It seems so obvious, doesn’t it? To associate a desired outcome with something that is highly important to us.
For instance, if we want to exercise regularly we’d do well to link that in our mind to what’s most important to us. Maybe, to be around for our grand kids and show them the family traditions. Exercise = Family connections.
Fundamentally, I guess, people value pleasurable experiences. And as long as those don’t harm us, these kinds of valuable experiences are great fuel for change and growth.
I know that if I make a kid laugh, I’m much more likely to affect change for them. They begin to associate the good feeling with the learning I deliver.
Link the desired growth (learning) to the value (feeling good).
The loop becomes this: elicit pleasurable experience, hook it to the learning. Elicit the experience, hook the learning. And so on and so fourth.
It’s not about silly fluff for a laughs sake, but it’s about creating deeply valuable and richly pleasurable learning experiences for our kids.
When kids link ultimate pleasure to learning and growth, then we’ve done our job.
