Ducks in a Row: the Value of Interest
by Miki Saxon
When I’m writing for a client I lose track of time; I don’t even notice when someone walks into my office.
It’s called being “in the zone” and it happens when you are seriously interested and deeply engaged with what you are doing.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist at the Claremont Graduate University, has been studying this latter phenomenon for decades. He calls it flow: the experience we have when we’re “in the zone.” During a flow state, people are fully absorbed and highly focused; they lose themselves in the activity.
It’s a proven fact that self-control is mentally fatiguing, but new research shows that high interest results in lower mental fatigue.
Bosses who use contests and gamification to drive interest are missing a good understanding of today’s workforce—and it’s not about age or even self-interest.
People get interested because a project is meaningful and they can see how their work contributes to the larger picture.
Even on minor projects they can see how what they did helped achieve the outcome.
No busy work; no incomplete information and no doing [whatever] for the sake of doing it.
In short, if you want to generate interest in a task it must be meaningful and provide an opportunity for the worker to add value.
Flickr image credit: Beverley Goodwin
