Understanding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in mid career
So there are two drivers behind your motivation at work, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. And I’m talking especially to those of you in mid-career. If you’ve worked hard and you’ve achieved a lot and yet something still feels off, this is for you.
A Simple Example: A Child Painting
Now the example I like to use is a child painting something at school. If they’re painting because they love painting and they love the process, they love art, then that is what you would call intrinsic motivation.
But if the child’s doing it because they want to get a chocolate biscuit or a gold star from the teacher, then that is extrinsic motivation. So intrinsic is how you feel about this work, and extrinsic is the outcome as a result of doing that work. So what does it provide for you?
How Motivation Shows Up in the Workplace
So how does this turn up in the world of work?
Well, intrinsic motivation at work is: I love doing this. I would do this if nobody was looking. It gives me real meaning to do this. It gives me purpose. I feel I get a rich state of flow.
Extrinsic is: what do I get as a result of doing this work? So I get maybe a nice salary, I get benefits, I get a bit of security, I get status and a title and prestige. You know, it’s all the trappings of doing the work.
And this isn’t a case of you being on one side of this or the other. It’s a balance. And this balance changes depending on your stage of life.
When Success Still Feels Flat
So for example, if you have achieved a lot, you might be in a senior position, you’re being well paid, everyone says that you’ve made it, and yet you’re feeling flat. That might be a sign that you’re missing, or there’s a deficit of, intrinsic motivation within your role.
When Meaningful Work Still Feels Stressful
But on the flip side of that, you could have work that’s really meaningful and still be really stressed because your money, security, or recognition — you know, the external, the extrinsic things — isn’t there, and that’s causing the imbalance.
Using Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation to Guide Career Change
So intrinsic and extrinsic is key when you’re thinking about a change or improving things in mid-career. And I’ve built a simple diagnostic — it’s 12 questions, and you can rattle through the questions very, very quickly, a couple of minutes — and it tells you immediately where you sit on this radar of intrinsic and extrinsic.
And then you can sit there and think, well, how does this compare? You know, this is what I need from a motivation point of view, and what am I getting? And if those two things are miles apart, then it’s no wonder that you’re feeling a bit restless or stressed or stuck. And it’s a case of revisiting what would deliver the right things for your balance.
Take the 12-question Alignment Scorecard and instantly see where your intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are out of sync.