Motivation, Running

Running motivation: Beating the Blerch

Internet comic The Oatmeal has a great series of comics on his motivation to run–and not just run, but run ridiculous, ultra-marathon distances. According to him, the inspiration to run comes from a desire to beat The Blerch.

You know The Blerch. Basically, it’s the self-indulgent saboteur inside us all who keeps urging us to do things the easy way, avoid pain, and partake in immediate pleasures. Running is a way to extend a big ol’ middle finger to that saboteur. That can feel incredibly motivating. And it’s a good thing, because as The Oatmeal points out, running doesn’t always have the other positive benefits you might hope for. Continue reading Running motivation: Beating the Blerch →

Motivation, Teaching

Design Psychology at Intelligent.ly, 3/24/14

Tomorrow night I’ll be back at Intelligent.ly to talk about Design Psychology. If you’re in the Boston area and want to learn more about how to apply principles of motivation to your product design, please come!

I really love being at Intelligent.ly. The people who attend the classes are awesome, smart and motivated folks from a wide variety of backgrounds. I feel like I always come away from these nights with new questions and perspectives on motivational design when I teach, and every one I’ve attended as a student has been excellent as well. I really recommend attending a class or two if you’re in the Boston area. It doesn’t even have to be mine!

(Although if you want to attend mine . . . http://learn.intelligent.ly/design-ux-skills-series)

Motivation, Running

I ran a marathon!

4 Comments

I Ran A Marathon!I think a lot about motivational design in the context of my own health behaviors, and probably never more than when I just trained for and ran my very first marathon. Although it can be dangerous to take a case study too seriously (as I learned from one of my mentors at the University of Michigan, Chris Peterson), since any one person is unique, there’s definitely value in using case studies to think about how principles might work out in real life.

The self-determination theory of motivation says that people are motivated when their underlying needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met. I saw all three of these play out in my training, but in a quirky way that fits my personality. Continue reading I ran a marathon! →

Reflection

Welcome to my new website!

I decided it was time to create an Internet home of my very own. Although I’m active on lots of other platforms, including Twitter and the Wired Insights blog, I was looking for a place where I could talk about a broad range of topics within my professional expertise while also letting a little more of my personality come through. Hence, this site was born.

I’m hoping to update fairly regularly about topics like motivational design, workplace culture, national/regional/local culture, health behaviors, behavior change and habit formation, medication adherence, social relationships, and engagement with other people (whew!). I’ll also probably post occasionally about things in my personal life, like running or travel. I’d love to see this site become a way to connect with other people who share my interests and want to talk or work together.

So thanks for coming by, and welcome to amybucherphd.com!

Psychology for Health and Happiness