When we think of motivation, there are two broad umbrella terms that most motivations will fall under extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. To clarify what each is, extrinsic motivations are motivating factors which are derived externally from self. Things like money, fame, positive feedback from others are all externally motivating factors. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is derived from self and comes from motivations you harness from your internal thoughts, feelings, or goals.
It is important to identify what types of motivation are the most effective for you to reach a goal or to achieve something. Are you a person that feeds off of positive feedback? Or are you the type that feels accomplished simply by setting your mind to a task and completing it?
Identifying what motivates you, I have found, is more important than you may realize. Ultimately, finding what makes you excited, or what makes you feel good is a reason to figure out what your, I’ll call it “motivational make-up” is.
For me, it is a bit of a balance as to which type of motivation I have/need. I think it has a lot to do with personality honestly. I used to work in schools and figuring out how to motivate children was… a lot of fun we will say. This is also where I noticed how important your environment is to determine what type of motivation you have/need. I think we all would probably agree that it would be ideal to be self-motivated and have a great deal of intrinsic motivation. For some people this is inherent, but for others, it is very difficult to grasp. I mentioned working for the schools, this is where I saw how a majority of the students I worked with had almost no internal motivations at all… Rarely did I have a conversation with a student where they wanted to achieve something for themselves, it was almost always they wanted to do well to get something from their parents. This was a bit frustrating but also made me wonder how to invigorate extrinsic motivations.
From my experience, the best way to do this is to make deeper connections with your goals. What I mean by this is, for example, (I’ll use a very straightforward simple goal) If your goal is to win a chess tournament because there is a cash prize, the cash prize would be your extrinsic motivation for participating and wanting to win the tournament. Now how do you add some intrinsic goals in there? One thing to focus on to change the motivation to include some intrinsic goals would be a deeper understanding of how playing chess can improve critical thinking skills, tactical planning, spatial awareness, etc. I would always try to find deeper goals with students that would make them be motivated by self-improvement rather than winning a prize or something like that. I could tell some students really took this to heart, while others would tell me “Mr. S I only care about the almighty dollar”. This is just an example of where different motivations were very obvious to me and helped me look at myself a bit more in reflection to determine what really is my motivational makeup?
I have been blessed to know some incredible people with all different motivations for what they choose to do in life. I can tell you, for the intrinsically motivated people you can tell in an obvious sort of manner just how important accomplishing their goals are. You can tell the importance because of how personal they have made each pursuit and how they establish a greater sense of self through accomplishing their goals. Now, I don’t say this as a knock on extrinsic motivation because there are many outside factors that are incredible motivators, but what I have learned is that those who are intrinsically motivated don’t seek out the extrinsic rewards that those who are extrinsically motivated do. Think about this scenario: A doctor has to perform a life-saving operation that has never been successfully performed. The extrinsic motivation might be the fame or the reverence that will come with a successful operation, while the intrinsic motivation may be simply wanting to save a life because that’s why they became a doctor to begin with. The doctor that cares more about saving my life versus the fame and publicity would be the doctor I would want. Again, this is just an example of how motivations can intertwine. It is important to have both forms of motivation but to be balanced a bit.
For me, I’ve always been more intrinsically motivated to help other people more so than myself. When I choose to do something, often it is not a benefit to me but rather a benefit for someone else. This may come from working in a social services background for so long. I have no desire for fame or to be looked at in a certain light. I am ok with this but have been pushing myself to seek out more extrinsic motivational factors as these can also lead to an overall improvement in life satisfaction. More money doesn’t always mean more problems!
I digress. The importance of this topic I hope to convey is that there are different types of motivations and it is very valuable for you as an individual to determine what types of motivations will drive you to reach the heights you hope to reach in life. For me, being able to provide support or to help improve the lives of others is very motivating for me. I hope to always be able to do so throughout my life.
What motivates you? Do you find yourself more driven by self (intrinsic) or by others (extrinsic)?
I think it would be interesting to hear from people so leave a comment!
Author: Cole Schenck
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