Why you do what you do
🌐 Exploring motivations + new opportunities.
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What motivates you?
I find myself returning to this question more often than ever before.
Perhaps it’s a byproduct of how the pandemic has prompted many of us to re-examine how we live and work. Perhaps it follows from having a full plate but never quite enough time.
I suspect it’s also because as a freelancer, you get more say in the work you pursue; and by extension, you get to decide which motivations to follow.
Even if it’s not explicit, that decision is implicit in our choices. Do we take the assignment that gives us the most cash, for example, or do we take what comes with the most adventure, or the most visibility, or the most respect from colleagues, or the most pleasure, or the most sense of contributing to the public good?
One way of making sense of different motivations is to divide them up into the intrinsic and extrinsic. This entered my vocabulary very recently, when friend / colleague / all around lovely person Tania Rabesandratana told me she’d bagged a fellowship to launch a newsletter, here on Substack, to explore ‘Intrinsic Motivation’. It’s just kicked off and I’m ready for the ride—read more about it and sign up here.
Tania calls intrinsic motivation “the drive to do something because you enjoy it, not because you expect a reward or punishment.”
My career musings have circled around the topic before, sometimes while reminiscing about Oscar ceremonies, but there’s something apt in the naming: I’ve found that the concept of intrinsic motivation has captured an essence about why we do what we do.
Intrinsic vs. extrinsic. Implicit vs. explicit.
What *really* motivates you?
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