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116 Super motivation: rolled oats are goat candy
Behaviors
Goats
Goats can appear stubborn
when they don't align with what the farmer is requesting.
Dragging by the horns is one method of control. But if you really
want a goat to come into the barn or stick her head into a
stanchion for milking, offer a pan of rolled oats. I don't know
anything that produces faster cooperation from the
goat.
Goats are smart animals,
talented escape artists when it comes to fencing. Their
exploration and coping skills make them hardy. Caring for them
becomes much easier as a farmer learns about their behaviors.
When goats are enticed with rewards, what seemed to be
stubbornness melts into cooperation. The biggest draw for that is
rolled oats.
People
Decades ago, I noted that
Swiss mothers were feeding their children rolled oats as an
uncooked treat. I have adopted that dish as my frequent
breakfast: after the oats soak briefly in milk, I add a few
raisins for sweetening. It is a chewy delight, and my taste is in
harmony with the children and the goats.
The motivated, agreeable
goat behavior described above, like the penchant for oats,
also applies to humans. Being creative and independent, I can
easily be called stubborn. That symptom melts into cooperation
when a valued goal is placed within my reach. My daydreams and
utterances might appear to be complaints against conditions I
don't like. However, when there is a path to something I want, my
persona switches into positive mode and I'm all generosity and
enthusiasm. Just as the farmer and the goat are better off with
cooperation, my collaborators and I rejoice when our goals
coincide.
Lesson
A farmer who cannot see
existence from a goat's viewpoint provides the wrong kind of
husbandry and soon loses the herd. A goat that cannot respond to
the farmer's viewpoint becomes the farme'’s supper. Alignment of
purpose is fundamental to success.
In the human arena there
is no end to possible successes. Every one of us can and wants to
move forward toward a desirable goal. We have frequently
discussed the strength that comes from collaboration. The goat
story tells us that abundance depends on getting on a common
track.
Goals
Identifying
My childhood training is
that God will send my blessings to the place where He instructs
me to go. Of course, prudence is to go there to collect the
prepared and expected blessing. Typically, the saloon represents
a debilitating distraction from life, and the family represents
lasting happiness. Religion posits a logical connection between
the action and the blessing it uncovers.
The humanist version of
this model says that there are paths to outcomes. Whatever
benefit I desire, prudence is the course that produces it. Causes
have effects.
Motivating
The goat must be able to
identify the rolled oats in a setting that appears reachable. If
the reward is not visible or is behind an impenetrable fire, the
goat will not lunge forward. For people, neither the theist nor
the nontheist model changes behavior if the object is undesirable
or unreachable.
Humans have much more
developed goals than goats because people imagine more abstract
benefits. Influencing human behavior has unlimited possibilities.
We have infinite opportunities for getting on a common track. For
any end we want to reach, we enlist collaboration by presenting
that outcome like a pan of rolled oats that is reachable. Where
there is effective marketing, the people-goats come running
(article 78).
Achieving
A behavior study once
asked students to retrieve a ping-pong ball from a standpipe - a
long vertical hollow tube. In the first test room where few
students solved the problem, there was ice water sitting on a
somewhat removed refreshment table. In the second test room where
most of the students solved the problem, there was a bucket of
water sitting on the floor underneath the table of plumbing
tools. Those students poured the water into the pipe to float the
ball. Where the elements of the solution were more closely
associated with the objective, the connection was more easily
grasped. Therefore, it is wise to place our inquiries into
settings that are conducive for learning because the answers we
get back are so intimately connected with how and where we ask
the questions.
There is a cartoon of a
football coach striking a player while saying "I'll teach you
(not) to get an unnecessary roughness penalty if I have to break
every bone in your body." The action teaches "we use unnecessary
roughness around here." It asks the wrong behavioral
question.
In a speech class I was
asked to explain why a certain activity was so difficult. After I
fumbled a few attempts to answer, the teacher explained that it
was a trick question meant to show that the activity was not
difficult at all. Instead of learning how easy the answer was, I
learned that the teacher was unkind, willing to cause
consternation. The method obstructed the learning.
Reasoning
Having presented my case,
I am ready to reveal today's topic: civility. The stories say
that enduring learning is a positive experience, one that we eat
up eagerly. We readily incorporate, often unconsciously, that
which enters us pleasantly. Agreement flows naturally, and we
remember the lessons - especially the ones that arouse no
resistance because they pass into our minds unopposed. We pursue
and repeat the things we like just as goats follow rolled
oats.
Obviously, we have the
greatest influence on people when we speak to their motivations,
when we attract their interest. Being a persuasive writer means
learning to be sensitive to readers. Aspiring writers are not
effective when they are venting to relieve their own anxieties.
To be read, a writer appeals to an existing motivation in the
reader. This does not require unanimity (articles
53, 64, and
46). A dignified exchange enriches the parties with
understanding and ultimately good behavior. The magic ingredient
of this cooperation is the effort to be appealing. It wins
people over. We echo
article 112 by noting that political leaders are loved and
successful when they are nice.
I am describing, hopefully also creating,
the world in which I choose to live. Will you join my happiness?
Am I winning you over?
Being For Others Blog copyright © 2021 Kent Busse
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