What is extrinsic motivation?
Extrinsic motivation relies upon factors outside ourselves, such as the approval of others, to provide an incentive for action.
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The answer lies in finding a way to “play anything.” Play doesn’t have to be fun. Finding a way to play a task is how you find the intrinsic motivation to keep you going and gets you hooked until you are done with the task.
Two ways to learn how to play anything:
- Focus more and find the variability and surprise in what you’re doing
- Adding constraints to make the task more interesting and meaningful. Every game has rules, and sometimes adding the rules yourself makes the task into more of a game
Self-determination theory (SDT) among the most widely accepted theories of human motivation and flourishing. It has emerged as the leading psychological approach for understanding how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation work on the humans. As part of their theory, intrinsic motivation comes from the desire to feel competency, autonomy, and relatedness. According to SDT, anything done purely out of extrinsic motivation will fail to meet these needs and hinder performance over the long-term.
Intrinsic motivation is the desire to do something for its own sake. With intrinsic motivation, we enjoy the action as its own reward, and we do it without taking money, fortune, or fame into account.
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Motivation is categorized into two basic types: Extrinsic and intrinsic.
- Extrinsic motivation is related to external forces like money or fame.
- Intrinsic motivation is something that comes from within like joy or pride.
As we grow older, we take cues from our environment and become serious and rigid, conforming to the norms and rules imposed upon us.
Our social environment, especially our workplace can affect our creativity, as we lose our freedom and playfulness, not able to conjure up new ideas or do any innovative thinking.
Self motivation is the ability to drive oneself to take initiative and action to pursue goals and complete tasks. It’s an inner drive to take action — to create and to achieve. It’s what pushes you to keep going on tasks, especially those you’re pursuing because you want to, not because someone told you to.
When reaching for a big goal, self-motivation plays a key role. But making a change in your life requires persistence, and many of us find it difficult to stay motivated over time.