I came across this article when surfing in posterous popular blogs. The title was 'Why We Blow It when Stakes are High'. This blog directs me to the full article page. I thought it was an article about why we fail to perform/deliver under pressure. (I was attracted about the carrots tied up by strings diagram).
No. It was not about that (or anything to do with carrots). The article was about a research which proves that rewarding gives boosts to potential of people, but only until a certain level or threshold. As the prize gets better, believe it or not, the performance declines.
Why is this happennig? Well, you can read it yourself at the page but what I can say is that this is due to the part of the brain called ventral striatum. Ventral striatum is activated by rewards. With more rewards on the job, ventral striatum will be active, but when the person is committing the task, the activity level of ventral striatum drops!
This is due to the feeling of fear because he might lose the reward..So worrying about losing the reward overwhelms the brain and this reduces the striatal activity, and then the performance crashes..
So my next question is, how to overcome this?
Easy, be less loss-averse! I mean, be more daring, bold, courageous, brave, whatever that makes you feel unafraid!
When you are brave, you look good, first of all, and moreover, your ventral striatum increases in activity, your peak-performance is higher - you'll get higher reward$$$!!
What are we afraid of? Risks. A research shows (once I read in a book which I can't recall) that people who dare, have higher IQ levels compared to people who just play safe and lay safe.
So it is now the time to be bold and daring. Explore your talents and don't let you ventral striatum be in the sleep mode. Many amazing things can happen - waiting to happen!!
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