeat gracefully, learn from it and improve your position - then congratulations, you are ahead of the curve.

The thing here that sticks out to me is that not once did you mention any specific thing that you enjoy doing or have a passion for.

Your goal was to make money and prove your dad wrong. That is not a sustainable way to direct your energy. I think it's very lucky that you were able to identify your problem as rooted in your dad and not money per se.

A lot of people pursue money as it's own means and own end and it ends up never being enough and it destroys them. You have to fail, sometimes spectacularly, to learn that kind of lesson and here you are, still young and in the prime place to learn from that mistake so don't feel bad.

I think you really need to sit back and try to figure out what really drives you. Why did you start an online company for example? There are a lot of ways to make money.

Why go that route specifically, and what did you sell? Were you drawn to that for some intrinsic reason other than you thought you'd make the most money that way or did you stumble on something that spoke to you and you were able to drive that to success because of passion? Generally, people aren't able to reach that level unless they're somehow interested in that field.

the short but powerful guide to finding your passion

coaching the artist within - this is geared towards artists but it starts out with trying to get you to find what you're passionate about and then lessons on mastering anxiety, mental blocks and fear of failure. It also sounds like you want to be self directed rather than on a career path which is similar to the 'artist life'.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates us

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

Meditations

On the Shortness of Life

The Wisdom of Insecurity

The Art of Nonconformity:Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World

Things Might go Terribly, Horribly Wrong: A Guide to Life Liberated from Anxiety

Here are a few things to get you started. They don't have 'the answer' per se, but I think they'll go a long way in helping you reframe your idea of motivation, discipline, and how to deal with fear of failure. And get you started on the right path.

I will also add: do not be afraid to find a good therapist (preferably one trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) especially if you are still under 26 and are on your Mom's insurance.

I am not suggesting you have an illness from the DSM-V per se. However, I think any time you're unhappy and are struggling to reach goals, at a certain point that is a 'mental health issue' you need help with and a therapist is the ideal 'coach' to get you through it with tested and verified methods (and likely in a finite amount of meetings.)

It seems there has been a study that says otherwise.

Well, it just so happens that I have a list prepared to tweet out—figured I'd share here as well :)

How to Win Friends & influence People

Never Eat Alone

The E-Myth Revisited

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

Tribes

Linchpin

A Whole New Mind

The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing

The millionaire Next Door

Cashflow Quadrant

Why We Want you to be Rich

Drive

Rework

The 4 Hour Work Week

Entreleadership

Thou Shalt Prosper

Driven

How to Get Ideas

The Go-Giver

Empirical data disagrees.

source: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P1JDJO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Words like "enjoyable", "fun", "cool", "entertaining", "worthwhile", etc. are extremely problematic because there are no definitions. They are inherently subjective. That's why we use them.

Personally, I love filmmaking. I love conceptualizing films, I love planning films, I love preparing for films, I love being on set, I love building my camera package, I love seeing a scene's lighting slowly take shape, I love the organization and logistics required to run a set, I love managing my files, I love planning out how to approach editing, I love creating variations on edits to test emotional hypotheses, and I love feeling the energy of a room when I screen one of my films.

But I know lots of amazing filmmakers who do not even enjoy, let alone love, many of those aspects. And that's totally fine.

There are many people who love filmmaking but who hate working on my sets because of how much preplanning and clear intent I demand. They just want something else out of the process. Again, that's totally fine.

The point is, "enjoy" is not a deep enough analysis. You all may want to "make a film" but for a myriad of different reasons. Being a director means being a leader, and understanding the needs and wants of your cast and crew. It's the only way to achieve the cohesiveness required for a high-performing team.

You may want to check out Drive by Daniel Pink, or feel free to DM me and we can get on Skype/Hangouts and talk about it.

Drive by Daniel Pink is also a great book about this topic. It also delves into other aspects of motivation. I really enjoyed the book.

Brain Rules by John Medina is another great book. I love the brain!