great post, jt! the story you told was an excellent illustration of the point. sincerely, eddie

Enjoyed the post. Just goes to show that we should never assume what motivates someone else but take the time to find out. Loved the real life example.

Yay! A blog about motivational psychographics! I really enjoyed your story also. I hope some of your future posts will be applicable to workplace motivation and success as well.

That's a great story. I wish every coach would take the time to figure out what motivates each individual player, especially in high school while these young athlete's brains and bodies are developing. The 'relationship' with the coaches is huge!

As the mother of a young man I am truly interested in "the drive" behavior. I want him to focus on academics as much as on his ball handling skills, but OMG the constant reminders to do your home work, before you go to the court,or you can't go are endless. I look forward to reading and learning more on motivation. Thanks Coach.

oach T, enjoyed the anecdote, and my kids enjoyed your camp. Looking forward to future posts!

Excellent information. I think this points out how difficult it can be to coach and trying to motivate athletes. "Joey" may not accept yelling and crumble. "Billy" wanted it.

Well done JT

...Keep it coming! It will make us all better people and coaches!

As a mother of 3 children, (2 very motivated and one so NOT motivated that he's having a hard time functioning as a productive member of society at age 18), I will certainly look forward to more insight into this area. I certainly understand that kids come in different shapes and sizes and respond to different methods of parenting, but I never expected to have one that doesn't respond to anything!!!

About 15 years ago, I attended a six- hour conference on Motivation given by then IU Coach, Bobby Knight. He said that "the single hardest aspect of coaching was motivation. You cannot use something on one player and expect it to work for others. Once you use whatever technique it is on a team or an individual, it is gone. You need to come up with some sort of new material." Yelling at this kid worked, but usually yelling at anyone will get their attention the first time, but they will shut you out and then begin to hear the Snoopy sound from the Peanuts Gang whenever you then go to open your mouth "Wa, Wa Wa ,Wa Wa". THEN, you have lost them. Treating them like human beings, capable of playing a game for the fun of it, will eventually get the most out of kids.

Thanks for the story, I really could have used this when I was coaching my company basketball team. Look forward to reading more of your posts.

Extrinsic motivation when used without intrinsic motivation is not long lasting. Furthermore, when the reward is taken away, you take away the action as well.

http://www.selfmademiracle.com/motivationmodel/is-extrinsic-motivation-e...