Motivation?

Have you seen those motivational posters. I especially like the one about the lion and the gazelle that says...

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed...every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

But have you seen the other set of posters that are decidedly more pessimistic? Those come from a company called Despair, Inc. Like the one in the picture above about Quality:

"The race for quality has no finish line- so technically, it's more like a death march."

Or the one about Motivation:

"If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job the kind robots will be doing soon."

Here's what E. L. Kersten, the Founder and COO of Despair, Inc., has to say about their products:

Motivation. Psychology tells us that motivation- true, lasting motivation- can only come from within. Common sense tells us it can’t be manufactured or productized. So how is it that a multi-billion dollar industry thrives through the sale of motivational commodities and services? Because, in our world of instant gratification, people desperately want to believe that there are simple solutions to complex problems. And when desperation has disposable income, market opportunities abound.

At Despair Inc.., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That’s why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators® designs, so you can skip the delusions that motivational products induce and head straight for the disappointments that follow!

And now he even has a video... It is hilarious!



(HT: Instantly John via Family Jules)