Unveiling the essence of motivation: intrinsic vs. extrinsic factors

I often get asked; “What is motivation?”. It’s quite a magical ingredient in life as it has the power to unlock your potential, support your well-being and increase your performance. So, I thought I’d give you a bit of an overview…

Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside: in work it is recognised as employee benefits, for children it can be ‘rewards’ for doing things – it is material rewards and/or social approval.

Intrinsic motivation comes from the inside.  It is driven by self-fulfilment, curiosity and a genuine desire to learn.

Research shows that intrinsic motivation is substantially more powerful than extrinsic motivation.  Lasting motivation comes from within.

We all have 9 different intrinsic motivators that vary in importance as we go through life.  These vary in importance for each of us as and often change as we go through life.

Understanding individual motivators is important to enable us to choose the right fuel (energy/motivation).

Different motivators value  security, recognition, control, financial rewards, autonomy, purpose, relationships, learning and development and creativity.

Motivators also influence the language we use and the way we respond to change, and risk and the speed we make our decisions.

Think of motivation like the different types of fuel we have to fill up cars – we need to put the right type of fuel in to ensure we achieve our goals.

Can you pinpoint your key motivators?