Do You Know Your Intrinsic Motivation?

Check out this enlightening video from Daniel Pink on the “surprising science of motivation.”

*If you’re watching this in an RSS reader, you may need to click on the post title to watch the video.

Mr. Pink challenges the assumption that performance can be improved by offering rewards for good performance and punishments for poor performance.

Drawing from several scientific studies, he illuminates the truth that the highest levels of performance come from intrinsic motivation. He says,

“It’s an approach built much more around intrinsic motivation, around the desire to do things because they matter, because we like it, because they’re interesting, because they’re part of something important.”

He then highlights the following three forms of intrinsic motivation that spur creative performance:

1. Autonomy – The urge to direct our own lives.
2. Mastery – The desire to get better and better at something that matters.
3. Purpose – The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

These are vital to social leadership. Social leaders find and live Soul Purpose — they find and live their unique calling that springs from the depths of their soul. They are actors, innovators, initiators, catalysts. Their passion fuels master of whatever it is they feel called to do. They are compelled by purpose, to leave a legacy, to create something that outlasts them.

Does your economic engine, your source of income, allow you autonomy? Are you mastering the knowledge, tools, and disciplines required to fulfill your calling? Do you know your purpose?

Are you in tune with intrinsic motivation, or are you driven by external punishments and rewards in a career setting unworthy of your potential?