In order to persist in pursuing our goals and the daily habits we put in place there must be a driving force. We tend to call this force motivation. However, not all motivation is equal and some motivation has been linked with greater outcomes for emotional and intellectual growth.
Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by the mere enjoyment and desire of the act itself-not influenced by perceived pressures. Intrinsic motivation is internally driven; we are doing this because we’ve chosen it, we desire it. Extrinsic motivation refers to behaviors that are done as a means to an end or as responses to control measures. We are doing this because it’s what is expected of us, it’s what all our friends want, it’s what my parents want. When it comes to lasting success, intrinsic motivation is more likely to keep us engaged and invested in our habits and our goals.
When thinking about intrinsic motivation, two ideas to consider are will power and way power. Ask yourself:
“Where is my will power? What will fuel me towards my goal?”
“What is my way power? How will I come up with different routes to achieving my goal?”
The answers to these questions will help you narrow down which goals are more authentically aligned and therefore more likely for you to stick with and adopt into your daily routine.
When we are interested in what we’re doing we’re more likely to be engaged in the routine aspects and persist in the long run. In other words, we are more likely to enter flow and develop grit.
Flow is what happens when we are so engaged in what we’re doing that we lose sense of time. We’re “in the zone,” so to speak. In order to achieve flow, we must be engaged in something that exercises our strengths while also challenging us at the same time.
An intrinsic goal is advantageous in catalyzing this process because flow is about enjoyment. We cannot enjoy what we do not want or desire. Flow is not possible without intense concentration. To reach flow we must be absorbed in what we are doing and it is much easier to become absorbed in things of our own choosing. A useful strategy for improving the quality of our life through increasing engagement is to incorporate intrinsically motivated goals into our daily lives. Experiencing our daily activities as challenges that we are built to conquer will enable us to enter into flow states during our routine activities.
Grit is having passion and perseverance towards long term goals. Since stamina is a key component of grit, having a target that is of interest to us will help in pushing us forward when we fail or get bored.
A study conducted examining grit, intrinsic motivation and costly perseverance in college students found that individuals higher on grit performed much better when they were intrinsically motivated.
If we introduce intrinsic, unified goals into our short and long-term plans, we can capitalize on the growth that flow states produce, and use that growth to further propel us towards long-term achievement. In this way, flow and grit can work together.
Resources
A self-determination theory perspective on fostering healthy self-regulation from within and without by K. W Brown and R.M Ryan
The ability model of emotional intelligence by D.R Caruso, P. Salovey, M. Brackett, J.D Mayer
Flow: The psychology of optimal experience by M. Csikszentmihalyi
Motivation through conscious goal setting by E.A Locke
Grit, Intrinsic motivation, and costly perseverance: Their interactive influence in problem solving by C. Chen and A. Caza
Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals by A. Duckworth
