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How to Creatively Motivate Without Anger?

Posted April 24, 2007

In our culture, it is a common thing to motivate other people with anger.  We do this because we believe it is a necessary component in affecting change.

We become angry with our cancer so that we can overcome it.  We become angry with world poverty or violence so that we can rise up and take action.

We become angry with drunk drivers, cheaters, stealers, liars and anybody we judge is doing something "bad" or "wrong".

I personally do not believe we need anger to motivate ourselves or others to change.  I believe we can do it lovingly.  I just don't know how to affect change AND do it without anger in some situations.

Even when it comes to our children.  At times, I find that I ask 6 or 7 times for my daughter to brush her teeth, and by the 8th time, I'm raising my voice in anger to motivate her to do what I want her to do because I want her to have healthy teeth.  I would prefer she brush her teeth without the prodding and without my anger to motivate her.  (Yes I've explained the importance of brushing teeth to her).

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How-to: Motivating Without Anger
To motivate others to do something you want them to do, I find it helpful to better understand where they're coming from, and then fit my program into theirs. So then any failure to motivate them will be my own, and I rarely get mad at myself.Ingredients:The understanding that other people almost always have different motivations than youA quieted mind to be able to better listen to the other p...

by peter (2 years ago)

Answer to: How to Creatively Motivate Without Anger?
April '07? Hope she's been brushing! The onus should be on the child, once they can understand and agree to the importance of the activity. I have an 11-year old son who always forgot to put the toilet seat down. I asked him to come up with a solution...he asked me for an old lipstick, then used it to write a very decorative reminder to himself on the bathroom mirror (which hung right behind ...
by haiku (2 years ago)

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