On What Comes First, the Chicken or the Motivation
We often think that the natural order of doing things goes step 1: be motivated, step 2: act. But sometimes acting first can lead to motivation. Basically, get up and get moving!
Where Does Motivation Come From?
What are you passionate about? What are you motivated to do?
There’s a general perception that it takes being motivated to get started on something.
But is that really true? I can think of times when I don’t feel any motivation to do something, and yet I have to do it. And somehow it gets done.
This question is especially pertinent in the context of trying to figure out your passion. Shouldn’t you just… know?
It turns out that sometimes doing an activity comes before the motivation.
Sometimes just getting moving can be motivating in itself!
Self-Perception Theory
Self-Perception Theory suggests that people actually become aware of their attitudes towards things by observing their own behaviours and actions. Rather than knowing how you feel about something, one can observe their actions and infer sentiment - almost like how we would do if we were observing someone else and making a judgment about their feelings about something.
This is especially true for moments when one’s feelings about something aren’t very clear to the individual.
For example, think about a time when you are asked about which tasks at work you enjoy doing. Some you probably like a lot, some you probably dislike a lot, but there will be some where you don’t have strong feelings - say, for example, taking notes in a meeting. To answer the question of if you like taking notes in a meeting or not, you might actually look back to ask “have I taken notes in a meeting?”. Since you can recall doing it, that answer becomes a stand in to the question on “do I like that task”?
Another way to answer the question of “do I like that task” (i.e., am I motivated to do it) is to actually give it a try.
Does all this talk about motivating just make you feel like you’re jumping through hoops?
Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose
Daniel Pink’s book Drive features his approach to workplace motivation - what he calls Motivation 3.0. Based on previous work by Edward Deci and Harry Harlow, Pink cites three ingredients for intrinsic motivation (Intrinsic motivation is the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction, whereas extrinsic is about the external reward or punishment). Those three ingredients are autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Here is what those three words mean: autonomy is the freedom to make choices that determine one’s future, mastery is about being able to improve, learn, and develop competency, and purpose is about meaningfulness as relates to one’s life.
Another argument in favour of the just give it a try school of motivation is that in some cases, your motivation might be low because each of these three ingredients could be missing before you’ve given something a try.
Autonomy: You might not know enough about the act or behaviour to have a sense of what paths you could choose or how you can make it your own
Mastery: Not knowing or experiencing something, you might not know what the path to mastery could look like for you, or could be discouraged to be an unskilled beginner
Purpose: Without diving??? it, it might be hard to understand how a certain task or skill has impact in the wider world, or what it could mean to you
No wonder motivation is low with all this missing information!
Don’t know what you want to do? Don’t feel motivated to do something? Here’s to just giving it a try! Start small, ask questions, and use it as an opportunity to imagine if you can see yourself continuing on.
Maybe it won’t work for you for one thing, but eventually you’ll find something that gives you that sense of motivation!
Time to get off the couch!
Love,
