Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivators

Chasing the carrot?

Daniel Pink is the author of a book which talks about motivation. I am often skeptical of committing time to watching talks on YouTube, but I do believe that the RSA video below is worth a watch (it's a shorter animated version of a TED talk that he did). The takeaway that I would like to talk about is the understanding of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.

Extrinsic motivators tend to require us to do something in order to achieve a favourable outcome. An example would be rewarding someone with money if they completed a task well. Intrinsic motivators, by contrast, refer to an interest in completing the task in and of itself. Think of a time where you spent hours doing something just because it felt interesting and fun to you.

Interestingly, extrinsic motivators are good for tasks which don't require much creative thought, but actually decrease performance for tasks which do require creative thought. If you are reading this blog, I'd hazard to guess that your tasks are of the second type.

Of course, then comes the question, "If I don't find something fun, how can I be intrinsically motivated to do it?"

Since I'm at my word limit for today, the answer to that question will come in the next daily post, stay tuned and reflect on what motivates you in your life.

Animated RSA Talk (10:48)

Ted Talk (18:37)