Keep Yourself Going

People are happiest and most successful when inspired by intrinsic motivations. Finding the pleasure in a project makes you more open and creative, too.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Gratitude Diaries, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi.
I'm Janice Caplan. Thanks for joining me for more practical
ideas on how to be happier. Today's tip try to
find some internal motivations for your work rather than external ones.

(00:23):
With the right attitude, anything you do can feel more
fun and gratifying. The other night, I was lying in
bed with my husband and we were doing a crossword
puzzle together. We kept asking each other for help and
calling out in great delight when we got an answer.
The crossword puzzle was one of those with lots of
puny and funny answers, so we did a lot of

(00:45):
laughing too. When we finally turned off the light, it
occurred to me to wonder what kept both of us
so enthralled with a crossword puzzle that we would stay
up way too late working on it. It may be
that I had stumbled on what psychologists now recognize as
being a key motivator in our lives, and the one

(01:07):
that may make us happier than almost anything else. We
are all motivated by many different drives. There's a biological
drive that makes us want to eat and drink and
do other things. And then there are external drivers, like
getting paid for a job or getting an A on
a test. We usually work harder when those carrots are
dangled in front of us. But nobody was paying me

(01:30):
or my husband to do a crossword puzzle. It was
all for the intrinsic satisfaction. And believe me, when I
figured out that the solution to the clue that said
reading the Odyssey in your own living room was home
Sweet Homer, I couldn't have been happier. Many researchers over

(01:50):
the years have found that we are much happier when
we do something for an intrinsic motivation, that is, the
pleasure of the project itself. If I were being paid
for each answer, it might have taken me longer to
figure out Home Sweet Homer, because it turns out that
creativity is stifled rather than enhanced, by external motivators. One

(02:15):
experiment showed that if you promise children a reward ahead
of time for drawing a picture, they'll do it, but
then they'll express much less interest in drawing the next time.
The simple pleasure of drawing for the child has now
turned into a job. In the same experiment, the children
not promised the reward the first time around showed continued

(02:40):
pleasure in drawing afterwards. Similarly, if you give your child
a dollar for completing her math homework, she'll get it done,
but you've probably taken something even more important away from
her the real joy in doing math. Turning pleasure into
work eliminates the intrinsic reward of a simple job well done.

(03:03):
The very same pattern holds for grown ups. Several studies
have found, for example, that holding a competition and a
company for the best new idea or new innovation is
a great way to get very mediocre ideas and innovations.
People's creative juices flow when it's fun, not when it's required.

(03:24):
Giving someone a small bonus afterwards is okay. In fact,
it's a great idea, and just as effective is expressing thanks, gratitude,
and great pleasure in what they've done. When you're motivated
by your own sense of pride and accomplishment and other
people are appreciative of your work, you have the greatest
satisfaction of all. I've always been amused by a famous

(03:48):
old experiment where people are given a candle, matches, and
a large box of thumb tax and asked to try
to figure out how to get the candle on the
wall so it doesn't drip on the table. Most people
will try first to use the thumb tax to put
the candle against the wall, but of course it's going

(04:08):
to drip once it's let. Maybe they'll try something with
the matches to stick the candle to the wall, but
once again it's going to drip. Eventually people figure out
that the box of thumb tax can be used not
just for the tax, but for the box, so they
put the candle on the box, tack that to the wall,
and the problem is solved. I suppose that's quite clearly

(04:31):
thinking outside the box. What's really interesting is that this
experiment has been used to see how people respond when
they're offered money for the fastest solution versus just being
asked to do it. The people offered the money reward
actually took longer to figure it out. The researchers concluded

(04:52):
that being offered the money narrowed people's focus and didn't
allow them to think as expansively. When you're doing something
for the sheer intrinsic interest, your mind is more open
and you're able to see bigger solutions. I think the
candle experiment is a great metaphor for life in general.

(05:13):
When we're very directed and focused and thinking only of
what the rewards are going to be, we're less open
to the experience and pleasure, and we do less well.
If you let yourself be open to the fun of
exploration and solving a problem, you'll be happier and you'll
do it better too. So today, find at least one

(05:34):
thing that you do for the sheer intrinsic pleasure. Do
something because you love it, and you may be surprised
just how great the returns to yourself can be. Thanks
for joining me. I'll be back with more ideas on
how to add gratitude to your life and make every
day a little brighter. Have a great day. The Gratitude

(05:58):
Diaries is a production of my Heart Radio. For more
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