Review of "Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us authored by Daniel H Pink

Book Review Of "Drive -  The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us"     A Book Review by Chris "Crispy" Garrah

The Book Review

The author Daniel Pink allows the reader in the book to tweet this message about the book.  "Carrots & sticks are so last century.  Drive says for 21 century work we need to attain autonomy, mastery & purpose."

Do I believe the book is straight-forward?   Well, I think a book entitled Motivation for Dummies might be easier.   But concepts I gleaned from the book are that intrinsic motivation will motivate someone more than pay and that pay might actually discourage an activity that someone enjoys.   So I think the book discourages parents for paying for good activities a child may engage in.  In the above tweet the words autonomy, mastery & purpose are the key words in motivation.

I believe the book is saying autonomy - the ability to direct oneselve is going to motivate someone to excel.   I believe the book is saying that the enjoyable feeling you get when you are immersed in something rewarding or "flow" is the key ingredient to allow someone to follow the pain that ten years required to master something.   (the "mastery" part)   And lastly I recall somewhere in the book that the author is indicating that money accrual can leave someone feeling empty so a higher purpose is important to stay motivated or have a good feeling.   Of course, these are my interpretations and if someone is an excellent summariser of research please steer me in another direction.

For Further Research

One of the key researchers Daniel H Pink notes is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.    And be sure to read Daniel H Pink's book to read what he actually meant.  ...... rather than my book review interpretation.

What this could mean for leaders

Could it mean that leaders need to allow followers to have more independence in deciding on a purpose ie. having autonomy?   Does it mean suggesting to students to find what they enjoy/  what make them have flow 
in order to endure ten years of mastering something?   I know that there are over 200 pages of information and that key concepts can be missed in a quick read.   Please let me know what you think the book is about  if you are inclined.   Many thanks.

The Book Review of "100 Ways to Motivate Yourself"

Book Review of "100 Ways to Motivate Yourself" - Author Steve Chandler - Reviewed by Chris Garrah

February 20, 2013

100 Ways to Motivate Yourself - Change Your Life Forever by Steve Chandler

The Bible of Motivation

This could  be your Bible of motivation!  In the book author Steve Chandler recommends that :' it is not how many books you read it's how many you apply."   He recommends it is better to read one book over and over than to read many books.

Reasons to Buy the Book

In my opinion this should be the book to read.  The strongest reason I think is that author  Steve Chandler overcame addiction  to become a successful author and speaker .  But also there are 100 ideas that are bound to kick-start if you have been in a long term rut .   This book will move you out of your comfort zone and help you make some improvements in your life.

Overcoming Procrastination

 I especially like his motivation  in chapter # 74.  - which is "Do something badly"  - meaning that you shouldn't wait till you're feeling 'just right' to do something that is important.

I have re-read some of the chapters and realized that the first time in reading that the message of some of the chapters did not sink in.  That is WHY you should buy this book.   There are a 100 short chapters with easy to digest ideas.   The writing style is breezy and agreeable.  It is written in a style that is current unlike some early 20th Century motivational authors that use a more stilted , formal style that is common to that time period.