What Motivates Us at Work?

Good post from the TED conference on what motivates us at work.  A researcher at Harvard conducted an experiment,  and some interesting insights came out of it.  It’s a good read and worth checking out.

Some of  the key points:

• Seeing the fruits of our labor may make us more productive
• The less appreciated we feel our work is, the more money we want to do it
• The harder a project is, the prouder we feel of it
• Knowing that our work helps others may increase our unconscious motivation
• The promise of helping others makes us more likely to follow rules
• Positive reinforcement about our abilities may increase performance
• Images that trigger positive emotions may actually help us focus