1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
Until recently, scientists believed that extrinsic motivators were more powerful than intrinsic drivers.
“Extrinsic drivers are rewards that are external to ourselves,” Steven Kotler writes in his book The Art of Impossible. “These are things like money, fame, and sex, and they’re definitely potent.”
But new research over the past several decades has demonstrated that intrinsic drivers are even more powerful than extrinsic drivers.
Intrinsic drivers refer to behaviors that are driven by internal rewards. We engage in activities and behavior when intrinsically motivated because we find them interesting and internally satisfying.
What’s going on here?
“What we now know is that there’s a motivational hierarchy at work,” Steven writes. “External drivers are fantastic, but only until we feel safe and secure—meaning that we have enough money to pay for food, clothing, and shelter and have a little left over for fun. In US dollars and today’s economy, the research shows that this is somewhere around $75,000 a year.”
2: When we look at how happy people are, there is a rise in overall happiness in direct proportion to income.
“But only until we earn about $75,000 a year. After that point,” Steven writes, “happiness becomes untethered to income because, once we can meet our basic needs, the lure of all that stuff it took to meet them begins to lose its luster.”
At a certain point, the power of extrinsic drivers begins to fade, and intrinsic drivers become increasingly important.
“They want to be in control of their own time (autonomy), they want to work on projects that interest them (curiosity/passion), and they want to work on projects that matter (meaning and purpose),” Steven shares.
“As high-minded as something like ‘meaning and purpose’ might seem as a driver,” he notes, “this is actually evolution’s way of saying: Okay, you’ve got enough resources for yourself and your family. Now it’s time to help your tribe or your species get more.”
3: This year, one of my goals is to be intentional about tapping into my intrinsic motivators like curiosity, passion, purpose, autonomy, and mastery.
Autonomy is often associated with feelings of independence or freedom. For many of us, our days are packed with meetings, assignments, and responding to client requests. In other words, feelings of autonomy can be hard to come by.
In the video below, Rian Doris suggests we intentionally step back and create the context for the work we are doing now as part of our larger life trajectory. Thinking long-term is an often overlooked advantage that is hidden in plain sight.
He suggests we plan out our future significant milestones. Then, embed what we are doing now as part of this bigger journey. Doing so will generate the feelings of autonomy we need to spark our intrinsic drivers.
Another strategy to increase our autonomy is to schedule meetings and assignments back to back to back, rather than spreading them out. Then, we consolidate the remaining time into longer time blocks where we can focus on the work we want to do.
That is one of my strategies for the new year: To keep Wednesdays more open to block out time to work on larger, more strategic projects. The early results have been favorable.
More next week!
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Reflection: Consider what motivates me. Do these drivers tend to be intrinsic or extrinsic? Has this changed over time?
Action: Journal about what motivates me and why.
If you want more information on intrinsic motivators, watch the video below.
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