A new year begins and many of us naturally think about our goals for the coming months.
As we do so, it’s worth paying attention not only to the challenges themselves, but also to the reasons why we face them.
For example, if you plan to write a novel, are you doing it for the sheer joy of creating a fictional world inhabited by curious characters, or because you love literature and want to make a valuable contribution to culture?
Maybe you just want to prove to yourself that you can get someone interested in your work and get it published, or maybe you crave fame and writing a bestseller feels like the path to recognition?
According to “self-determination theory,” each of these questions represents a different source of motivation with different consequences—good and bad—for our performance and well-being.
This theory suggests that by choosing the right goals, for the right reasons, you’ll be more engaged, while getting more satisfaction from your success.
Like many scientific ideas, self-determination theory has taken years to develop.
It has its roots in some studies from the 1970s, but only began to receive more interest after the publication of an article in 2000 that outlined some of its basics on motivation, performance, and well-being.
At the heart of the theory is the notion that most humans have a natural desire to learn and develop.
“It’s based on the assumption that people are growth-oriented,” says Anja Van den Broeck, a professor at KU Leuven’s faculty of business and economics in Belgium.
The growth orientation is most visible in young children’s insatiable interest in the world around them.
But adults can also have an inherent fascination and curiosity about certain activities, making completing a task its own reward. Think about that moment when you have been so immersed in an activity that you did not notice the passage of time, for example.
This is known as “intrinsic” motivation.
However, we may lack sufficient intrinsic motivation to perform a task necessary to achieve our goals, so we must encourage ourselves or be encouraged by different forms of “extrinsic” motivation.
These are:
If people experience very little of this, then they are demotivated.
Unsurprisingly, demotivated people have low productivity and low commitment.
This may be most evident in education, with students who will miss class and have no intention of putting in the effort in their studies.
Psychologists studying self-determination theory have designed various questionnaires to measure each of these types of motivation in many different contexts, and over the past two decades of research some very clear patterns have emerged.
Van den Broeck recently reviewed 104 articles examining motivation in the workplace.
As expected, intrinsic motivation (the inherent interest in or pleasure evoked by the job itself) predicted better job satisfaction, commitment, and proactivity, and was highly protective against burnout, which is a high price to pay for work. Professional success.
External regulation (purely financial incentives for good performance) proved to have the worst effects.
As the primary form of motivation, its effects on things like engagement and performance were limited, while also leading to poorer well-being.
There is even evidence that people who are motivated solely by extrinsic rewards are more likely to act dishonestly, such as lying about their performance to get the recognition they want.
It’s important to read these conclusions with one important caveat, says Ian MacRae, an occupational psychologist and author of books including Motivation and Performance, co-written with Adrian Furnham.
While he finds it valuable to distinguish the different types of motivation, he notes that their relative importance will depend on broader circumstances.
For example, if someone is struggling with the cost of living crisis, then “external” motivations, such as the promise of a salary increase, could make a real difference.
“You have to be careful when drawing conclusions for all sectors of the workforce,” he says.
However, once you have your basic needs met, intrinsic motivation becomes much more significant, MacRae says.
So if you’re in a relatively stable financial position, you might consider starting a new project or job just for the extra money. And perhaps, too, it would spark your curiosity or give you a sense of meaning and purpose.
MacRae suggests that questioning your sources of motivation could improve your experience in your current job.
“Self-awareness is fundamentally important,” he says.
“One of the key things is to understand what you really want out of the job, whether it’s about your working relationships with other people or about learning and development, for example.”
You can then look for opportunities to capitalize on those elements.
On the management side, it’s essential that leaders listen carefully when their employees express these motivations, he points out.
They must make a genuine effort to provide the necessary resources to enable employees to pursue those interests.
That can be much more effective in energizing the workforce than offering a year-end bonus to the most productive workers on the team.
Van den Broeck agrees, noting that giving employees a sense of autonomy is related to forms of intrinsic motivation and identification.
This doesn’t mean giving employees free rein to do whatever they want, but it might mean giving them some choice in the activities they do, and explaining the purpose of the unavoidable tasks they’ve been given, so they at least understand how their job fits. with the team’s mission.
Self-determination theory is not just about work. You can also apply to our hobbies.
For example, do you want to learn a language because you think it would impress others? Or does that desire stem from a genuine interest in the culture or a specific need to communicate with speakers of that language?
If you are inspired by the latter, you will find that the inevitable hard work of learning a new language is much less than for someone seeking social prestige for being multilingual.
Meanwhile, if it’s about your fitness, you may be pushing yourself to do the most difficult activity, simply because you want to prove your skills to yourself or others. You may feel like you are failing in some way if you don’t put in the effort.
None of these reasons reflect much of intrinsic motivation, so why not choose an activity that’s a little less strenuous but a lot more enjoyable?
Recent research shows that people who choose their exercise routines in this way show greater persistence than those who don’t take into account their interests or enjoyment of activities.
Even if each session is a little less strenuous, you’re more likely to stick with the activity. Long-term commitment will pay higher dividends.
Life is short and there is not much we can accomplish with the time we are given.
Self-determination theory reminds us to be selective about the activities we engage in.
If you focus on the goals that are personally most meaningful and pleasurable and ignore those that were inspired or imposed by others, self-improvement doesn’t have to be a job, but rather a source of joy.
*David Robson is a science writer and author of The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life. @d_a_robson on Twitter.
If you want to read this BBC Workllife article in English, you can do it here
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