Do what you are asked, get a reward.
Do what you have been told not to and get punished. This is extrinsic motivation. It comes from an outside source.
For most of us reward and punishment was, and is, a significant part of life. It formed the foundation of how we were motivated in the education (some might say indoctrination) systems that we went through, and then, by extension, we experienced (or still experience as an integral part of the the industrialised work of work. The stark fact is that the majority of people are in work to earn money – not as an expression of their own inner light, their own potential, or their own truth.
This in itself is not always a negative. Many people accept this condition as how life is, often with phrases such as ‘It is just the way things are.’ and then adapt to these conditions, this is sometimes a survival response. They don’t realise, or cannot imagine, that something else is possible. While the ability to adapt to sometimes adverse situations is a positive expression of what it means to be human it is not always the most optimal.
Does that mean you are wrong to accept how the world is and fight against it to change it – or to change yourself to meet it in a different way? That is not for me to judge. It really is a case of – does it work for you?
The upshot is that many people in their lives are motivated to act from a place of expectation of reward or punishment issued by systems or people external to them – or, sometimes, from those people or systems that they have internalised into believing is a part of themselves.
Intrinsic motivation is that which results from within them prior to external influence. What they know to be right, or good, or true, as a result of their own experience – as a result of their own personal curiosity to find out life for themselves.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation, in some, or even many ways, can be seen as a quality of maturity. Instead of requiring motivation from an external source, someone who is intrinsically motivated acts from a place of deeper knowledge. This does not necessarily mean that they have life all figured out before they act, but rather, they are more in tune with what arises in them from moment to moment. They make their choices from this place – from the moment that I often refer to as the unfolding moment of their becoming.
Extrinsic motivation, waiting for a reward, or choosing how and when to act based on a set of criteria imposed from outside of yourself can lead to a sense of being conditioned. ‘If you cross the yellow line before your are told you will be penalised.’ ‘When the bell rings you can stop working.’ The person who is intrinsically motivated works because they comprehend the necessity of the task at hand – or, they do not cross the line because they are clear on what the inherent dangers are of crossing the line.
The difference is, because they have taken responsibility for themselves and their actions, because they have worked out, often from first principles what is good sense (not to be confused with common sense), they have taken control of their life.
Rules are for Fools and the Guidance of the Wise.
From the outside this can look like someone who breaks the rules.
They break from work at times they deem right for them because it feels right to them to break at that time. This might be an intuitive response or a rationalised one. Either way, they take a break because they are taking responsibility for their own productivity in work. Responsibility = control and choice. If they cross the yellow line it is because they have determined that it is safe to do so.
This dynamic of extrinsic motivation is not confined to work and education though, such transactional relationships can inform how we relate in even the most intimate relationships.
The question is, what happens to individuals, societies, and the systems they produce, when they depend on extrinsic motivation? Is this really a healthy way to live, to accept direction and conditions in order to be forced to survive?
Certainly, for those living lives that are closer to the natural cycles, there are always conditions that need to be met in order to ensure survival, the difference is that they are natural cycles. When those cycles are imposed upon us for the creation of profit for shareholders there is a quality of being that is sacrificed. To relinquish responsibility to a system that would deny us our own intrinsic drives for the sake of creating profit for others, is an issue of a different order.
The Unique Power of Personal Curiosity
The question is, are you happy? Does your life feel meaningful? Are you fulfilled?
Of course, these conditions might be of no interest to you, or you might frame your needs or values in a different way.
My invitation to you though is this, to what degree is your experience of life better when you follow the light from within that illuminates all of the possible paths around you as opposed to heading in the direction of the beam shone from the torch of another?
Again, this is not for me to answer, nor is it a loaded question, not really. I do confess a personal bias, and, it would seem, from my work with those who seek my services, that the maturity of intrinsic motivation serves them at a much more fulfilling level. But it is wrong to presume that that would be the right path for every one.
Maybe though, because you are here reading this, I am going to make the wild assumption that you are a questioner. That you are curious, and quite possibly on a path that deviates from what so many assume to be the only option.
Of course, it is rarely a case of one or the other. We are motivated by different things at different times and in different ways, the question is, who is leading and what follows, and what serves you best in your life?
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