I v X

So what determines our success or failure?

What is it that makes some of us keep on keeping on; and others quit?

‘Motivation kicks in after you have experienced success at something’, said Michael Neenan, author, and tutor on a CBT (Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy) -based coaching course I attended a few years ago.

This was not how I had thought about motivation, until that point.

So motivation is a product of reward?

Or is motivation a reward in itself?

If so, how can we gain or enhance our level of motivation?

*Daniel Pink claims to have greater insight into the nature of motivation or ‘drive’ and reveals his ‘surprising truth about what motivates us’.

He distinguishes between an ‘extrinsic’ reward (eg carrot or stick outcome dependent on our actions); and ‘intrinsic’ reward – where the inherent satisfaction from carrying out a task is reward in itself.

Pink believes that the old punishment or reward outcome can work in the short term, for example, I could write this blog because someone has offered me money to do so. However, if I wrote blogs purely for financial reasons then long term, my motivation to do so would diminish. I would be approaching the ‘task’ from the point of view of a finite project with a defined outcome. Even if the financial reward was substantial and guaranteed, the reward in itself would diminish in time – I would get used to that level of income and there would at some point be a desire for either more money or a different type of reward such as fame or recognition of some description. However, if I am writing for the intrinsic reward, then my motivation to do so will become stronger over time. Pink believes that an intrinsic reward is something that enhances our sense of autonomy, mastery and sense of purpose. Essentially if we are engaged with an activity that we are able to do well, we will enjoy it and become even better at it. I write blogs to explore and share things that I find interesting and may be helpful to others.

Pink uses the legal profession for a perfect example of this. Although individuals may enter the profession for altruistic purposes, to ensure justice, or fairness; if they are employed in private practice they will eventually become a slave to what he refers to as the ‘billable hour’. Thus, reduced to meeting fee targets, their motivation becomes firmly focussed on the end product of profit- costs . Their behaviour becomes governed by the ‘means to an end’ type of rationale; and the personal sense of mission disappears. Their sense of self –efficacy becomes dependent solely on their ability to make money and therefore their sense of autonomy ( which includes the need to feel in control of their destiny, as in fulfilling their altruistic ideal) becomes sadly depleted. If they reach the target they are momentarily validated – however there will always be the next target!

Of course this is not true of all lawyers in every aspect of legal practice; and is also quite true of many other professions and occupations, such as sales targets for property and estate agents.

Take the example of a would- be- novelist. If the motivation to write a best- seller was purely financial; not many books would actually get written. Imagine having to work at a project, sometimes for years, before someone else appreciates its value and pays you for it. Chances are the writer would have died of starvation or packed it in for a job to pay the bills.

So what keeps an unpublished writer writing?

Answer: their intrinsic motivation. They are doing it for something other or certainly more than just a financial gain. Whilst writing they are experiencing a sense of autonomy – they are researching/writing something of interest ; in the circumstances they find most conducive to creativity. They are in control of what they do and how and when they do it. This is the essence of autonomy. The completion of such a self-directed project then results in a sense of mastery, the feeling that they have attained a high level of the skills needed for that project. Then there is the element of purpose. Everything we do in life is for a purpose, even if it is purely for the enjoyment factor, then that in itself is a purpose. Financial reward is just one in a whole range of rewards we glean by way of outcomes from our actions.

Thus intrinsic motivation is more diverse, far reaching and greatly enduring in nature than extrinsic motivation can ever be. So if your journey is a long one – make sure you know how to generate the drive to see you through!

* Daniel Pink - ’Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us’, 2010.