Motivation: Scientific Approach VS Esoteric Practices and Life Coaching

With numerous opportunities to take and dreams to chase, the modern rhythm of life leaves us astray and burnt-out. To get back in the swing and achieve our goals, we need motivation that can be acquired with different strategies applied. They include esoteric practices, life coaching, and the scientific approach.

Esoteric Practices

The esoteric approach to motivation reflects the idea of the so-called enlightenment as a form of a person’s inner drive. By meditating, praying, and conducting different rituals, humans can focus on their subconscious needs and achieve great results. Sounds odd? Still, this strategy has many followers and admirers.

Pros

Autosuggestion

Every practice for the sake of well-being raises the self-esteem of the practitioner and shapes some positive picture of the world where motivation comes from some constant rituals. The perception of reality is changed, and the inner drive works as a placebo. This hypothesis was proven in James Cook University Singapore, where participants of the experiment aged between 17 and 59 years were randomly positioned in no-stress with no ‘lucky’ pen conditions, no-stress with a ‘lucky’ pen conditions, stress with no ‘lucky’ pen conditions, and stress with a ‘lucky’ pen conditions. The results were that participants with a ‘lucky’ pen had lower state anxiety and perceived their performance to be better than those who had to act without it.

Boost of Imagination

Nonconventional knowledge broadens the outlook of a person and develops imaginative thinking. The more mental pictures a brain can produce, the more creative it gets. Consequently, inspiration and motivations are born.

Cons

Misunderstanding

Though some esoteric practices contain grains of truth, they are widely misunderstood by people who are not ready to spend days and hours reading between the lines and digging for the explanations of metaphoric things described in metaphysic books. Consequently, they perform different rituals in their literal sense, and all the practices become inefficient.

Disconnectedness

With numerous literature on the topic in open sources, there is still no exact method of acquiring motivation esoterically. A profound person can easily get lost in the flood of disjointed information.

Dependence

The more illuminated people get, the more dependent on superstitious thinking they are. They can start with singing mantras and reading signs and end up in cults because they are gradually offloading more responsibilities onto something or someone. Subsequently, they become dependent and are not ready to control their will.

No Scientific Proofs

The Internet is full of articles about the efficiency of esoteric practices for reviving motivation. However, there is no scientific data confirming their efficiency. Everyone can figure out and advertise a method that will not work in real life.

Getting Strange

The worst aspect of the esoteric approach is that their followers conduct socially non-conformal things, keep on speaking about them in public, and heartily advertise them to their close ones. As a result, these people are regarded as weird and gradually become socially isolated.

Mental Health Issues

Superstitiousness itself is an obsessive-compulsive disorder, as proven by researchers Peter Brugger and Isabelle Viaud-Delmon. The research shows that a mystical mind enjoys getting deeper into the unknown. In the long run, the links with the objective reality are lost, and the dependence on the false conceptions of causation develops.

Life Coaching

Life coaching is an edgy way of boosting clients’ motivation and auto-evaluation. Self-proclaimed masters promise to change your life for the best if you attend their sessions and follow their strategies. The method may seem alluring thanks to face-to-face interaction and personalized advice. However, it is still excessively dubious and can lead to negative consequences.

Pros

Human Communication

The correlation between positive communication and the formation of normal self-esteem is obvious. The more you socialize with humans, including life coaches, the more positive energy you get to work on your life.

Individual Approach

Even if a life coach sticks to some exact philosophy or strategy, you will be treated with solutions adapted to your peculiarities and targets.

Inspiration

A good life coach knows how to feed your motivation with inspiring dialogues and transforming exercises. Councilors may offer you a plan. Then, they analyze your results and seek ways to even out.

Cons

Prices Bite

Putting yourself in the hands of a life coach is a little too steep. The average rate is about $100. Even if it sounds affordable for you, remember, that to achieve any efficiency you will have to attend your mentor at least 4 times a month and buy extra materials.

Beautiful Lies

Life coaching is a popular Instagram trend with catchy images and inspiring texts. They try to attract you with some positive image and to buy you into the idea of success, but, in reality, they are much into giving you a dead sea fruit. First, most of the practices coaches provide can be found online for free. Second, these practices have no proven efficiency. Thirdly, most of the so-called life coaches lack qualifications. Unlike certified psychotherapists, they are not obliged to have any exact specialization or attend educational courses to become a coach. Practically everyone can describe oneself as an enlightened overman and start working with people.

Dependency Development

The more you visit your master, the fewer decisions you are likely to make on your own. You put trust in a person and shift the responsibility for your life onto him or her. Consequently, you are less likely to act and call the shots yourself.

Fake Friendship

The worst psychological aspect of attending a life coach is our human need for bonding with people we rely on. When someone leads you in this life, you break your boundaries, open your heart, and start perceiving your coach as someone close. The irony of it is that we don’t pay friends for advice. And, independently of how amicably, alluringly, and cordially your life coach acts, that’s all for the sake of money.

Road to Nowhere

Imagine: you attend a life coach who helps you to take action. You follow his or her strategies, reshape your mind, reform habits. One day you realize you are not yourself anymore. And is there any guarantee you are going the right way? You can’t know for sure the intentions of your master, who is a human too and can make mistakes that can ruin your life.

Trust Issues

To follow the strategy of a life coach you should put stock in this person from the very first meeting. This is stressful for your mental health, and, even with lots of energy spent on positive reinforcement, you will cause some ego defense that will press you to attend the coach again and again till you open yourself out.

Contradictions

Life coaches are divided into two categories: business and relationship mentors. If you want to fix your life with a multifaceted approach, you have to attend two different councilors. Meanwhile, their strategies can contradict each other: one can persuade you to sacrifice your personal life, the other can emphasize your social contacts. As a result, you will have to pay twice and get imbalanced.

Idolization

Life coaching has a negative similarity with esoteric practices and cults. There is a person set above you, the one, who can manipulate you and manage your will. This is completely unhealthy.

Scientific Approach

According to the scientific approach, motivation is a process that provokes, shapes, guides, and sustains goal-oriented behavior on biological, emotional, social, and cognitive levels. Motivations can be extrinsic or intrinsic. The extrinsic comes from outside of the human in a form of goals with such rewards as money or social recognition. The intrinsic appears within the individual for the sake of personal gratification. All in all, motivation is an impulse that can be provoked and controlled with numerous tools.

Pros

Explored Core

The key scientific theories of motivation are drive theory, instinct theory, and humanistic theory.

The drive theory was created by behaviorists Clark Hull and Kenneth Spence. Their studies describe motivation as the subconscious result of biological needs. The instance theory was based on the suggestion of psychologist William McDougall who defined motivation as an instinct consisting of perception, behavior, and emotion. The humanistic theory of motivation arises from Abraham Maslow’s idea that human beings have cognitive reasons to act according to their hierarchy of needs.

Correlation with Memory

The important aspect of scientific approach is the correlation of motivation and memory. Whenever a person forms new behavioral impulses, his or her brain unconsciously activates a defence mechanism to reduce anxiety about potential changes. This process was defined as motivated forgetting by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1894. To outwit one’s brain activity, a person can fall back on Hermann Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve method. In a nutshell, practice makes perfect: the productive uptake of content resides in constant repetition. The most efficient strategy is to read the information, to reread it several times: in 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 5 days, 25 days, 4 months, and 2 years.

Structured Methodology

The methods applied in the scientific approach are based on cognitive and psychological tricks. They include reading theory, brainstorming practices, incentive schemes, analysis, and gaming experience in a quantity sufficient for inspiration.

No Money Lost

You don’t have to spend money on esoteric attributes and on life coaches. You can just figure out what motivates you and invest in your personal bounty system.

Proven Efficiency

The scientific approach to motivation is based on age-long and constantly developing research. Numerous experiences have been conducted to point out the results of probationers. For example, the data shows that the method of games-provoked motivation is 60% more efficient than sessions with life coaches.

Socially Constructed

The scientific approach involves socialization with like-minded people who will support and inspire you all the time. Even if you are the envious one who is prone to compare yourself with others, this method is still efficient.

Cons

Personal Liability

The only negative side of the scientific approach is that you are the only person responsible for yourself. There are no signs to predict your success and no mentor to guide you. You are working on your personality, exploring your inner tools and impulses. But isn’t it fun?

Inite

Inite is a unique motivational game based on the scientific approach. Players receive daily tasks to boost their creativity. They socialize with each other, broaden their outlook, get support, and gain financial rewards for their ideas.

Starting the game results in normal self-esteem, developed imaginative thinking, positive inner monitoring, adequate communication with opinion allies, lots of inspiration, and energy for real-life targets.
Additionally, Inite users are saved from motivated forgetting with options not to remind about an idea, to remind about it daily, and to remind about it according to the forgetting curve. If you set daily recalls, we recommend you to implement a little bit more tasks day by day, according to the compound interest scheme. Following this tip you can upgrade yourself by nearly 40% within a year: 1.01365 = 37.78. If you choose the forgetting curve reminders, you will get fewer recalls but still will not forget about your ideas. According to Ebbinghaus,this method is 9 times more efficient than rote memorization.

What is more, Inite has a steadiness counter that enables you to control and analyze how much you return to work and what motivates you. That’s how you can upgrade yourself scientifically and consciously. Motivation can be born without rituals and mentors, you are the captain of your ship!

Conclusion

Motivation is an engine of progress in any sphere and we can breed it on our own. In esoteric practices motivation descends from the unknown, in life coaching it is based on the personality cults that persuade its followers into imitating fake success. Meanwhile, scientific approach is grounded in the current standing and the research of individual cognitive capabilities. Give it a try with Inite.