How to motivate people – What gives you hope?

I see the Italian Festival di San Remo. I am against racisms and homophobias as much as one can be. However when I see some attempts by the festival to raise awareness against racism and homophobias I think “This will make racists even more racists”.

So how to convince people to change bad habit and bad beliefs?

First of all, each question that starts with how should be substituted with a question that start with why? So why to convince people to change bad habit and bad beliefs about racism and homophobias? I could write many pages about my answers to these questions, that go through the diary of a young girl (Anna Frank) to our days but I am not the best qualified in this moment.

Let us take a simpler question. How can I convince students (female one) to start a PhD? Why should I? Because it is my job, see IDUN project. To convince people to choose a PhD is my job. Having said the why, to convince you have to inform. If the person does not know what a PhD career is, what the salary is, what the possibilities are, for sure she will not apply.

To convince somebody that they should follow your path, you should tell a story so that the person will follow you. My father used to say “Those who love me will follow me”. I do not know if it comes from the Bible or from where.

Since it is impossible that all the people love you, or me, if you want people to go in a direction, let us say to choose a PhD, you should expose them to several role models and several stories so there will be probability that they will love one story.

To convince people, like friends and relative to do choices that seem good to me, is something that I try to do less and less. I do not think we should tell to people to stop smoking, to exercise more, to drink less. We all go in the trap but we should not. Some of my friends even finish the sentences I am trying to say, as my Italian is getting a bit slower, like they want to help me even to speak. No. This does not help. My mother told me millions of time to invest in the beauty of my hair and in make up. She did not succeed.

We have to listen and ask questions that possibly will motivate the person. “What you want to do?” This is a very powerful question. “Which choices do you have”?

And you, my dear blog reader, what do you want to do to make the world into a better place? What gives you hope?

I wish somebody will ask me these questions.

Podcast that have inspired this post

https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/podkurs-i-motiverende-intervju/id1481580747?l=nb Norwegian

hopecast in English