Where does motivation come from? And how do we build more of it?
This post was originally shared in my semi-frequent Learn Something New(sletter). To never miss info like this, join the party! 🥳
It’s January 19th. “Quitter’s Day” according to a Strava study of 800 million activities.
Struggling to keep your resolution going? The quickest way to move out of the all-or-nothing resolution mentality is to move over to habit formation. Ready to get started? Here are 5 tips to try building your habits.
But what if what you’re struggling with is even more basic than that. Yes, yes, you know how to build grit and resilience.
But how do you even start. Where does motivation even come from anyway?! How do we get more of it?!
Thankfully, we have Daniel H. Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
So let’s get to it.
Biggest whoa moment: We probably know that there’s extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic - external rewards like money, social status, and promotions. Intrinsic - internal rewards like pride in your work, desire to improve, feeling connected to your daily actions. Extrinsic rewards work, but they only go so far.
So how do you build more intrinsic motivation? You need to hit on the three essential elements:
1) Autonomy: the deep desire to be truly in charge of your own life and its direction
2) Mastery: the urge to get better at the things that matter to you
3) Purpose: the yearning to create something that is bigger than just us
This means that as you’re trying to build your motivation, you have to make sure it’s connected to the deeper “why” inside of you.
If that goal isn’t something that you truly care about. If it doesn’t encourage you to grow. If it isn’t in service of something bigger than yourself.
Well, it’s going to be really hard to stay motivated.
So how can we make sure our goals are in touch with our internal motivations?
Put it into practice now:
Here are three ways you can try to get closer to the deeper “why” inside of you:
1) Try a “flow” test. Set 40 reminders in your calendar at random times over the next week. When the reminder goes off, quickly jot down: What was happening, how did you feel, and were you in flow (a state where you’re being challenged but at just the right amount - i.e. when you could work on this thing and forget everything else). At the end of the week, look for patterns. What were the things that caused flow state? How can you get more of them?
2) Define yourself in a sentence. If you had to write exactly who you were in one sentence, what would it be? Try out a couple versions. And then use this as a litmus test against the other things that you do. Another way to get clearer on this is trying Warren Buffet’s 5/25 rule. Best part, it comes with a to-don’t list. A to-don’t list lets you cut things out that don’t serve your greater mission. It helps you avoid working on things that distract you from your greater goal.
3) Make it small. Instead of trying to take on the world and revamp everything you know about yourself… let’s go small. At the end of each day, ask yourself, “Was I a little better today than I was yesterday?” Maybe you didn’t get to finish that entire presentation for work, but did you get the outline done? Okay, so you didn’t run a marathon today, but did you try 5 minutes of yoga? Learning how to celebrate the small wins will help you stay motivated over time.
That’s progress! And these small efforts compound over time.
Go deeper:
Read the book yourself: Drive by Daniel H. Pink
Subscribe to Pink’s newsletter: The Pinkcast
If you’re struggling to find your motivation and take action, reach out. We can work together to set better (intrinsically motivated) goals.