Why do fools like me write blog posts every day, never expecting to get paid for it?
Why do brilliant computer programmers spend all their spare time creating open-source apps for free, when they already make money building software at work?
Why do aspiring novelists hone their skills for years, chasing the vision of that one breakout novel, when the probable advance makes minimum wage look like a pipe dream?
My dad sent me a link last week to a ten-minute video called The Surprising Science of Motivation. Here’s what it says. If you have a worker doing anything more complicated than turning a crank, and you want better performance, paying more money is not an effective motivator. Rather, people do their best work when they’re highly motivated. And the three critical motivation factors are Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
- Autonomy – People like having the freedom to control their own lives. We like to decide which projects we take on. That’s why Google and Twitter regularly give their employees time to work on anything they want. Where do you think Gmail came from?
- Mastery – People also like to get really, really good at things. That’s half the reason I play Go – I just enjoy seeing myself improve. Recognition from others doesn’t hurt, either.
- Purpose – You have to feel that the work you’re doing is meaningful. You have to believe it matters in some way. Whether that means building a Habitat For Humanity house to help someone, or just writing a poem you think is beautiful, doesn’t especially matter. It just has to make a difference to you.
Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. AMP. Seems like common sense. Yet so many companies squander their brightest talents by draining away these simple human motivators.
Tell me – what drives you?
Brian D. Buckley 
My Social Studies teacher showed that video to the class on the first day of school. We had to make lists of reasons why we go to school. Most people suggested things along the lines of “because my parents/teachers say so”.
It made me look weird, but the teacher noted and praised me when I said that I did school because I enjoy learning.
Enjoy learning?! Crazy! 🙂 It’s almost like you’re trying to better yourself or something…
Looking at this topic from another angle, what happens when that brilliant computer programmer can no longer program? Or when the novelist can no longer write? The motivation is still there, but the ability has diminished.
“Losing It”
The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration
Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory
The echoes of old applause
She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door…
The writer stare with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision
And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more…
Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we’d like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee…
I still say it’s better “to have loved and lost…” etc. 🙂