Internal Motivation: When "Do What You Love" Isn't Practical
Internal Motivation: When "Do What You Love" Isn't Practical
Cultivate the right motivation for long term success and well-being
Do what you love. Follow your passion.
We’ve heard this a million times. But what happens if what we love is to get the highest score on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater?
“Do what you love” is fine advice. It taps into the concept of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation occurs when we do things out of inherent enjoyment. It’s when we find ourselves doing activities “just because,” and not for likes, bonuses, or other external rewards. Intrinsic motivation leads us to be both more successful at our tasks and happier. Sounds great.
But there’s a problem. What we love to do may not be considered pragmatic. Our lives require us to do things we don’t love.
Extrinsic motivation makes the world go round. It’s how we do things we don’t find inherently interesting. Rather than do things because we love it, we do things for an external outcome. It’s the “carrot and stick” analogy. We work hard to attain promotions. Or we work hard to avoid the wrath of bosses. We act to achieve reward or avoid pain (whether we seek rewards or avoid pain affects behavior as well. See how our goal focus affects us).
Extrinsic motivation works. Progress is made. Rewards are reaped. All is good.
Or is it?
External rewards or pain avoidance leave us unfulfilled. Humans need to feel a sense of autonomy. We need to feel we act upon our world with free will. Like invisible puppet strings, extrinsic motivation subtly diminishes our sense of free will. We act not because we want to within, but because an external force directs us to.
Extrinsic motivation is effective in the short term. But we don’t stick to tasks as long. And we’re less happy in the long run.
We have a dilemma. Follow intrinsic motivation (“do what you love”) and we might not reach a life we desire or need. Follow extrinsic motivation and we’re less happy and less successful in the long run.
I dug deeper into extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. There’s good news - extrinsic motivation exists in different forms. Some of which are healthier and more effective in the long run. We can shape how we’re motivated.
Types of Extrinsic Motivation
I’m in a snowboard terrain park. I launch off a ramp. I float through the air, grab my snowboard, spin around, and land smoothly. I’m all smiles. And then I felt disappointment. There was no one around to witness my act of snowboarding cool.
My disappointment revealed a motivation. I wanted to look cool and stylish (which only works if there are people to observe). I wanted an external outcome. I was extrinsically motivated.
Intrinsic motivation comes from an internal drive. Extrinsic motivation comes from external outcomes.
We can break extrinsic motivation into further types. The types of extrinsic motivation depend on the level of internalization of our motives. On one end, we’re just doing things because an external force is coaxing or making us. On the other end, we’re doing things for an outcome, but the motivation comes from our identity and values.
The more we feel our behavior comes from our internal drive, the more committed we are to our goals and the higher our well-being is. Here’s an overview of each type of motivation, as outlined by researchers Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. I’ve made up non-researchy names alongside the less memorable official terms.
Less Better Extrinsic Motivation
Carrot-Stick - (aka external regulation). This is the classic version of extrinsic motivation. Our motivation is to satisfy an external demand or reward. I fly the same airline because I want that oh-so-sweet lounge access reward.
Guilt or Glory - (aka introjected regulation). Self-esteem and ego needs drive our motivation. We diet to avoid guilt from family members. We post our best vacation photos for the likes and comments. Our internal esteems needs motivate. But crucially, our evaluations of ego and self-esteem depend on the response of others.
More Better Extrinsic Motivation
For The Good - (aka Identified Regulation). We act because we value the behavior. We might not inherently enjoy the activity, but we value the outcome. We chit-chat at networking events because we believe in the career value of a network, not because we just love talking to strangers. We still have an external outcome we’d like. But our belief in the value of the outcome motivates us internally.
Identity Synced - (aka Integrated Regulation). Our identity leads to our behavior. We act because it’s matches who we are. We eat healthy because we view ourselves as health focused. I used to never make my bed. Now, I make my bed every morning (and using my former nemesis, decorative pillows) because I identify as an organized person. We move further away from external forces as we do things because of who we are.
We don’t experience the types of motivation as one or the other. We can experience a mix of motivation. What matters is the relative strength of each type. What is driving us the most?
Move Towards Healthier Motivation
We’re better to increase our internal motivation in our behavior. Greater internal motivation leads to better learning, longer persistence, greater discipline, and higher well-being. Here are ways to increase the level of internal motivation for our behavior.
Find your tribe
Humans need to connect with others. When we feel connected to others, we’re more likely to share and adopt values. Let’s say we find exercise dreadful. The more we connect with people who value health and exercise, the more we’ll also value health and exercise. Our values dictate our motivations and behaviors from an internal position.
“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”
Believe in your ability
Humans need to feel competent. Belief in our competence internalizes and motivates a behavior.1 Belief can come internally or externally. Internally, we can take small steps and find evidence in our abilities. Success breeds confidence. Externally, support from those around us fosters our belief in our competence. Support others, and embrace support from others around us.
Identify with the behavior
Behaviors that stem from our identity are most natural to us. A health focused person doesn’t smoke. A trustworthy person keeps their promises. Look at behaviors to find connections to values and identity. Or, we can define an identity that leads to desired behaviors. If I identify as a kind person, I’m more likely to hold the elevator door open for latecomers. Rather than casually mash the close button before they arrive (not like I’ve done that before).
An underlying theme for all of these strategies is buy-in for the behavior. We have to see value in the behavior to have more internal motivation. Our buy-in for behavior supports our feeling of choice and action from our free will.
..And therefore what?
Motivation is necessary for action. And some types of motivation are better for us. The cool part is our ability to evolve our sources of motivation.
While we might start a behavior due to Carrot-Stick motivation, we may find we shift towards internal motivations. Perhaps we come to value the behavior. Or we find inherent enjoyment in the behavior. As we uncover larger internal motivation, we increase our long term success and well-being with our goals.
So maybe we’re not intrinsically motivated by all that much or useful. But we can shift to extrinsic motivation that benefits like intrinsic motivation.
Find our tribe of supporters. Believe in our ability to carry out our desired behavior. Develop our identity towards behavior we want.
Perhaps we don’t just focus on “do what you love.” But rather we also nurture our identity. Our identity goes beyond following our passions.
When we act from our values and identity, we live according to who we are. We act with increased motivation, confidence, and success.
And we act in such a manner, perhaps we just might love what we do as well.
References
Deci, Edward L., and Richard M. Ryan, eds. Handbook of self-determination research. University Rochester Press, 2004.
Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. "Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions." Contemporary educational psychology 25.1 (2000): 54-67.
Ryan, Richard M., ed. The Oxford handbook of human motivation. OUP USA, 2012.
On the other hand, if we feel totally incompetent towards something, we’ll be unmotivated and likely avoid the behavior all together. If we really want to avoid something, think we’re incapable of it.