The Yerkes-Dodson Law: Everything Is Good in Moderation, Including Motivation
Are we sabotaging our goals by being hyper-motivated?
Muhammad Ali, also dubbed as ‘The Greatest’ is one of the most exemplified icons in motivational channels and self-help books. Myriads of self-help videos often wager that it was Muhammad Ali’s burning passion for being the greatest boxing champion that gave him the winning edge. No matter to which motivational seminar we attend, there is a mention of Muhammad Ali and his unparalleled desire for winning. There is one recipe that many self-help mentors guarantee can make ANYONE successful in ANY field. They say:
Be like Muhammad Ali! Be relentless! Keep that fire burning!
But what if what worked for the greatest boxing champion doesn’t necessarily work for everyone else? What if most self-help coaches are wrong about motivation? What if this often heard advice can actually backfire?
The Yerkes-Dodson Law: How Much of Motivation is Actually Productive?
The Yerkes-Dodson Law was developed by psychologists Yerkes and Dodson in 1908. This law explains that performance increases with arousal, but only up to a certain point after which it starts declining. Further, this research also elucidates that different kinds of tasks require different levels of arousal as shown in the graph below:
This means two things:
- Performance increases with motivation if the tasks are not cognitively demanding. Eg. Simple tasks and tasks demanding stamina
- In the case of cognitively demanding tasks, too much motivation can actually impede concentration and negatively impact productivity.
Real-Life Observations of The Yerkes-Dodson Law
If you’ve ever watched a violin concert, you’ve already observed what you need to observe to understand this law better. In order to deliver impeccable performance, it requires that the violinists maintain their poise and equanimity while being motivated enough to go to the stage. Being over-motivated could increase their stress levels to a point that their bow accidentally hits the wrong string and ruins the entire performance. Too much motivation here could be a foe, not a friend.
Now ask yourself the following questions:
- How often have you witnessed a famous footballer miss the penalty even when the goal was almost a given?
- How often have you failed to answer relatively simple questions in a test even though you had come prepared?
- How often have you set unnatural goals when you were hyper-motivated only to disappoint yourself?
- How often have you been distracted from your goals because you were in a state of frenzy as a result of over-motivation?
In an age of self-improvement, it is often a trend to consume self-help books one after another. But this obsessive dependence on self-help books for motivation can be counterproductive. When we’re motivated, a hormone is released in our brain-dopamine. Dopamine is ‘the-feel-good-hormone’. Research has demonstrated that a high amount of dopamine is linked to addiction. Excessively relying on motivation can lead us to compulsively seek dopamine in the form of videos and self-help books which strengthens this cycle of addiction. As a result, we end up craving yet another dose of motivation just like an addict without actually getting our work done.
Contrary to what most Youtube videos like to preach, too much motivation can actually lead to fatigue. This is because the effect of motivation in our body is similar to that of stress. In response to motivation, a group of hormones is released in our body called glucocorticoids. At optimal levels, glucocorticoids keep us alert and impart us the drive to keep going. But too much of glucocorticoids can cause restlessness and insomnia, hamper concentration and even induce panic attacks.
The Timeless Lesson in an Age-Old Fable
Remember the ancient story of the tortoise and the hare? To many of us, this is the first story we heard as kids. This classic tale imparts a timeless lesson:
Slow and steady wins the race.
No matter how smart or fast the hare was- he couldn’t beat the diligence of the tortoise. No matter how motivated the hare was to win the race after he woke up from his nap- he couldn’t beat the discipline and consistency of the tortoise.
Like other feelings, motivation is impermanent and fleeting. It too passes. Success doesn’t depend upon the bouts of motivation one experiences. It depends on designing a flexible system and persistently working on it. It depends on the ability to move diligently towards our goals without losing our poise.
The Beauty of Not Obsessing over External Motivation
Have you ever been so engrossed in something you loved doing that you totally lost track of time? There was no need for rumination nor any sort of motivation. You were absorbed in the task with all your senses wide awake and all your problems seemed to dissolve in that state of hyperfocus. Moreover, there was a steadiness in your concentration and boundless creative insights would effortlessly ooze out of you.
If you’ve ever been in that state, you’ve already experienced what psychologists call the ‘Flow’ state. In the flow state, we are equanimous, engaged, and our stress levels are in check. The flow state is easy to reach when we are doing things we love. It is easy to reach when we don’t have to force ourselves to get our butt on the chair.
In the Flow state, we come up with beautiful insights and unleash our creativity without disrupting ourselves with stress. In the Flow state, we enjoy what we do without forcing ourselves to get it done. Flow is when we have not fixated in the results but the process. Flow is about enjoying the work without feeling the need to motivate ourselves for some external validation.
If we want to achieve optimal performance, our priority should be to achieve the state of ‘flow’ where we are relaxed and productive. Being hyper-motivated to a point that our glucocorticoid levels spike abnormally might not be conducive to reaching this state.
The Final Takeaway
It isn’t our fault that we compulsively rely on external motivation to get things done. It isn’t our fault that we blame ourselves when we don’t feel motivated enough. We are somehow brainwashed into thinking that mostly the reason we fail is that we lack the drive that elite performers are born with.
This groundbreaking research by Yerkes and Dodson helps us see that success doesn’t entail unleashing our beast as the pop-culture believes. Success entails diligence, perseverance, discipline, and an optimal amount of motivation. In other words, we don’t have to erode our mental wellbeing by super-saturating ourselves with stress, and this realization in itself is quite liberating.
